Venue Detail
Houston Aeros
Revenues From Sports Venues Pro Facilities Report
January, 2010
Houston Aeros
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PO Box 271469 Houston, TX 77277-1469 Phone: 713-974-7825 Fax: 713-361-7900 URL: www.aeros.com Owner: Minnesota Sports & Entertainment League: American Hockey League West Division
Venue
Toyota Center, 1510 Polk St, Houston, TX 77002 Owner: Harris County-Houston Sports Authority Managed by: Houston Rockets Built: 2003 Capacity: 18,500 Concessionaire: The Levy Restaurants Suite caterer: The Levy Restaurants
Naming rights
Sold to: Gulf States Toyota and local dealers Price: $100, 000,000 Term: 20 years Expires: 2023
Ticket prices
Season tickets range from $330 to $1,650 Single tickets range from $12.00 to $60.00 2007 average attendance: 6,422 2008 average attendance: 6,280 2009 average attendance: 5,982
Luxury Suites
Quantity: 92 Term: 3 to 10 years Price: $170,000 to $260,000 Seats: 12 to 15 Includes: Tickets.
Club seats
Quantity: 2,860 Term: 1 to 1 years Price: $5,720 to $7,920
Financing
The city bought the land for the $175 million arena. The Sports Authority built a parking garage adjacent to it. The sports authority sold bonds for $175 million to build the arena and secured them with money from hotel and car rental taxes. The team's lease of $8.5 million a year is also used as collateral. The team gets nearly all building revenue, including parking money during team events. The city gets parking revenue from other arena events and for daytime parking.
The Sports Authority gets the lesser of 5 percent of the naming rights earnings or $200,000 per year. The naming rights money will apply toward the team's payments. Pct. public: 100
After losing an election in 1999 for a new arena, the Rockets got approval in 2000. The Venue opened in 2003 with the AHL Aeros as co-tenants. The approval did not raise taxes, but allows the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority to use existing funds for the arena.
The arena goes nearly three stories underground with 62 percent of its seating in the lower bowl. The 18,500-seat arena features wider seats, more than the average number of rest rooms and ample dock facilities to accommodate traveling shows.
The design allows for 2,800 of the seats to be premium club seats with 92 luxury suites. The team, which signed a 30-year lease, budgeted $20 million for possible overruns and improvements.
The Rockets had been courted by Louisville and the NBA said if Houston lost the Rockets, it would be a long time before the league returned to the city. (Facilities, Financial, Ice Hockey, Professional Sports, Venue)