Assuming the lockout has ended by then, of course.
The game will be played Feb. 17 at Toyota Center, which also hosted the 2006 game.
“It’s a done deal,” a person familiar with the bidding process told the Chronicle on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. “We’re just waiting for the NBA to make the announcement.”
There is no timetable as to when the NBA might formally award the game to Houston, although an announcement could be delayed until the end of the labor lockout, the person said.
[…]
The last time the All-Star Game was here it had an estimated economic impact between $80 million to $90 million.
sigh How is it that after all these years, the Comptroller’s office can provide before-the-fact estimates of “economic impact”, but can never seem to provide after-the-fact sales tax figures so we can have some kind of objective data points? Yes, I know there’s more to “economic impact” than that, but it would be a nice starting point. And if the Comptroller’s office does provide this data, why is it that the reporters who write these stories never seem to be able to include it? This has been your regularly scheduled rant about “economic impact” estimates.
During the past decade, Houston has been host to some of the country’s top sporting events, among them Super Bowl XXXVIII and Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game in 2004, the NBA All-Star Game in 2006, NCAA South Regionals in 2008 and 2010 and the Final Four this past April. Reliant Stadium, home of the NFL’s Texans, also will host the 2016 Final Four.
Before this busy decade, there was quite the long drought for such events. As the story notes, the last NBA All Star Game to be held here in 2006 was in 1989, at the Astrodome. The last MLB All Star Games was 1986, and the last NCAA championship game – there wasn’t a “Final Four” back then – was 1971, both also at the Dome. The last Super Bowl was 1974, at Rice Stadium. I don’t know how long we’ll continue to be in the mix for these things, but it’s nice while it’s lasting.
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