Houston Plays It Cool With Olympic Site-Selection Committee

The Texas Gulf Coast: a land of steamy, soaring humidity and mosquito hordes that dare even the most determined vacationers to enjoy its great outdoors.

Yet amid images of heat and sweat, a group of Houstonians is trying to convince the U.S. Olympic Committee that this sun-bleached, hurricane-threatened area should host the 2012 Olympics.

Their biggest selling point?

Cool.

It’s not the first word that comes to mind when considering the Houston area, but bid organizers are quick to point to another fact: Houston, the fourth-largest city in the United States, is the most air-conditioned city in the world. And a majority of the Olympic events could be held in buildings cooled to spring-like temperatures.

“All the perception is of heat,” said George DeMontrond III, chairman of the Houston 2012 Foundation. “But when you analyze it, everyone has that. We have the solution.

“That’s a significant issue we need to get across to the evaluation committee and the public. It’s one of the bigger issues and we’ve solved it.”

The U.S. Olympic Committee also is considering Washington, D.C.; Dallas; Cincinnati; New York; Tampa-Orlando, Fla.; San Francisco and Los Angeles to host the 2012 Games.

The USOC will make its selection in March 2003 and the International Olympic Committee will name the winner in September 2005.

“I think we have an interesting concept and we’ll surprise some people with what we have to offer,” said Leroy Burrell, an Olympic gold-medal sprinter and track coach at the University of Houston. “We’re not one of the older European cities, so we have to make up for that with some bells and whistles.”

Houstonians believe their comfortable venues will be a big attraction.

“Our venues are built or going in the ground,” said Susan Bandy, president of the Houston 2012 Foundation. “We’re not saying, ‘Give us the Games and we’ll build it for you.’ We’re saying, ‘We’ve got it, come and use it.’ ”

A Houston Olympics would revolve around the famous Astrodome complex, including a refurbished Astrodome and, just 100 feet away, the new Reliant Stadium, home of the NFL Houston Texans beginning in 2002.

A downtown arena that will house pro basketball’s Houston Rockets and Comets would be used for basketball. A cycling center, a whitewater canoeing course and a swimming and diving complex are among the venues that would be constructed.

Houston 2012 Foundation set an operating budget of $1.9 billion and expects the Olympics to bring in at least $2.2 billion. Constructing the venues would cost $165 million, with $87 million of that set aside for the Astrodome.

DeMontrond sees the Astrodome, the world’s first indoor stadium, gutted and returned to its former glory as a world-class indoor track facility. “It would seat about 70,000, which would be clearly acceptable for opening and closing ceremonies and for track and field,” DeMontrond said.

But the Houstonians want to do more.

DeMontrond said the proposal calls for holding the opening and closing ceremonies in the Astrodome and Reliant Stadium simultaneously. Athletes would march into the Astrodome, then move to Reliant to complete the ceremony. Video screens would keep fans in touch with events in the other stadium.

“We’d have a total of about 140,000 seats, which would far exceed Sydney,” DeMontrond said.

The stadiums’ proximity typifies the compactness that Houston organizers believe will make their bid attractive to the USOC.

“The majority of the venues are within eight miles of each other and within six miles of the Olympic Village,” Bandy said.

A compact Olympic Village means fewer transportation problems.

“We have technically the best bid out there as far as facilities and the proximity of the village,” Harris County judge Robert Eckels said. “Transportation between the sites will be the most financially sound. It’s conservative, but it also shows we’ve built for long term. It can be used beyond the Games for many years in the future.”

Not every event could be held within the confines of the Astrodome.

Sailing would take place on Galveston Bay, about 50 miles to the southeast. Soccer would be spread among the Alamodome in San Antonio, 200 miles to the west; Kyle Field in College Station, 100 miles to the northwest; and Rice Stadium.

DeMontrond suggests that the Astrodome’s weatherproof roof would be attractive to advertisers.

“When rain is no longer in the picture, you can guarantee an advertiser that wants to advertise the 100-meter dash at 9 p.m. Eastern time, it’s going to happen then, not two hours after rain cleanup,” DeMontrond said.

“The heat is not as big an issue as the rain because you don’t have enough time to reschedule in a compact time format. We feel with our facilities here we can battle the heat and let everybody enjoy most of the events in 72-degree comfort.”