HOUSTON | Sports Teams/Events/Venues Thread

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...ship-2024.html

Houston prepares to host 2024 College Football National Championship game

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jan 2, 2024

All eyes will be on Houston for the College Football Playoff National Championship game on Jan. 8 as University of Michigan takes on University of Washington. While the game is the culmination of the 2023 college football season, the event has been 10 years in the making.

Conversations about Houston hosting a future national championship game date as far back as the inception of the College Football Playoff in 2014 and the first-ever CFP National Championship game in Dallas in January 2015, said Chris Massey, president of the 2024 CFP Houston Host Committee. The CFP officially named Houston as the host city for the 2024 National Championship game in November 2017. The local organizing committee, which is run through the Harris County Houston Sports Authority, has been working on its plans to execute the event ever since then.

While planning has been underway for several years, the city started to focus on the foundation for its philanthropic and community engagement initiatives about 24 months ago, Massey said. Additionally, a little over 12 months ago, the local organizing committee re-engaged all its community partners integral to hosting the event and began bringing on additional staff and resources to execute it.

“(A year ago) is when we really went full board,” Massey told the Houston Business Journal. “(Planning) came in spurts, but there were always ongoing conversations about strategy to make sure that when we needed to sprint, we were prepared to do that.”

Planning for the CFP National Championship game includes securing service agreements for the thousands of people needed to execute the event, such as for public safety, security, concessionaires, box office and more, who will serve the over 100,000 people that are expected to be in Houston throughout the weekend. The local organizing committee also created about 2,000 volunteer shifts for the championship weekend.

“If we were to actually put pen to paper and calculate what all that looks like, I would argue that there's several thousand, if not more, people that are directly working on the event in some way, shape or form,” Massey said.

While the city is no stranger to hosting large-scale sporting events, the National Championship game has unique elements to it, Massey said. The CFP is focused on preserving the pageantry of college football with the event, ensuring that the game looks and feels like any other college football game one might attend. To that point, each participating school receives 20,000 tickets for the game, which will fill up well over half of NRG Stadium’s capacity with tried and true fans of both teams.

“Not all of our events that we host that are of this caliber and of this size have some of those really core and true elements that you would see regardless of the size and scope of the event, so I think that’s the unique point of CFP,” Massey said.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...ead-coach.html

Houston Dash name Francisco Alonso as new head coach

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Dec 22, 2023

The Houston Dash have named its fifth head coach in team history, hiring a leader with significant recent success in women’s soccer from across the Atlantic Ocean.

The club named Francisco Alonso as head coach on Dec. 22. Alonso most recently led the Celtic FC Women, who compete in the Scottish Women’s Premier League, the highest division of women’s soccer in Scotland. Since joining the club in 2020, Celtic FC Women won two Scottish Cup titles in 2022 and 2023, a Scottish Premier League Cup in 2021 and had an overall record of 76-11-9 (W-L-D) in the SWPL.

“Fran is a highly ambitious coach who shares a strong belief and passion in our vision to build an exciting brand of football and a winning culture,” Dash general manager Alex Singer said in a release. “He brings a track record of developing high potential players. Working with some of the best tacticians in the game, his football acumen, winning experience and player-centric leadership will drive us forward.”

Alonso succeeds Sam Laity, who was let go from the team in September after having first been hired in December 2022. Laity was let go after failing to meet expectations with the club, which had just come off of a 10-6-6 season and its first playoff appearance in 2022. He led the team to a 6-10-8 record in all competitions.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...Pos=5#cxrecs_s

Houston bidding to host 2026 World Baseball Classic


By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jan 2, 2024

Houston is bidding to host another major international sporting event — and this time it’s not for soccer.

The city has submitted a bid to host the 2026 World Baseball Classic, Janis Burke, CEO of the Harris County Houston Sports Authority, told the Houston Business Journal. The international baseball tournament, described as the “Olympics for baseball” by Burke, first debuted in 2006 and wrapped up its latest competition in March 2023. The tournament’s format is similar to that of the World Cup, with four pools of five teams competing in a double-elimination round-robin group stage where the top two teams in each pool advance to a single-elimination bracket.

The 2026 World Baseball Classic will be hosted by two cities in the U.S. and two international cities, similar to the tournament’s format in 2023. Last year, Taichung, Taiwan, and Phoenix each hosted first-round games; Tokyo hosted games for the first and second rounds; and Miami hosted first-, second- and championship-round games, including the championship game at LoanDepot Park.

Burke said there are 16 other cities in the running to host the next iteration of the tournament. Houston hopes to find out if it will host the World Baseball Classic prior to the start of the 2024 MLB season at the end of March, she added. Games would presumably be hosted at Minute Maid Park in downtown.

The World Baseball Classic would add another significant international tournament to the city’s agenda for 2026. The tournament would be played in the spring, right before the FIFA World Cup takes over later that summer. It’s still unclear how many matches and which rounds Houston will host for the event, but the city will likely see about half a dozen World Cup games.

“2026 could be our huge international year,” Burke said. “We think that could be really exciting to dub (2026) as our international year of events.”

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https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/a...stons-economy/

CFP National Championship expected to bring in up to $200 million for Houston’s economy

The game is expected to attract nearly 100,000 people from out of town and pull in up to $200 million for the city of Houston.

LUCIO VASQUEZ | POSTED ONJANUARY 3, 2024, 2:33 PM (LAST UPDATED: JANUARY 3, 2024, 4:06 PM)

The College Football Playoff National Championship, which will soon take place in Houston for the first time in history, is expected to bring in nearly $200 million for the city of Houston, according to organizers.

According to Janis Burke, CEO of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, they’ve been working to bring the championship game to Houston since 2016.

“It’s the first time we’re hosting this event, we bid for it a couple of times,” Burke said. “It was our goal to fill our stadiums, not just with the games and the normal stuff that we do year in and year out, but also to bring special events like the CFP to Houston.”

The championship game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Washington Huskies is expected to attract nearly 100,000 people from out of town and pull in up to $200 million for the city, according to Chris Massey, vice president of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority and president of the College Football Playoff Host Committee.

“We'll benefit from the value of all those people coming into our community,” Massey said. “Spending their dollars, staying in hotels, renting cars, going to restaurants, enjoying the entertainment aspects.”

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...e-stadium.html

It's official: Houston Roughnecks to play first UFL season at Rice Stadium

By Olivia Pulsinelli – Assistant managing editor, Houston Business Journal
Feb 2, 2024

The Houston Roughnecks now know where they will play their home games during the United Football League's inaugural season, which starts in less than two months.

Rice University’s home football venue, Rice Stadium, will host the Roughnecks, the UFL announced Feb. 2. It will be the only on-campus university stadium hosting UFL games this season.

During the Roughnecks' time in the XFL, they played home games at the University of Houston's TDECU Stadium. But that venue was not an option this year due to ongoing renovations, UFL President and CEO Russ Brandon confirmed to the Houston Business Journal in January. When the HBJ asked whether Rice Stadium could be the new home of the Roughnecks, Brandon said at the time that the league was doing its due diligence in the marketplace to find a stadium for the team.

Current season ticket holders will have first priority on finding a comparable seat in Rice Stadium, the UFL said. Season ticket holders can reach out to the ticket department at 346-568-1753 or tickets@uflroughnecks.com with questions, and more information about purchasing season tickets is available at theufl.com/tickets.

The UFL’s 10-game regular season kicks off on March 30, but details such as broadcast schedules and more were still being finalized as of mid-January, Brandon told the HBJ at the time.

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https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/a...2C%20July%204.

FIFA World Cup 2026: Houston hosting seven matches

Houston will host five group stage matches and two knockout round games for the 2026 Men’s FIFA World Cup.

Mark Norris

Posted On
February 4, 2024, 3:01 PM (Last Updated: February 4, 2024, 3:26 PM)

Houston will host five group stage matches and two knockout round games for the 2026 Men’s FIFA World Cup.

Starting Sunday, June 14, there will be a game every three days at NRG Stadium during the group stage round. The other group stage games will be June 17, June 20, June 23 and June 26.

Houston will host a Round of 32 knockout game on Monday, June 29 and a Round of 16 knockout game on Saturday, July 4. That Independence Day game will be the last one to take place in Houston for the tournament.

“Hosting such a prestigious event will provide an incredible opportunity for our city to showcase its culture, hospitality, and infrastructure on a global stage,” said Houston Mayor John Whitmire in a statement.

There will be no U.S. Men’s National Team or Mexico games for the group stage in Houston. Houston will not host a quarterfinal, semifinal or the final.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...venezuela.html

Shell Energy Stadium to host international friendly between Guatemala and Venezuela

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Feb 6, 2024

Shell Energy Stadium will host yet another international soccer match this year as Houston continues its build-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The East Downtown venue will host an international friendly between Guatemala and Venezuela on March 24, Houston Dynamo FC announced on Feb. 6. Tickets for the match will go on sale on Feb. 9.

The match will be Guatemala's second trip to Shell Energy Stadium in less than a year after the team competed in the venue for the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup. Meanwhile, it’ll be Venezuela’s first time coming to the stadium, though the national team most recently made a trip to Houston in 2016 for the Copa America Centenario at NRG Stadium. The Houston area, particularly Katy, has had a thriving Venezuelan population for years.

The match continues Houston’s hot streak in hosting international soccer matches as the city prepares for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, for which Houston will host seven total matches, including two knockout-stage games. In 2023, Shell Energy Stadium hosted El Clásico Regio and two doubleheader matches for the 2023 Gold Cup, including the matchup featuring Guatemala and Canada. El Clásico Regio and the two Gold Cup doubleheaders were each sold out at the venue.

Also last year, NRG Stadium hosted one doubleheader match for the Gold Cup, as well as an international friendly between Manchester United FC and Real Madrid CF.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...p-revenue.html

Houston Dynamo’s season ticket sales, sponsorship revenue skyrocket ahead of 2024 season

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Feb 21, 2024

Following the Houston Dynamo’s most successful season in recent years and major investments into its home stadium in 2023, the club is seeing a significant increase in interest from both season ticket holders and corporate partners ahead of the 2024 season.

On the field last season, the club reached the MLS Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2017 and won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, its first title since 2018 and fourth overall. Off the field, the club invested millions of dollars into upgrading its seating and building a new premium club at Shell Energy Stadium. The club also added multiple new local restaurants partners to its concessions last season.

Ahead of the Dynamo’s MLS 2024 season home opener on Feb. 24, season ticket sales are up 20% year over year, HDFC President of Business Operations Jessica O’Neill said. That increase is a direct result of the Dynamo’s performance last season and the investments made into the stadium, she said.

Additionally, the club shifted some of its ticketing strategies last year to drive more value for season ticket holders. That included halting almost all discounted tickets and flash sales. O’Neill said that the increase in the season ticket base is an early indicator that some of those ticketing strategies are having a positive impact.

While the club isn’t unveiling any major infrastructure improvements to the stadium this season, it is adding 251 new padded recliners for its sideline seating, replacing the folding chairs the team used before. Those with tickets for the sideline seating will also have access to the new East Club, a luxury those ticket holders did not enjoy before. Those seats are about 80% sold through for the season, showing that there exists a strong demand for premium seating options at the stadium, O’Neill said.

“People see and feel that the building and the experience last year — and even more so this year — is elevated,” O’Neill told the Houston Business Journal.

The club has been approaching its business with a “startup with a history” mentality, a mindset that was evident as it unveiled the Dynamo’s new purple jersey for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. That mindset permeates the team’s ticketing strategy, as well, as the club is “leading with curiosity” to understand different groups of fans, O’Neill said.

She specifically mentioned four groups of people the club wants to understand better: existing Dynamo fans, soccer fans who aren’t MLS fans, sports fans who aren’t soccer fans and the business community. The club is realigning its resources and strategic priorities to focus on the different needs of these groups and, ultimately, entice enough fans to continually sell out Shell Energy Stadium.

The club also takes pride in being the most affordable professional downtown sporting experience in Houston, as O’Neill described it. On SeatGeek, the club’s official ticketing partner, tickets for this season’s games start at as low as $21, with the highest starting price at just $35, as of Feb. 20. That low barrier to entry gives the club an opportunity to expand its reach in the community and get more first-time Dynamo fans into the stadium.

“That (pricing) is important to us to make sure that people can test the waters with our experience,” O’Neill said. “With soccer, especially as we get closer to the World Cup and people are curious about the game, we want there to be a low barrier to entry.”

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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/tex...m-18679917.php

Houston, NHL talks on potential new hockey team have intensified, says Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta

By Greg Rajan,
Staff writer
Feb 21, 2024

Tilman Fertitta’s bid to bring an NHL team to Houston is far from being on ice.

The Rockets' owner told Bloomberg in an article published Wednesday that he views a pro hockey team as a vessel to boost the downtown economy.

“We are talking to the NHL, but it’s got to be good for both of us,” Fertitta told Bloomberg. “We just know that when there’s a concert downtown how it activates downtown. We know what the Astros do for downtown. We know what even soccer does for downtown.”

Houston is the nation’s largest city without a pro hockey team, with no club having skated at Toyota Center since the American Hockey League’s Aeros moved to Des Moines, Iowa, after the 2012-13 season. The prospect of an NHL franchise in Houston has been bandied about for more than 30 years — the Minnesota North Stars looked at Houston in 1993 before relocating to Dallas, team chairman Jim Lites told the Chronicle in 2018 — with rumblings picking up in recent years.

When Fertitta bought the Rockets in October 2017, he said “I would put an NHL team here tomorrow” as its owner or as a co-tenant at Toyota Center. He had said little publicly in the years since about the NHL before this week’s comments, telling Bloomberg discussions have intensified recently. Fertitta said he was open to bringing in an expansion franchise or relocating a team from another market.

Fertitta also told Bloomberg that Houston-area suburbs have reached out about helping bring an NHL team, but his interest is in boosting the downtown core, where he has various restaurant holdings. Another way a hockey team could boost Fertitta's interests is by providing additional programming for Space City Home Network, the recently rebranded regional sports network now owned by the Astros and Rockets.

Last October, Rockets president of business operations Gretchen Sheirr told the Chronicle the ongoing renovations at Toyota Center included “making sure it’s hockey ready” with an “ice machine” needed for it to become an NHL venue.

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First 'Hockey Day in Houston' celebrates sport's presence in city

By Greg Rajan,
Staff writer
Feb 22, 2024

Houston hasn’t had a professional hockey team for 11 years, but the sport is not out of sight or mind locally.

The sport will be celebrated all day Saturday on the inaugural “Hockey Day in Houston” at Saint Arnold Brewery (2000 Lyons Ave.), beginning at 11 a.m. A collaboration between the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, the Houston chapter of Hockey Players in Business and other local organizations, the event “is devoted to celebrating and showcasing the sport of ice hockey and the local hockey organizations that make the sport happen in Houston.”

Saturday’s festivities, which coincide with USA Hockey’s “Hockey Week Across America,” will include NHL games being shown on the venue’s large screens, a free youth street hockey clinic from noon to 5 p.m., a silent auction of hockey and other sports memorabilia and even a Zamboni for fans to take pictures with. Admission is free

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...Pos=0#cxrecs_s

How the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo generates — and spends — hundreds of millions of dollars annually

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Feb 22, 2024

While Houston has made a name for itself in hosting major sporting events, including the NFL Super Bowl, College Football Playoff National Championship, NCAA Final Four and more, there’s one event that rivals the economic impact of any other — and it’s held locally every year: the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

RodeoHouston, the 20-day celebration of Western culture held at NRG Park each year, generated $227 million in economic impact and $391 million in economic activity in 2019, the last time the event completed an economic impact survey. Economic impact measures new spending by visitors, while economic activity is the total spending in Greater Houston by those attending the event.

Comparatively, the 2024 CFP is expected to have generated $200 million in economic impact, the 2023 NCAA Final Four generated $270.03 million in economic impact, and the 2017 Super Bowl generated about $347 million.

“What’s unique about the rodeo is we get to have that type of impact every single year,” President and CEO Chris Boleman told the Houston Business Journal.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...nges-2024.html

Houston Dynamo's Shell Energy Stadium to feature new field-side seats, marquee bar in 2024

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Feb 22, 2024

The Houston Dynamo Football Club has unveiled a number of new changes at Shell Energy Stadium ahead of the 2024 seasons for the Dynamo and Dash, including revamped field-side seats, a new marquee bar and additional food options.

The additions this year follow the major investments made into the club’s East Downtown venue in 2023, which included replacing each of the stadium’s seats and renovating the East Club. The club also added 10 new local restaurant partners ahead of last year’s season. While the new additions this year don’t match the size and scope of last year’s changes, HDFC focused on smaller, intentional changes to continue elevating the fan experience.

The largest of the new changes was upgrading the stadium’s field-side seating on the east sideline. Previously, the venue offered padded folding chairs for this valuable piece of real estate. Now, the club’s pitch-side seats feature two levels of padded luxury rockers — a total of 251 seats. Ticket holders for these seats will also have access to the East Club.

Only limited seats are available, though, as the field-side seating is already 80% sold through for the Dynamo’s 2024 season.

Another major change is the introduction of a new bar, the Corona Premier Bar, located on the south side of the venue. The bar replaces the Heineken Star Bar, which previously occupied the same location at the stadium.

In the past, the bar was closed to the public and only accessible for private groups and premium ticket holders. Last year, the club opened up half of the bar for the public; this year, the space will be fully open to anyone. That was done with the intention of providing more space for fans who would rather watch the game in a standing-room-only communal space rather than from their seats, HDFC President of Business Operations Jessica O’Neill previously told the Houston Business Journal.

For concessions, seven of the 10 local restaurant partners that joined the stadium last year are returning, including Trill Burgers, Roostar Vietnamese Grill, Vinny’s Pizza, Taqueria Arandas, Elotes Bravos, Hugo's and Urbe. The club is also continuing its partnership with James Beard Award-winning chef Hugo Ortega, which began last year.

HDFC expects to add one or two new concessions to the stadium throughout the year, O’Neill said. The club is also exploring different ways to expand the variety of food options in the stadium, including by having a rotating roster of concessionaires or introducing portable concessions that aren’t tied to a single location in the venue, she added.

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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/tex...n-18679373.php

World Cup 2026: Why Houston's NRG Stadium will have to change its name during tournament

By Matt Young,
Staff writer
Feb 21, 2024

NRG Energy is paying a lot of money for its name to be on the Houston Texans stadium, but none of that will be apparent when World Cup matches are played in NRG Stadium in 2026.

FIFA refuses to acknowledge corporate stadium names, despite many naming rights agreements being in place long before host cities even put in a bid to lure the tournament to town.

So, due to FIFA regulations, the seven matches at NRG Stadium actually will be played at “Houston Stadium.” It will be the same for all 16 stadiums hosting World Cup matches. SoFi Stadium will be called “Los Angeles Stadium”, the Cowboys' AT&T Stadium will be designated “Dallas Stadium”, even though it’s located in Arlington, and MetLife Stadium gets the even clunker moniker “New York/New Jersey Stadium.”

“Going way back to the bid process, there’s always things that you work through before you even bid for an event, so we are super thankful to our corporate community, especially NRG in this case for stepping up and agreeing even before we put the bid in to help us with this,” Harris County Houston Sports Authority CEO Janis Burke said.

Before the stadium opened in 2002, Reliant Energy paid $300 million for it to be called Reliant Stadium for 30 years. When NRG Energy bought Reliant, the venue was renamed NRG Stadium in 2014.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...Pos=0#cxrecs_s

Houston Open prepares for first tournament with new title sponsor, new date and more

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Feb 27, 2024

The 2024 Houston Open will be a banner year for the Astros Golf Foundation, which organizes the annual PGA Tour event. This year will mark the event's return to the spring schedule and the first time it's had a long-term sponsor since Houston Astros owner Jim Crane took over the tournament.

Shell Oil Co. dropped its decades-long title sponsorship of the event in 2017, leading Crane and the Astros Foundation to save the tournament in a last-minute deal in 2018. The tournament has been hosted in the fall since 2019 and has thus far existed with a number of one-time title sponsors.

Now, the event is back on the spring schedule of the PGA Tour calendar — where it had been historically — and will feature Houston-based pediatric and women’s health system Texas Children’s Hospital as its title sponsor. Texas Children’s five-year, $65 million deal will provide stability for the tournament after years of uncertainty, said Giles Kibbe, president of the Astros Golf Foundation.

“The stability is a huge relief and a huge benefit to us and to the city of Houston,” Kibbe told the Houston Business Journal.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...rm-thrive.html

As Houston courts NHL franchise, local hockey thrives in unexpected places


By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Mar 7, 2024

Three years ago, Eric Kimmel’s then-8-year-old daughter would cry after every hockey game.

Kimmel’s daughter was one of just two girls on a Houston boys youth hockey team. The coach would always put her on defense, and her teammates seldom passed her the puck. Kimmel said she felt like an outcast.

“She was ready to quit hockey and give it up,” Kimmel said, "because who wants to cry after every game?"

It was not long after that, in 2021, that the Houston Girls Hockey Association was formed. It’s the only all-girls hockey organization in the Bayou City, fielding seven teams of different age groups for the HTX Storm. Kimmel immediately jumped in to help the organization, first as a coach and now as its president since April 2023. His daughter continues to play youth hockey, now alongside fellow girls.

“They saved her hockey career,” Kimmel said.

Meanwhile, James Calderone, a University of Houston senior studying sports management, came to the Bayou City from Stillwater, Minnesota, with hockey gear in hand, ready to compete for the Cougars. He quickly found out that the university didn’t have any hockey programs, even though much smaller schools across Texas do.

Take East Texas Baptist University as an example, Calderone said. The Marshall, Texas, university boasts an enrollment of just 1,833 students as of fall 2023, yet fields two separate hockey teams. UH, on the other hand, has an enrollment of 46,676 as of fall 2023.

“I actually assumed that there would be a team at a university this big because there are smaller universities, even in Texas, that have teams,” Calderone said.

That led Calderone to start the UH Ice Hockey Club in early 2023, which now competes in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II Level. The team’s inaugural game in September 2023, played at Sugar Land Ice & Sports Center, was against none other than East Texas Baptist University.

Both the youth girls and college programs are finding success in Houston amid efforts to recruit an NHL franchise for the city. Professional hockey hasn’t called the Bayou City home since the American Hockey League’s Houston Aeros left for Des Moines, Iowa, after the 2012-13 season. However, Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has been the most notable — and vocal — local leader to express interest in bringing professional hockey back to Houston, recently telling Bloomberg that talks with the NHL have intensified.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...nel-messi.html

Lionel Messi to play in Houston as part of 2024 Leagues Cup

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Mar 14, 2024

International soccer superstar Lionel Messi will make his return to Houston this summer.

As part of the 2024 Leagues Cup — a World Cup-style international club tournament featuring all 47 teams from Major League Soccer and Mexico's Liga MX — Messi and Inter Miami CF will face Club Tigres of Mexico at NRG Stadium on Aug. 3. It’s the first time Messi has played in the Bayou City since the 2016 Copa America tournament when Argentina faced the U.S. in the semifinal round, which was also hosted at NRG Stadium. Inter Miami is also the reigning Leagues Cup champions.

Tickets go on sale for the matchup on March 26.

When Messi last played in Houston, the Copa America semifinal match was one of the most expensive games of the tournament. Additionally, Messi’s Houston visit for the Leagues Cup may end up being his second trip to NRG Stadium this year. Houston is hosting multiple matches for the 2024 Copa America tournament, including a quarterfinal match that could feature Argentina.

The Miami-Tigres match in Houston is part of the revamped Leagues Cup tournament, now entering its second year. Some of the changes for this year include a new Leagues Cup ranking system to create more competitive balance, as well as hub privileges for the top four Liga MX teams, limiting travel for those clubs and increasing fan engagement. As one of those teams, Tigres has hub privileges in Houston. Tigres will play its first group-stage match against Club Puebla at Shell Energy Stadium in East Downtown on July 31.

“We wanted to make sure [the hubs were] places where [the clubs] felt like they had a strong fan base and that it was a good place for the tournament, as well,” Adrienne Barber, MLS senior vice president of properties, told the Houston Business Journal.

While Messi will certainly be a big draw, there’s no doubt that Tigres has a strong market presence, as well. The club played at Shell Energy Stadium twice last year, both of which were against CF Monterrey, and both of which were sold out. The first match was in August 2023, when the two faced off in the Round of 16 for the Leagues Cup, and the second was in October 2023, when they met for El Clásico Regio.

Additionally, Houston will host at least two more matches for the 2024 Leagues Cup. Both Houston Dynamo FC’s group-stage games against Real Salt Lake and Mexico's Atlas FC will be played at Shell Energy Stadium. The city also will have the opportunity to host knockout-stage matches, depending on which teams advance each round. Houston hosted four total matches for the 2023 Leagues Cup.

“Houston is a soccer town,” Barber said. “It’s a great market for both MLS and Liga MX, so it’s a great opportunity to bring a lot of group-stage matches to Houston, which we’re really excited about.”

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...upporters.html

When it comes to landing a new NHL franchise, many Houstonians say the puck should stop here

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Mar 26, 2024

As Houston pursues an NHL expansion franchise — which would add yet another professional sports team to the city — many locally say there’s more than enough fans to support it despite the competition from other leagues.

With Houston being the fourth-largest U.S. city with a track record of supporting multiple sports, professional hockey could certainly find success locally, said Janis Burke, CEO of the Harris County Houston Sports Authority. The city was also a successful market for the Houston Aeros before the franchise moved to Iowa. However, Burke cautioned that with so much competition in the market already, it still might be difficult for a professional hockey team to build a fan base.

The city is already home to teams from four of the five big sports leagues: the NFL’s Houston Texans, NBA’s Houston Rockets, MLB’s Houston Astros and MLS’ Houston Dynamo FC. The city also hosts the United Football League’s Houston Roughnecks, Major League Rugby’s Houston SaberCats and NWSL’s Houston Dash — the only professional women’s team in Houston — not to mention multiple teams from Division I universities across the region.

“You also have to be realistic,” Burke told the Houston Business Journal. “We’ve got college sports and a lot of professional sports, and somebody coming in would need to put the work in to make sure they can break through and get their marketing message out.”

Despite that, multiple sources told HBJ that Houston has a passionate hockey fan base.

Lance Rosenberg, assistant general manager at Oak View Group and Houston chapter president for Hockey Players in Business, said that foundation is fueled by transplants. There are over 123,000 residents in Harris County who were born in the Northeast U.S. and another 11,000 residents who were born in Canada — two places where hockey is most popular — according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...cellation.html

After first being canceled, annual Houston bike ride gets second wind after second chance

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Mar 27, 2024

The city’s Tour de Houston bike ride is back on for a 17th time on April 7 — but only after the event was canceled and then immediately brought back earlier this year.

The Tour de Houston, the city’s annual bike ride to raise money for its Re-Plant Project, was canceled in January due to a lack of funding, according to reporting from Axios on Jan. 31. A day after Axios’ story, Mayor John Whitmire announced that Houston-based Apache Corp. would return for its 12th year as title sponsor of the event, ensuring that the ride would take place in 2024.

Whitmire told the Houston Business Journal he learned of the potential cancellation as he was transitioning into his new role with the city — having been inaugurated as mayor on Jan. 2. He said there were communication issues regarding the size and scope of the event, which were resolved after he spoke to Apache CEO John Christmann.

“I learned of the potential cancellation and said, ‘No, not during my administration,’” Whitmire said. “There was never any real doubt that we were going to do it.”

Apache’s longtime sponsorship of the event is the result of the alignment between the Houston Parks and Recreation Department’s Re-Plant Project — which has planted nearly 2,000 trees in the city since 2017 as a result of the Tour de Houston — and Apache’s Tree Grant Program, said Castlen Kennedy, Apache's vice president of corporate communications and public affairs. After its 11th year as title sponsor in 2023, Apache believed it was a natural sunset period to roll off as title sponsor, Kennedy said.

However, when the company learned the event was in danger of being canceled because of the sponsorship needs, Apache decided to sign on for another year.

“Everybody agreed it would be a real shame for the event not to happen, so we gladly stepped up to do it for another year,” Kennedy told HBJ.

[Wattleigh]

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...kets-2024.html

Houston Texans season tickets could be sold out by summer, exec says

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Apr 12, 2024

Following the Houston Texans' most successful season in recent years, fans are clamoring for season tickets for the team’s 2024 campaign.

The organization expects to have a season ticket renewal rate above 95%, and new sales are “significantly ahead” of where they were at this time last year, team President Greg Grissom told the Houston Business Journal. Additionally, Grissom said he believes season tickets could be sold out sometime this summer. In 2023, Houston sold about 8,000 new season tickets — a 45% increase from the previous year — and the renewal rate was 91%.

The increase in season ticket interest stems from a number of notable developments dating back to the beginning of 2023. It started with the hiring of DeMeco Ryans as the team’s new head coach and the drafting of a trio of first-year standouts: quarterback C.J. Stroud, defensive end Will Anderson Jr. and wide receiver Tank Dell. The season culminated in the team’s first playoff appearance since 2019.

Most recently, the Texans traded for star wide receiver Stefon Diggs, adding another element of excitement to the 2024 season.

“We’re in a great place,” Grissom said. “Houston is responding to this team and the excitement around it, and we can’t wait to get started this fall.”

[Wattleigh]

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...ss-events.html

Houston one of top cities for hosting major sporting events, new ranking shows

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Mar 19, 2024

Houston is starting to get the respect it deserves when it comes to hosting major sporting events, a new ranking shows.

The Bayou City ranked No. 8 on the the "Best Sports Business Cities: Event Hosting" list from sister publication Sports Business Journal, which focused on U.S. cities that have had recent success in attracting and hosting major sporting events. It was the second-highest ranking for a city in Texas, only behind Arlington, which narrowly edged out Houston and came in at No. 6. Meanwhile, San Antonio was No. 15, and Dallas came in at No. 22 in this year’s ranking.

Janis Burke, CEO of the Harris County Houston Sports Authority, said in a statement to the Houston Business Journal that the city is proud of how far it has come as a sports tourism destination. However, she added that HCHSA still has some work to do and "won’t be totally satisfied until we are considered the number one destination in the United States for hosting sporting events."

"We have avid fans, great venues, thousands of passionate volunteers, corporate partners who step up when asked, and an experienced team of people," Burke said in the statement. "We know how to bid for and host successful mega sporting events, and Houston has a strong global reputation for doing these events in a first-class manner."

Burke later added: "We’ll take this ranking as a positive sign that people are taking notice of Houston and appreciate the work we do."