In May, NFL owners awarded Houston Super Bowl 51 for February 2017. Local reaction, not surprisingly, was over the moon. “Houston, we have another Super Bowl!” declared one local TV station, referring to the city’s prior hosting of the big game in 1974 and 2004. The game will be played at cavernous Reliant Stadium, while Discovery Green, the celebrated urban park in the heart of Houston’s downtown convention district, will be “El Centro” for a week and a half of Super Bowl celebrations.
As Houston Super Bowl Committee Chairman Ric Campo told local reporters, “The 10-day aspect of the game and having it centered in downtown with all this infrastructure that we’ve put in, and are going to put in, will make it probably one of the best events the NFL has ever seen.”
Already in place at the stadium are two new video boards installed by its resident NFL team, the Houston Texans, to enhance the bid package. Reportedly the largest in the world, the video screens are around 30 percent bigger than those at the prior record holder, Arlington’s AT&T Stadium (formerly Cowboys Stadium), home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Interviewed by NFL Network, Texans’ Owner Bob McNair was asked if he had enjoyed telling Cowboys’ Owner Jerry Jones about his bigger screens.
“Yeah,” he replied, “but I didn’t tell him about that until after he voted.”
That’s football for the faithful in Texas—larger than life and played in the grandest of stands.
Texans do have time for other sports, however. Major- and minor-league baseball are big plays, along with basketball, golf, auto racing, hunting, fishing and of course, the state’s official sport, rodeo. For groups looking for team play and other action, Texas is the place where “kickoff” meetings are a way of life.PageBreak
Let The Games Begin
Honoring more than 300 Texas sporting legends, with dedicated halls for football, baseball and tennis, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco is a stirring choice for events, with full facility rentals for up to 450 people.
Across the state, groups have many opportunities to see the sports stars of today in action at large-scale stadia and arenas that also serve the group market as special event venues. With five major-league teams among them, Metroplex neighbors Arlington, Dallas and Frisco are a sports lover’s dream. Stadium tours are a popular option for groups, which can get an inside look at AT&T Stadium (NFL’s Cowboys) and Rangers Ballpark (MLB’s Rangers) in Arlington, and the American Airlines Center in Dallas, home to the NBA’s Mavericks and the NHL’s Stars.
In Frisco, multipurpose FC Dallas Stadium, home to the MLS soccer club, offers rental opportunities that include the Stadium Club and field access.
“We partner with the stadium and our other sporting venues, Dr Pepper Ballpark and Dr Pepper Arena, to provide options for fun group outings, off-site unique meeting space and team-building activities,” says Marla Roe, executive director of the Frisco CVB. “Our strong local partnerships with these venues and teams allow a quick connection for our planners.”
With comparable major-league facilities and group tour options in Houston and San Antonio, the collective Texas sports campus extends to numerous minor-league, university and even high school venues, such as the famed “Friday Night Lights” field in Odessa. There is arena football in Abilene, roller derby in Beaumont (the Spindletop Roller Girls) and disc golf at Shawnee Park in Plano. Traditional golf is a major feature of the Irving area, where the Texas Wild, newly relocated from Kansas City, is a franchise of Billie Jean King’s co-ed World TeamTennis league.
Minor-league baseball parks are also in the news, from the new $20 million championship facility in Laredo to the forthcoming 8,000-seat ballpark in El Paso.PageBreak
Rodeo Days
Thought to have originated in Spain, rodeo describes the centuries-old practice of herding cattle and other livestock on horseback. Introduced to the Americas as early as the mid-1600s, the early Spanish-Mexican vaquero was the predecessor of the American cowboy, while the techniques of rodeo would evolve into the competitive sport it is today.
As the official sport of Texas, rodeo’s greatest showcase is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Established in 1932, this blockbuster spectacle, staged at Reliant Stadium, is the Super Bowl of rodeo in Texas and a must for groups. Rollicking, too, is the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo at the AT&T Center. Drawing more than 1 million visitors, this event, like its Houston counterpart, features live entertainment, a carnival and much more.
Mesquite is a prime rodeo destination, featuring professional cowboys and cowgirls competing at the long-running ProRodeo Series each weekend during the summer at Mesquite Arena. The Taylor County Expo Center in Abilene, meanwhile, hosts a variety of rodeo-themed events throughout the year, bringing talented cowboys and cowgirls from all over the world to show their skills in riding, ropin’ and more.
San Antonio groups can also experience the excitement of charreada, or traditional Mexican rodeo, the precursor of American rodeo. Check with the San Antonio CVB for recommendations on charros around Bexar County, where groups can experience rodeo in its enthralling original form, along with Mexican folk music and cuisine.
Watering Holes
Scuba diving in the wind-swept plains of West Texas? Yes, if you are scuba certified (an absolute requirement) and up for the challenge of deep diving into a 127-foot-deep former nuclear missile silo filled with crystal-clear ground water. One of 12 such installations built south of Abilene during the Cold War, Valhalla Silo is an unprecedented adventure for experienced divers. Contact the Family Scuba Center in Midland—whose owners are currently building a 2,500-square-foot facility at the site for future group use—for more details.
Dramatic, too, are kayaking expeditions along the Rio Grande, where the Laredo CVB can recommend local outfitters providing certified canoe and kayak instructors. Groups can start upstream and kayak into the city center.
Along the Gulf Coast, from Beaumont to Port Arthur to Galveston to South Padre Island, groups can charter deep-sea fishing expeditions or organize everything from surfing lessons and sandcastle-building to windsailing and airboating.
Groups also have plenty of urban-based water adventures to choose from, such as boat tours along the Buffalo Bayou in Houston, strolling along San Antonio’s famed River Walk, or kayaking on Lady Bird Lake in Austin, where Live Love Paddle provides rentals, tours and team-building excursions. In the Metroplex, Lake Grapevine offers water-based activities, while groups can also canoe the Trinity River in Dallas or pedal boat in Irving’s Las Colinas Urban Center.
A half-hour north of Houston in the Woodlands, water taxis and cruisers provide tours of the manmade waterways in this planned community, where the Woodlands Conference Center and Resort, with 60,000 square feet of versatile indoor and outdoor space, is an oasis for relaxed and productive meetings. An hour north of Houston, La Torretta Lake Resort & Spa, with generous IACC-certified conference space and a family-friendly waterpark among its many amenities, sits alongside Lake Conroe, where groups can enjoy water sports ranging from fishing to kayaking.
