Houston Texans to pay $50M for Super Bowl LI upgrades

By Cory Buck | Feb 27, 2015

Dec 28, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans mascot Toro during the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /

The Houston Texans require $50 million in stadium upgrades in order to be ready to host Super Bowl LI in 2017.

The Houston Chronicle reports that NRG Stadium, which is set to be the venue for Super Bowl LI in 2017, will require roughly $50 million in stadium upgrades in order to be deemed worthy of hosting the NFL’s marquee annual event. It should come as no surprise that neither the Houston Texans nor the NFL plan to pay a dime towards that. Instead, as usual, it’s surmised that the good people of Harris County will foot the bill because of course they will.

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“There are investments that need to be made to have that special Super Bowl experience – those commitments that were made within the bid when Houston was awarded the Super Bowl,” said Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s senior vice president of events, per PFT.

The piece notes that upgrades costs would pay for “installing Wi-Fi in the stadium and upgraded the club and suite areas of the building.”

Ah yes, because one can’t have a quality game-day experience without checking Facebook, are we right? We’re sure Harris County will see plentiful bounties as a result of having their taxes hiked up so Roger Goodell, Robert Kraft, and their gang of henchmen can have cup holders in their floating leather recliners.

As Minnesota taught us last year though, that’s just the price of hosting the Super Bowl, and most of it comes at the cost of people who will neither attend the Super Bowl nor benefit from its existence in any way, shape or form. So goes doing business with the NFL.

This will be the third Super Bowl held in Houston. The city was also host to Super Bowl VIII between the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings, in which the Dolphins won their second straight Super Bowl. Thirty years later, Super Bowl XXXVIII came to town and pitted the New England Patriots against the Carolina Panthers. It was Tom Brady’s second Super Bowl victory.

Harris County remains committed to sorting out the bills and paying for their end, per a spokesman on that end.

“Some of those (expenses) may be the responsibility of the county, and some may not be,” said Edgar Colon, chairman of the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp. “We’re analyzing all that and going through the contracts and the documents and having conversations with our major tenants to resolve all of these contractual obligations. I’m sure all are going to be resolved in time.”

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