re: What happened in Houston between the Oilers leaving and the Texans debuting?

quote:

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Houston wouldn't pony up for a new stadium.

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I realize your comment is tongue-in-cheek (sorta).
But a more accurate characterization of the scenario would've been, "Houston wouldn't be held hostage by Bud Adams."
Think UTex in the Big 12.
That's the kind of egomania with which we were dealing.
It was a toxic relationship.

There is a huge difference between replacing an old stadium and replacing an old stadium that just had major renovations done to it. We werent putting up with it and its sad that we gave in to the Texans franchise. Tax dollars have no business in building stadiums for private businesses. The current state of the Astrodome is a great example as to why it should be a crime for city leaders to pay, own, and operate such places.

And also, the city of Dallas is more than willing to part with the cowboys given how much they contributed to the construction of Texas stadium or Cowboys stadium ($0 dollars). It is Jerry Jones the one who is unwilling to leave given that he paid for over 2/3rds of the stadium costs (which is unusual for NFL owners to do). Leaving Dallas would ruin the fan following the franchise has built in Oklahoma and Texas (minus Houston of course). You'd have to be crazy to move from there.