REPORT: Texans Ponder A New NFL Stadium Build In Houston

The Houston Texans have explored the possibility of building a new stadium ahead of their lease expiration in 2032 — and they may seek public money for it, according to a new report. 

Texans owner Cal McNair touted Mike Tomon’s “extensive history in stadium development” when he hired him as the team’s new president last month, according to two anonymous sources who told the Houston Chronicle about the stadium chatter.

Tomon was previously employed by a stadium operations firm and worked on arrangements for new NFL stadiums in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Buffalo, New York. 

The Texans' NRG Stadium requires hefty maintenance, the Chronicle reported. The team has also pushed for significant upgrades, and NFL teams are known to ask for new stadiums within three decades.

The team’s priority is supporting a renovation of NRG Stadium, Texans spokesman Omar Majzoub said in a statement to the Chronicle.

“As we’ve said before, we are committed to exploring all potential solutions to ensure long-term success and we look forward to working with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Harris County and (the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp.) in identifying the best path forward,” the statement says.

But there is consensus that NRG Stadium needs work, and maintenance for the stadium over the next 30 years is expected to cost $1.4B, the Chronicle reported. NFL teams are also incentivized, sometimes with a Super Bowl, to add features like luxury suites and clubs.

If these combined costs approach the cost of a rebuild, that could become the team’s best option, the Chronicle reported.

Asking for public money is unlikely to go over well, though.

The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority still owes $1B in principal debt on bond money used to build NRG Stadium, Daikin Park and the Toyota Center. The Texans are also paid more in tax rebates than they pay in rent to play at NRG Stadium, so local government could be reluctant to offer more incentives.

NFL stadiums built without public subsidies are rare. Only five of the 30 existing stadiums were financed without them, according to the Chronicle.

J.C. Bradbury, a professor of economics at Kennesaw State University who specializes in sports, told the Chronicle that studies that show an economic impact justifying these tax breaks have as much credibility as horoscopes and comics.

“They’re overreported in the media. They see the numbers and something that looks like financial accounting, and they think, ‘Oh, there must be something behind this,’” Bradbury said. “These are financial prostitutes providing a service they’re being paid to provide.”

NRG Park has struggled to attract commercial development in recent years after opening as Reliant Stadium in 2002 as the first NFL stadium to have a retractable roof. 

“Twenty, 25 years ago, we built the most state-of-the-art facilities anywhere in the country. And now we're a little bit past that,” Houston First CEO Michael Heckman said in 2023. “We need to be able to look and say, what's the future of these facilities moving forward?”