The Pecan Park Eagle

Once Upon a Time, she was known to one and all as the Eighth Wonder of the World.

OK. let’s see here. Houston just got awarded the 2017 Super Bowl – and the decision comes in the middle of renewed hot air talk about various futures for that all but abandoned structure to the 1000 feet-immediate east of Reliant Stadium, the home again host of the projected 51st NFL championship game. That other structure, of course, is today a mere ghost of what it once proudly represented itself to be as “The Astrodome: Eighth Wonder of the World.”

Wonder no more.

For developers, the Astrodome today is little more than an ugly spot on the landscape that needs to be torn down as room for a larger Reliant Complex parking lot. For preservationists, the Dome is a place of significant history to both the City of Houston and the world of architecture. They argue that the place needs to be converted to another purpose, but a myriad of their ideas all share a common foundation. They come to light without the massive funding that will be required to get their various plans off the ground. Hence, the earlier “hot air” reference.

Many long-time Houstonians grew up going to Astros and Oilers games at the Astrodome. They feel sad and sentimental about the decline of the old place, often expressing baleful wishes that something needs to be done to save the world’s first domed multi-purpose sports and major event center from the wrecking ball. Unfortunately, the most passionate preservationists seldom have the money needed to do anything personally about expensive problems like the Astrodome.

Two or three months ago, the word was out that Houston might have to tear the Astrodome down and turn it into that parking lot just to have a chance at getting the 2017 Super Bowl award. So, if that were true, what does it say that the Old Folks Dome still sits to the east, blocking the sunrise over Reliant every morning, even though Houston got the Super Bowl bid, anyway?

Was some kind of deal about the Dome reached that we don’t know about? Even if it was not, does the coming Super Bowl now put pressure upon Harris County to make a decision and actually find the money for either the restoration or demolition of the Astrodome by 2017?

What do you think? Will the 2017 Super Bowl force local action on the future of the Astrodome? Or will it just be sitting darkly there, pretty much as it appears in this photo, no business as usual, when the 2017 Super Bowl comes to town?

Please post your ideas here as comments on this story.