MLB The Astrodome: The 8th Wonder of the World

welcome to another edition of mlb network presents it was billed as the eighth wonder of the world 50 years ago in april of 1965 the astrodome opened its doors to the public as the world's first multi-purpose domed sports stadium standing 18 stories tall and covering nine and a half acres it hosted the astros and the oilers college basketball's game of the century was played there and so too was the billie jean king bobby riggs battle of the sexes tennis match muhammad ali fought there evil knievel jumped motorcycles there and elvis sang there this legendary structure was the first in what became a long line of other domed sports stadiums but none have a history quite like the astrodome it didn't have the charm or romance of fenway wrigley lambeau or churchill downs but 50 years after opening its doors and more than a decade after major league baseball was last played there it's still remembered in its own way as one of sport's most iconic structures yes this is it from the fabulous new dome stadium and what you see is really only the top because there are four stories underneath it to get to go to the ball games with daddy was a very big deal because my alone time with him was spent at baseball games because we were very avid fans of baseball and we would get too many rain checks because it rains a lot in houston so riding home one night in the rain i asked daddy why can't we play baseball inside and he pulled the car off the freeway and asked me what'd you just say and i'll tell you as you pan around this great astrodome the texans say everything in texas is bigger than anything anywhere else this time they say they've created the biggest thing of all i call it the eighth wonder of the world it's our equivalent of the taj mahal anchor watt or the pyramid and here comes billy gene king i walked in that place and i thought goodness gracious what a performance i did what everybody did the first time you walked in you went that ceiling goes to the moon and i looked at everything there and it just was mind-boggling [Music] i felt like i had gone to another planet it was the game of the century felt like i had walked into the next century a real flying saucer inside the astrodome that's how far into the future it looked [Music] people came from all over the world just to see this spaceship that had landed in the middle of the texas prairie before the eighth wonder of the world ever became a reality houston was just a big city in texas hopeful about the future houston did not have an identity in 1960 they'd always been considered a oil field town but it was starting to evolve and form a new identity it was going to be the hub of the space age but it wasn't yet and houston wasn't a destination city there was no attraction that people could think of that they related to houston one attraction houston did have was minor league baseball which dated back to the 1880s but by the 1950s the city wanted more george kirksey had the idea to bring major league baseball to houston and that's all we had to begin with was an idea kirksey and cullen became a team and the two of them called on re bob smith who was probably the richest man in houston and smith brought in judge hoffeins because he was the judge's get things done guy smith put up the money and the judge put up the brains brains were going to be critical to clear the obstacles standing in the way of getting used and legitimately considered for a major league franchise when the community leaders of houston begin talking majority baseball we'd like to have a major league baseball team what would it take the first answer is the second answer is the third answer is always forget about it people are not going to sit in that immense heat and humidity to watch baseball and among the other things they would say you have a deeply segregated city huffines actually had experience with racial issues he'd served as a harris county judge and houston mayor and acted to desegregate the city's public libraries and restrooms hof hines had very strong ties to the african-american community he was very active in promoting civil rights long before that was an accepted norm in this part of the country still houston's heat was a different kind of problem and it was going to require some innovative thinking to overcome judge hopfons had a model prepared of the astrodome that cost forty thousand dollars because that was the lure and the phrase that hopfines clung to was this is what it takes to become a big league city but even if houston was among several cities lobbying for a franchise major league baseball didn't seem to be in a rush to expand george kirksey decided that houston and the other cities that wanted major league baseball we're going to have to take baseball by storm so in july 1959 the formation of a rival league to compete with major league baseball was announced today was the birth of the continental league the five founding team consisting of new york toronto minneapolis st paul denver and houston met here in new york and announced the formation of this new leaf the continental league amounted to the greatest bluff ever run in the history of professional sports it forced the expansion of the major leagues so by 1962 it all goes according to plan both houston and new york will be added to the neighbors they certainly will be and they were added most enthusiastically hothein's dome stadium proposal was the central reason why mlb chose houston which meant his next task was just as daunting actually building it that's what he had to promise in order to get the team so that's what he would do he would make a promise and then he would have to make the promise happen when the astrodome was first proposed it was considered a quote damn fool idea people thought he was crazy it was seen as an impossible thing they really thought that he was delusionary not visionary delusionary so selling the idea to get the money to build the dome was a huge political undertaking this was something that people needed to pay for out of their own pockets and they had to be persuaded to support it the bond issue was 35 million the general reaction community was number one no matter what you tell us i'm not so sure that this can be done number two 35 billion dollars it was exactly the kind of challenge judge hoffein savored there was a part of roy hophines who was a pt barnum but he was much more than that this guy was bright borderline brilliant the astrodome campaign was just the latest act in a political career that it started at the feet of lyndon johnson well i huffines of houston the best campaigner that ever was here's roy hoffeinz was really kind of a prodigy he was a lawyer at 19 he was texas state legislator elected at the age of 21. he was elected harris county judge at the age of 24 and he'd become the mayor of houston before he was 40. he knew that in order to get it passed he was going to need the votes of the african-american community so a back room deal was made led by judge hoffeins you give us the votes to get the bond issue passed and it's going to be desegregated i think the assurance that the astronomer would not be segregated did in fact make a big difference voterist passed the bond issue in january of 1961 and the groundbreaking for the dome took place a year later in typical texas style the groundbreaking for the dome was i thought very unique we all had 45 pistols and at the signal although was shot into the ground that was a brainchild of roy hopkins also the colt 45s meanwhile began play in 1962 and played their first three seasons at colt stadium colts stadium it was hot game time temperature 105 degrees if you came there doing afternoon games which were rare we never had them because of that problem you would die it was humid and it was crazy they had mosquitoes bigger than you and i put together but amid the elements all players and fans had to do was look up to get an up-close view of the miracle to come when you're watching this incredible dome stadium being built alongside you and you're playing in this outdoor so-called minor league stadium we all said hurry up please hurry up for me it was a great inspirational plus to do well because i wanted to play in that dome stadium [Music] anticipation was growing in the early 1960s as the houston astrodome was constructed but with that excitement there was also plenty of skepticism could the concept really work the idea just seemed preposterous how they gonna do this people saw it as a dangerous project no one was sure that that roof would stay up how are they actually gonna air condition the whole thing people expected them to fail how are they going to play ball in this won't a ball hit the roof and then when they told us that the shamrock hilton could fit inside this place you couldn't get your mind around it but the imagination and ambition of judge roy hoffeins never had any limits what he said he wanted was a stadium that would have a dome over that would be air conditioned heated that would grow grass he said he'd studied the matter and he was sure that this could be accomplished everything that the engineers and the architects did was new they didn't have any model to follow there was no place to go look and see how somebody else did it hoffeins treated every goal reached in the project as a landmark including the topping of the dome this is a tribute to the teamwork from the architects and engineers who had the concept to the men on the job from american bridge in the ironworkers who have made it a reality and when the dome was completed in november of 1964 six months ahead of schedule a dream had been realized from the very inception have been two people who thought this thing could be filled one was bob smith who never swerved from it and i think i was the other party the two men had also decided to change the club's name moving on from the past to the future they wanted a name that tied themselves to the space center and they boiled it down two names it's either going to be stars or it's going to be astros mr smith hesitated he says i like astros that's how it happened thus the building's name the astrodome bob this must be a tremendous thrill for you to see the astrodome just about ready to open there's no question about that and i think contrary to the general opinion of it being eighth one in the world i think it's the wonder of the world and so on april 9 1965 the astrodome was open for business the electricity of opening night in the astrodome was unequaled in anything i've ever seen known or heard of baseball comes indoors this evening when the astrodome opens its doors president lyndon johnson is in attendance tonight as the moment sports fans across the world have been waiting for i was in the purple section where were you sitting i was in the back row of the yellow section up in the cheap seats it was so magnificent and so huge it was hard to take it all in the astrodome roof arches 208 feet above the playing field an 18-story building could easily be fit inside i for one of the baseball player i said how can they build a roof high enough to hold the highest top fly let's find out once and for all if anybody can hit the top of that dome let's begin with the young outfield star of the houston club rusty style rusty do you really think it can be done no i don't think it can help you willing to give it a try for the fans sure all right let's see what rusty stub can do number one hey that's a good belt and it must have been at least 75 feet too low and number two coming up another good belt but again at least 75 feet too low rusty do you give up got to give up thanks a lot for trying the astronome had a ton of firsts cushion theater seats were something that the astronomer brought to baseball you get a padded sheet how many times do you get a padded sheet you get to go watch a baseball game six thousand six hundred tons of air conditioning in the very center of the dome on the outside we do have our very own weather station the longest dugouts in baseball because haw fights realize that people want to buy seats behind the dugouts the world's largest scoreboard which was four stories tall this scoreboard defined all scoreboards that followed and anybody that experienced that scoreboard will know exactly what i'm talking about and there'd be the usherettes and their little space outfits busy spacex directing late arrivals to their seats beautiful spaces wow you'd have the guys that cleaned the field and their space outfits everything was spaced in fact opening day against philadelphia 25 astronauts had the honor of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch everything that was involved had to be the biggest and the best the astrodome club with the longest bar in texas judge huffines had imported it from france he was obsessed with making the astrodome as flamboyant and as fabulous as he could make it judge roy hoffeins invented the stadium box i remember seeing this model of an astrodome on the kitchen table and at the very top my dad pointed to them and he said look this looks like wasted space to you doesn't it these would be considered the worst seats in the house he said we're going to turn around and we're going to make them the best seats in the house at the very top the exclusive sky boxes this is a look into one of the over 50 luxurious sky boxes on the ninth level boxes containing 24 to 30 seats each pub room is individually designed with a different motif and while the sky boxes may have been the most luxurious places ever built to watch a ball game judge hoffein's own astrodome apartment was even another step beyond from the 9th level down through five additional levels you'll find almost a complete city the presidential suite plus four other suites with facilities for sleeping 14 people beauty parlor barbershop children's play area and of course a complete recreation area i used to look up and say this must be how it was with caesar and rome there must have been a list of about 200 things that happened for the first time and it got so silly that joe pepito proudly claimed to be the first italian to make an error in the astrodome joe pepiton was on the yankees team that faced the astros in the preseason game that opened the dome and the first home run would come off the bat of a legend [Music] [Applause] all eyes were on us it had to go well when mickey mantle hit it out of the park that was you know oh mickey way to go the astros won that first game a night contest two to one but when day games started an unforeseen problem was revealed this is lum harris manager of the houston ball club this is an orange baseball tell them wylam why is because yesterday for the first time we've tried the new dome stadium out in the daytime when the sun was out and we found out we could not follow our fly ball the astros front office staff was dying baseballs black blue green yellow whatever color you can imagine in the rainbow in the hope that colored baseballs would be easier to see we tried the color ball out this morning we can't see the color ball as good as we did the white one so that's out we used 50 sets of glasses this morning they didn't help it was pretty apparent that we were going to have to do something about it and it wasn't a few days that we decided to paint the roof and of course after we painted it the glare was gone but then so was the grass the judge was only one step ahead i mean he'd already been talking to monsanto and looking at artificial surface at first it was called chem grass but once it was installed in the dome astroturf was clearly the perfect term for the latest novelty in houston and baseball wouldn't be the only sport in town to use astroturf three years after the dome opened the oilers began playing football there and by the late 1970s with earl campbell as their star the oilers were a central attraction in the dome he turns the corner he caught the edge and we got a good block downfield he gained i think 199 yards at night hardcore cell years after the fact said that that was the best monday night game in the history of monday night football spoilers and the dome waving those pom-pons on monday night football that made houston special there was an energy like this town had never ever seen and from that game the astrodome became the home of a love affair between the city and its football team the whole love you blue era with bum phillips so fit the community [Applause] the fans identified with them they weren't three-piece suits people we were blue-collar workers we we kind of represented the city in that sense it was just an era where it's like wow we're on the map everybody wants to be in houston in the beginning the astrodome's biggest asset was its novelty but eventually roy hoffeins had to find other ways to keep people coming that was always on my dad's mind it was estimated that they needed to have 150 events in there a year just to break even in fact a great deal of his time and effort had nothing to do with sports it had to do with filling the days in this building even with the astros and later the oilers roy hoffeins knew the dome had to be more than just a home for baseball and football he saw this as not just a baseball stadium this was a multi-purpose building so for the remaining dates there were other possibilities you can't talk about the dome without talking about the livestock showing rodeo but so many people's memories are of that the annual demolition derby and thrill show the thrill show might have a major character like evil knievel you might have someone jumping from the top of the astrodome into a giant pillow at the bottom anything they could bring in here to promote this building they were going to do it did they have indoor chariot races any place else in the world no one thought about having bloodless bull fighting in polo matches we had conventions in here we had private parties in here there could have been a boss mitzvah in there for all we know i was there for the republican national convention i wanted the convention to be in my home city and no better place to hold it than the astrodome you name the people that came through here lyndon johnson helped us open it i saw the rolling stones there i saw paul mccartney there frank sinatra was here madonna michael jackson selena was here i remember seeing elvis presley here in 1971 at the rodeo wwe sold more tickets for wrestlemania 17 than any event in the history of the building and it was a bucket list day because we were in the astrodome if you took all of those events that happened in the astronaut president johnson comes to houston to hear his friend billy graham wind up his nine-day religious campaign you had a venue that had no parallel along with all those unique events there was also mainstream history made under the dome the heavyweight championship fights muhammad ali being in there spectators everywhere in the dome could witness the famed ali shuffle as his opponent was successfully floored and the fight stopped in the third round courtesy of legendary photographer neil lifer the astrodome also provided a unique angle to glimpse a knockout people were fascinated by that roof shot the camera was up at the top looking down you couldn't get that in any other building because they didn't have a roof in the 60s ollie championship fights were huge but in 1968 the astrodome also hosted what they called the game of the century this was an event that you remember where you was on january 20th 1968 more than 52 000 fans were in the astrodome people were everywhere it was like wow and millions more watched the game on national television as the cougars played host to john wooden's ucla bruins it changed the whole sports it was the first time that either a professional or college game was televised in prime time wait a minute ucla and houston is going to be on tv i can watch it on long island that was the launching pad for the interest that we now have in college basketball it was of national attention because of a long ucla winning streak they'd won 47 in a row and they did seem invincible the bruins were led by maybe the best college player ever at center number 33 seven feet one and a half inches lou alcindor we never thought they was invincible and that was because houston also had a future hall of famer all-american 6-8 senior alvin hayes one of the most amazing events to be a part of houston had a 17-game winning streak of their own and a hunger to beat the superstar who later became known as kareem abdul-jabbar this thought had been shining so bright up there i said i'm going to take it down tonight and i'm going to put alvin hayes star up here the battle of the unbeatens here at the astrodome top-rated ucla 47 in a row but that's being challenged by alvin hayes and that's hayes good again and it's 23-14 inside down center fakes goes up blocked by hayes 9 44 remaining in the half it's hayes over alcindor 17-footer good alvin hayes is putting on a one-man show it was a game of a lifetime looking for hayes turn around the game stayed tight throughout but the last two of hayes 39 points made the difference cementing the game of the century into sports lore forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] if the dome made a college basketball game feel big five years later the venue had the same impact on an historic tennis match live from the astrodome in houston texas the tennis battle of the sexes billy gene king versus bobby riggs what a scene it is the houston astrodome where up till now they've played almost every sport in the world except tennis the astrodome was hugely important to it because it was massive eighth wonder of the world so it was like a happening was bigger than life a wild scene with the celebrities present with the big band here with dancing cheerleaders in all of the rest everyone can remember where they were that day if they were alive the battle of the sexes featured 55 year old bobby riggs he was one of my heroes growing up because he was the number one player in the world but he was also known for a less than progressive outlook girls play a nice game of tennis for girls but when they get out there on a course with the man they're going to be in big trouble and so 29 year old billie jean king the top woman in the world had stepped up to shut up riggs title ix was passed june 23rd 1972 the year before i played bobby and the women's movement was at its height so i knew for me personally that that match was about social change it wasn't about sports and here comes billy jean king and she's got the fans here tonight bond's carried by six oh they're really great guys they're really like muscular and you know oh i love them they're so sweet they were just as nervous as i was just thinking this is a moment of truth my heart was absolutely pounding right through my chest and early on those nerves appeared to be weighing on king bobby leading three games to two in the first set [Music] and that was the critical moment of the match you could tell about halfway through the match the look on riggs's face that he knew he was in trouble you know billie jean king was just a force to be reckoned with it's been an interesting match with some fine tents that's the kind of tennis we've had from billie jean all night village king beat his trump real well the winner of the battle of the sexes billie jean king by scores of six four six three six three every day since that match september 20th 1973 somebody asked me about that match coming up a hometown boy returns to shine underneath the dome kind of threw me back a little bit to see somebody throw the ball that hard throughout the 60s and 70s the astrodome hosted nearly every kind of sports and entertainment event conceivable but the dome had been built as the home of the astros a ball club that for a long time was easy to forget about they struggled they had some tough years nobody watched the team everybody watched the stadium there was definitely a thought that the judge was more proud of the building than the team there were some players who rose to stardom in houston like the man they called the toy cannon jimmy nguyen that has got to be the longest home run i have ever seen hit rusty stobb and joe morgan made all-star teams as astros as did larry durger the team's first 20-game winner there was also gold glover doug raider and the often electric cesar sedania but great talent in the field and at the plate would only get you so far at the astrodome to win inside the eighth wonder of the world it was all about pitching if you were a pitcher you couldn't wait to get on the club if you're a hitter says what the heck am i going to do the fences are halfway to beaumont fences are 3 40 down each foul line 390 to ride in left center field and 406 to center you needed a club a cannon to get it out not only that you had to match up against probably one of the best pitching staffs in the national league too astros pitchers would eventually throw six no-hitters at home the first from don wilson wilson has pitched on no hitters that young fella is being mobbed but the legend almost synonymous with no hitters was a hometown kid who signed with the team in 1979. i was a cult 45 houston astro fan so i always wanted to play at home and thinking that you could pitch in the dome and that'd be your home stadium certainly was attractive to me it was just real exciting when he came to the astros i went down to the dome just to watch nolan warm up it was so loud i could hear the ball traveling through the air and then when it hit the catcher's mitt the loud noise that it made especially in the enclosed environment as the astrodome you hear that grunt kind of threw me back a little bit to see somebody throw the ball that hard ryan had already thrown four no-hitters when he got to houston and in the dome the fifth only seemed like a matter of time to third he's got it he got it no hitter number five in 1980 with the addition of nolan ryan they did go to the playoffs and they won their first division title that year and in the playoffs against the phillies the astros would be led by ryan and 20-game winner joe negro we split in philadelphia so we feel good about ourselves coming back into houston good afternoon everyone and welcome to the astrodome the egg wonder of the world dallas green said he could not concentrate very well because there was so much noise in this building channing houston astros houston astros negro dominated game three throwing ten shutout innings [Applause] plus standing on their feet here in the astronaut we won one to nothing on a joe morgan triple in the 11th inning way back we had a two game to one lead and uh lost games four and five heartbreaking [Music] fashion we had a 5-2 lead in the top of the eighth in game five with nolan ryan on the mound and you don't give this big guy on the mound a lead going into the eighth or ninth inning we were in the dugout gone you know what we're going to the world series the way this series is gone you can expect anything that wasn't good enough philly scored five to go up five runs back and forth [Music] [Applause] the slug fest that went between them to give philadelphia the lead 8-7 and of course it went the wrong way [Music] the only time in my career 25 men were crying it was uh that upsetting the pain of defeat reflected there because we really felt we had the better club in the minds of most baseball people it's the most exciting postseason series ever and obviously in a great setting in the astrodome after their playoff appearance in 1980 the astros returned to mediocrity but on the astrodome mound there were still sights to behold he needs one strikeout to be the first man in the history of this great game to have 4 000 ball and that's it strikeout number 4 for nolan ryan well the astrodome has not seen this much excitement since the 1980 playoff season they had had a losing season in 1985 the astros in 1986 were not expected to win anything we were picked to finish last and we had a rookie manager hal lanier the astros in 1986 they were still a collection of some of the veterans from that 80 team with some new faces on there kevin bass and right field billy board glenn davis [Applause] and they had the most solid pitching in franchise history nolan ryan was still anchoring that bob knepper mike scott had come into his own scott was dominant in 86 winning the cy young leading the league in era and strikeouts and saving his best for a day in the astrodome no one will ever forget i remember the date i remember the time september 25th 1986 astros giants that's one that will live in my memory from this place forever and yet there were even more thrills ahead with the playoffs beginning it was noisy it was loud it was just excitement everywhere and mike scott was right at the epicenter of everything scott's biggest weapon was his all but unhittable split-fingered fastball which had the mets searching for answers we felt like we have an advantage over the midst because the mets don't want to face mike scott after his game one masterpiece scott returned in game four at shea stadium looking to even the series at two it was such a great theater and and the stakes were so high for the mets the mets were the team they were supposed to win and they're fighting for their lives [Applause] gary carter just couldn't hit him he was totally in gary's head he was defeated before he got to the plate that ball is in high in the air to center field for billy hatcher this should do it mike scott has beaten the new york mets for the second time the mets won game five but there was still a sense they had their backs up against the wall for game six because if the astros won it scott would return for game seven the mets didn't want anything to do with mike scott if we'd had to play the next day and with that desperation as the backdrop one of the most unforgettable games in baseball history unfolded there's even a book written about it called the greatest game ever played and it was a fabulous game it may have been the loudest crowd in the history of the astrodome and they only got louder when phil gardner doubled home billy hatcher to open the scoring in the first [Applause] the early three-run cushion gave bob never plenty of room to work with he has been absolutely masterful in the ninth inning it was still three nothing and the met scored three runs to tie the ball game here comes hernandez from third the game is tied in extra innings the tension only grew and then the mets pulled ahead in the top of the 14th four three [Applause] no question it was an exciting moment and it was one of the great moments in astro history and that place went crazy it just went wild but the euphoria wouldn't last long as the mets took a three-run lead in the 16th inning with two out the tying run at second base it went down to the last out and we were looking to play game number seven the winning run at first base 3-2 to bass struck him out you don't even think about the season being over and then next thing you know boom strike three and you know hey we pack our bags and drive home today it was tough we played them really well but just quite couldn't get by him it was another very frustrating loss to lose that series and end up going home again not getting in the world series the disappointment of 86 would linger when the astros quickly returned to mediocrity but in 1988 craig biggio's arrival gave the team a new young star if it stays playable and what a great grab by biggio jeff magwell joined him three years later [Applause] the pair would become the collective face of the astros franchise the most popular players for a team fans were hoping would rise again at the astrodome the three years before i started managing 94 95 and 96 the team finished second my first year we won the division the second year we won 102 games and set a record that still stands and the next year we won 97 games so the last three years of the astrodome for baseball were glory years but as a stadium the astrodome was finished the first big dagger came when the oilers moved to nashville in 1996 leaving the astros behind as the dome's only regular tenant football even though it was only eight games a year was still bringing in a fair amount of revenue and not to have that second tenant was a big negative three years later time also ran out on the astros and on october 3rd 1999 they played their last regular season game under the dome the final regular season game in the astrodome was one of the top memories even for long-timers like larry durker who had been there since the beginning that was a memory that is just as vivid for me now as it was the next day after it happened 35 years of major league baseball in this building there's the strikeout and the final regular season game in the history of the nestor dome has come to a close with the astros celebrating their third straight central division title the confetti dropping down and just listening that stadium rocking you know it was it was that's probably one of the best memories that i have 97 98 99 and having that house being filled every night by 2002 the astros were three years removed from the astrodome that same year reliant stadium opened it was built in the astrodomes parking lot a state state-of-the-art yes indoor stadium to host the nfl's houston texans and when the houston livestock show and rodeo moved there the next year the dome no longer had a full-time tenant you look from the outside and you see it kind of dwarfed by reliant stadium i feel saddened by the fact that they put reliance stadium so close and it kind of looks like that ugly stepsister now kind of like an older athlete that had his glory days back then and now he's got a few aches and pains but somewhere inside of him you can still see that the greatness was there but there would be one more remarkable return to the spotlight for the dome in the fall of 2005 when it became a refuge for an unprecedented tragedy when katrina hit no one expected the devastation that occurred and we welcomed 25 000 katrina evacuees into the astrodome i was very proud of our city for doing that and i was proud of the astrodome for hosting it it was one of the most incredible scenes i've ever seen people sleeping on cots on the floor and you couldn't even see the floor [Music] there was a saying that the houston sports association had about the astronomy it was the astronomer is more than a stadium it's a way of treating people if the last thing that's at the astrodome was helping thousands and thousands of people from louisiana and truthfully i can't think of a better way for the dome to go out in 2008 sitting empty and in disrepair with numerous building code violations the astrodome was finally officially closed and the discussion over its future has continued ever since to see the dome today i prefer to remember it the way it was [Music] it was magnificent which is why it's so hard to come to terms with the fact that this building now sits empty we need to come up with a plan that saves the icon for the community the other school of thought is it's time to cut our losses and move on i love to hear every possible idea of how to save the dome people that had ideas from movie studios indoor ski jumping one person wanted to fill it with water like they used to do in roman coliseum and have you know battleships go at it even if you go in and say we're going to tear it down 88 million dollars just to take it down the dome's future if it has one is a complicated issue with opinions split between those in houston who want it torn down and others many with a personal connection like myself want it repurposed i would like to see them be able to keep the astrodome and find a functional use for it because it is a big part of our history something that goes with the identity of the state of texas along with the alamo part of houston history part of texas history an important part of american history and i don't think it's too far stretched to say is part of world history and i'll lament the fact that there's even a fleeting thought to tearing it down that's why this astrodome has to remain it has to become a historic monument and it has to be put to a fine purpose [Music] 50 years to the day after its opening a rally was held in houston to support repurposing the dome [Applause] [Music] the party included a cake former stars from both oilers and astros history and 25 000 fans who lined up for one last look at the eighth wonder of the world look at the amount of people that showed up to try to just go walk inside one more time and i think that people that ridicule that kind of emotional attachment i'm sorry that they don't get it it's still a beautiful place and i told myself that anything happened to the dome i would tie myself to it and if you have to kill the dome you'll have to take me with it i don't think the astrodome has gotten the respect that it deserves because what it meant to professional sports and sports in general the dome gave life to dome stadiums retractable road stadiums everything we see out there now the fact is it was roy alphys and astrodome that gave birth to everything else he was a huge and important figure one that we will never see the likes of again i think it's fair to say and i can guarantee you that my dad's spirit hovers out here behind us i can smell his cigars i really can it definitely is a living breathing soul and it would be pretty devastating to do anything less than to make it live

Channel: cacable7

Views: 54,275

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Id: 9Cv9eWKuLrg

Length: 44min 7sec (2647 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 20 2020