Texans Reliant Stadium beginning to spawn NFL copycats

And apparently, this is not the case, either, as it's expected the voters will be asked to raise the hotel tax by as much as 3% (to 18%, 1% higher than Houston's) and add as much as 6% to the car rental tax (making it 11%).

I guess just wanting to take from a bigger pie (Dallas County, which would include the airport business from D/FW in Irving, etc) is why they want the sports authority.

 

I think there are a couple of factors you have to take into mind when comparing what Jones wants and what the Victory Project has become.

The first thing ... Jones is a marketing genius. Being a GM may not be his strong point but marketing his team certainly is. Even though the Mavs and Stars are doing well lately they are no where near as marketable as the Cowboys. Companies would be much more willing to assiciate themselves with the Cowboys before they would associate themselves with either the Mavs or Stars. Jones will find a way to bring people and companies to his facility.

Second ... the economy. The complettion of the AAC coincided with the downward spiral of our economy. It's not logical for companies to pour millions of millions of dollars in building new facilities, resturants, and apartment buildings when the economy is what it is at the moment. As it was stated in that article, it will take time but those things will come.

As for Arlington being a possible site ... I'm not sure if this has changed or not but I remember hearing that the city of Arlington had taken their name out of any running for the new stadium. They gave a couple of different reasons. First, they are still paying for the Ballpark in Arlington. Second, they have a very good relationship with the city of Irving and their dealings with the City of Irving are more profitable to them than the stadium would be.

 

Hey, Ross Perot, Jr. is a real-estate guy, I expect him to be able to put together a real estate deal.

The point is, though, that the development always gets promised, but the follow-through is often lacking because the city hasn't required the development. The Hunts promised all sorts of development around Reunion Arena. It never happened, and is unlikely to happen at this point.

Whether Victory happens or not is still up in the air. Anyone can come up with reasons why it isn't happening (and we can always find a reason. For the record, the economy was not bad in 1998 when this project was passed, and still Ross, Jr. could not get anyone to build anything, even knowing the arena was approved and coming), and there will always be reasonable reasons as to why it isn't happening at any given moment.

Past history with sports stadiums in this metro area have shown us that the promised development never ends up happening. It's a promise made to get the project passed and make it look good to the voters, but it doesn't end up showing up.

Maybe Jones deal will be different (and I'd probably vote for it if it were going to be in my district), but I don't expect any of the promises about development to ever come true... just like I don't expect the sailboats and swimming on the Trinity River that was sold with the Trinity River Plan are ever going to happen (and really, they can't happen. That's just what they use to sell the plan, not what they really expect to deliver). BUt if development actually happens, then great. My low expectations should be easy to meet. Perhaps the Cowboys stadium project will be the first to actually exceed my incredibly low expectations.

It would really only take ONE business to do it. That would make it the most successful stadium development project in the Metroplex.

 

It's gotta do/have something else. It does look eerily like Reliant.