HOUSTON, TX - Twenty-five years ago today, on October 9, 1999, the Houston Astros played their final game ever in the Astrodome. Unfortunately, this day isn’t one that Houston baseball fans will remember fondly, so I’ll spare you some of the details. The Astros lost 7-5 to their postseason rival, the Atlanta Braves. There was no grand celebration on this day; that happened six days earlier, on October 3, the last day of the regular season. The Astros had planned a significant postgame celebration to honor 35 years in the Astrodome, which included paying tribute to the All-Time Astrodome team and recognizing many other great Astros from the past. In addition to this, Houston clinched their third straight National League Division Title, leading to celebrations even before the Dome festivities began.
The postgame celebrations lasted nearly three hours, culminating in Texas legend Willie Nelson singing “Turn Out the Lights” from a stage set behind second base, surrounded by current and former Astros lined up along the infield. Fireworks erupted from the crown block of the massive dome, and the former scoreboard's home run display lit up the Diamond Vision screens. Then, the lights went out on an ecstatic crowd, marking the greatest moment of collective memories on the Astrodome field. Almost every player who contributed to something memorable from 1965 to 1999 was present. Then the postseason commenced, but again, I’ll spare you those details. The teams of the late '90s were strong and talented, yet they fell short during their postseason attempts from 1997 to 1999. Such is the nature of baseball.
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At that time, I was working in the Astros radio booth alongside announcers Milo Hamilton, Alan Ashby, Bill Brown, Jim Deshaies, and the legendary producer/engineer Mike “The Loose” Cannon. It was a unique position for me, particularly as someone who has always loved broadcasting and journalism. As I walked out of the Astrodome that day, I felt somewhat numb. Yes, I was disappointed that the Astros' season had ended. We all wanted to see a World Series come to Houston, especially during the final season of the Astrodome, but it simply wasn’t meant to be.
Houston was already one of the fastest-growing cities in America when the Astrodome was built in 1965, but it took a special belief that it could actually happen. There were plenty of detractors who thought spending public money on an unprecedented structure would be wasteful. A lawsuit from Houstonian Ned Gill even halted construction for a year after the historic groundbreaking with Colt .45 pistols in January of 1962. Discussions of a domed stadium had occurred in other cities long before the Astrodome. Walter O’Malley’s Brooklyn Dodgers wanted to build a dome and even considered a retractable roof, but political entanglements kept the project from moving beyond the conceptual stage. However, in Houston, the idea was germinated, envisioned, believed in, and ultimately approved through two bond issues.
It was in Houston that the engineering minds intensely focused on how to construct a domed structure 4.5 times larger than any previous example, which was the Pantheon in Rome from 125 AD. It was here that steelworkers began to lift specially fabricated beams into place, turning a concept into reality for the first time.
Houston.
Harris County, Texas.
This area achieved what was once deemed impossible. I realize this may be difficult for some to grasp today, especially in a world where stadiums have become more luxurious than ever before. But without the Astrodome in Houston, those modern playpens wouldn’t have been built in the same way to enhance fan comfort and generate revenue for the teams that play in them.
Massive span roofs (or retractable roofs), enormous electronic scoreboards, suites, restaurants, plush seating, air conditioning, artificial turf, and the ability to host a multitude of events in one space—these are conveniences we expect today. Yet they didn’t exist before the Astrodome. The Roman Colosseum had a massive velarium pulled by slaves to shield much of the arena from the blazing sun, with seating made of stone risers. The Palace of the Fans had a few exclusive “Fashion Boxes” for fans close to the field during Cincinnati Reds games in 1902. But nothing compared to what was introduced in the Astrodome in 1965. It was a column-free open space that spanned 642 feet across and stood 208 feet tall on the interior, with a 710-foot-wide exterior span. People simply couldn’t believe that such a structure could be built and remain standing. Skeptical media from New York arrived when the Astrodome opened on April 9, 1965, for an exhibition game between the Astros and Yankees. Houston pitcher Hal Woodeshick even asked his family to stay home for the first game, as it would be the first time the Astrodome would be filled with a sellout crowd of over 48,000. The Astrodome made headlines on the front pages of newspapers worldwide.
As a historian, my thoughts drifted back to the 1990 season. I was 15 years old, and the Astros celebrated 25 years of playing in the Astrodome. They brought back former players from both the Astros and the New York Yankees, who had opened the Dome with an exhibition game on April 9, 1965. The old-timers played a four-inning exhibition before the Astros' game that night. Banners and candles adorned the exterior of the Astrodome, but what I remember most is that the Astros wore a commemorative patch on their uniform sleeves to mark 25 years in the Astrodome. Now, 25 years later, I realize that the same amount of time has passed since the team left the Dome. While there's nothing wrong with the Astros wanting a new ballpark, building it, and moving on, I can’t help but think about how Houston has done nothing with the most identifiable landmark that put the city on the international map and helped shape it into the wonderful, culturally diverse, and innovative place it is today.
So here we are today, 25 years since that day. A quarter of a century. It feels both like a short time and yet a long time ago.
Let’s reflect on the past 25 years since the Astros left and see how the Astrodome has endured through neglect and the hopes of revitalization under its domed ceiling once again.
By the year 2000, three years had passed since the NFL's Houston Oilers left for Tennessee. Houston NFL Holdings successfully gained an expansion franchise that became the Houston Texans. The Astros were playing in downtown Houston at Enron Field, which would be renamed Minute Maid Park in 2002. The team bought out the remainder of their 40-year lease at the Dome, paying $750,000 to Harris County through 2004. The Houston Rockets moved into their new home at the Toyota Center in 2003.
Harris County, the owners of the Astrodome, initially proposed a renovation to rebuild the Dome’s interior for a new NFL team and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The Rodeo had moved into the Dome in 1966 and flourished during the years it was held there until 2002.
Money was still owed on the building from the original 1960s bonds that financed the world’s first domed stadium, and Harris County felt a renovation would be a great way to improve the iconic building and the complex it occupies while taking it into the future.
However, the Texans did not want to renovate the Astrodome; they wanted a new building. What was constructed was the NFL’s first retractable roof stadium, built at grade level—meaning the playing field was level with the parking lot—making the new stadium appear to dwarf the Astrodome next door, which had a field 25 feet below street level. This design allowed half of the arriving crowds to walk down to their seats while the other half went upward, alleviating congestion along the ramps.
The Astrodome Redevelopment Corporation was a private entity that entered an exclusive five-year agreement with Harris County to develop the Dome into a massive hotel. Unfortunately, funding for the hotel project never materialized, and there was one glaring reason why.
A tri-party agreement among Harris County, the Houston Texans, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo granted exclusive access and control of the sports complex during their events. While this was justified, it meant that any hotel or private entity operating in the Astrodome would be unable to function during those times. The Rodeo moves into the complex in late winter for several weeks, and the Texans have eight home games that share the same exclusivity.
As you may have noticed, the 25 years since October 9, 1999, have been filled with logistical issues and growing misinformation about the Astrodome's renovation.
Let’s clarify a few points:
1. The Astrodome does not cost taxpayers millions of dollars per year. All of the original bonds, including renovation costs from the 1980s, have been paid off. The Dome is a fully-owned asset of Harris County.
2. Asbestos abatement took place ten years ago as the Dome was prepared for renovation and future use.
3. Harris County repainted and cleaned the Dome’s exterior in 2015 to match its original appearance from 1965, something that hadn't been done since the mid-1990s.
4. The revocation of the Astrodome’s Certificate of Occupancy was due to the need for a fire alarm system update, not because the building is in disrepair. The update is not financially sensible without a main tenant or current public/private use of the building, which will come when plans move forward.
5. Thanks to local Houstonians, the Astrodome became a State Antiquities Landmark in 2017 and received a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark marker in 2018, graciously funded by the Houston Astros. This designation means that alterations to the building cannot occur without the approval of the Texas Historical Commission, which protects structures like the Astrodome from demolition while allowing for renovations to ensure sustainability for operation.
6. The Astrodome is a product of over-engineering by the teams that designed it. This engineering excellence is one of the traits that earned the building the title of the Eighth Wonder of the World.
7. There was no vote to demolish the Astrodome. The 2013 vote to allocate public funds for renovation was merely a bond vote. Talks of demolition emerged because, at the time, there was no alternative plan.
It’s important to consider the political leaders who represent their constituents. Harris County Judge Robert Eckels worked with the Astrodome Redevelopment Corporation in the 2000s, and when that deal fell through, there was no clear solution in sight. Discussions ranged from film soundstages and vertical farming to ski slopes and rebuilding Astroworld, mainly from the public. When Ed Emmett became County Judge, he began gathering information on the Dome's situation and actively explored the logistics of renovating it into a modern county park with festival space and underground parking. In 2016, Emmett and the Harris County Commissioner’s Court approved $105 million for the project, but when Lina Hidalgo was elected in 2018, those plans were put on the back burner. Hidalgo stated she lacked sufficient information on the Astrodome while criticizing the feasibility of Emmett’s multi-stage plan. Since 2018, Hidalgo has not prioritized the Astrodome, focusing instead on flood control, roads, and other ongoing issues that will always be part of the Houston landscape, regardless of who holds the chief executive position in the county. The Astrodome remains a hotly contested issue that still needs addressing.
In 2017, I was invited to testify before the State Senate Committee at the Capitol in Austin on behalf of Harris County citizens. At that time, the Dean of the Texas Senate, John Whitmire (today’s Houston Mayor), filed Senate Bill 884, which challenged Ed Emmett’s plan to renovate the Astrodome. In a clear political maneuver against a county wanting to utilize revenue for rehabilitating a fully-owned asset, Whitmire and the Committee scrutinized everything Emmett had to say. The Bill became a non-issue as it got stuck in the Texas House of Representatives and died when the session ended.
During this hearing, the committee asked me why we should keep the Astrodome if a place like Yankee Stadium could be torn down. My passion for the Astrodome was misconstrued by the committee as superseding knowledge of the situation. I explained that while Yankee Stadium is significant from a sports perspective, it was neither the first of its kind nor did it place New York City on the international map. Furthermore, the new Yankee Stadium was built across the street from the old one on public park land, which mandated the demolition of the old stadium to maintain the same amount of park space. I also pointed out that Paris once regarded the Eiffel Tower as outdated after the World’s Fair in 1889, but it was later repurposed as a transmission tower and became an international symbol of the city. I reminded the committee that the Astrodome has been Houston’s international symbol since its construction began.
So why hasn’t the Astrodome been renovated yet? It comes down to sustainability, primarily for the tenants of NRG Park, and that makes sense. The Rodeo and Texans organizations have a significant impact on our community and require long-term sustainability to continue thriving in the decades ahead. Any plan for the Astrodome must include public accessibility, revenue generation, and benefits for all stakeholders involved, including tenants and the citizens of Harris County. To that end, the Astrodome Conservancy has been working diligently for several years to guide this process. The Conservancy has the potential to facilitate private-public partnerships and tax incentives for such a project.
There’s no denying the nostalgic essence of the Astrodome. It served as Houston’s living room for decades and was the center of Houston culture and civic life. Many grew up attending events there, witnessing athletes, entertainers, civic leaders, historical figures, and religious gatherings that profoundly impacted the lives of Houstonians.
I never expected that as I walked out of the Astrodome following the final Astros game on October 9, 1999, we would still be discussing this 25 years later. As Houston has redeveloped and grown over the past two and a half decades, we look toward a future where our city is on track to become the third largest in the country. We must not fall into complacency; we should keep thinking big and find ways to connect the logistical dots to innovate and lead into the future on many levels. We are a city that has accomplished the impossible before. Reviving the Astrodome is not impossible. It’s woven into the fabric of our civic DNA, and we should be proud to have the opportunity to continue utilizing a facility that has given so much to this city. The River Oaks Theatre just recently reopened after a period of uncertainty. Its redevelopment should inspire hope that Houston can maintain lasting icons for generations to enjoy, rather than simply becoming a story of what once was. The Astrodome remains. It is structurally sound. The Astrodome is Houston.
I look forward to the day when we can all walk into our Astrodome—a building that we, as taxpayers, own—and show the world once again just how well we do things in Houston. From the times of Jesse H. Jones, Glenn McCarthy, R.E. “Bob” Smith, Roy Hofheinz, and many others, Houston has always been about getting things done. Let’s get this done, Houston!
