HOUSTON (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The Houston Dynamo has made given the city of Houston an ultimatum – get going on our stadium or we're out of here.
"It almost has to [happen soon]," said Dynamo president/GM Oliver Luck at the team's media day. "If it doesn't happen by the end of the year – it's the old saying, you know: A no is bad, a slow no is even worse. If there is no resolution by the end of the year, quite honestly we'll have to go to plan B, whatever that is."
The championship team relocated to Houston from San Jose largely induced by the prospect of a new stadium but since then, plans to build the 22,000 seat venue have been moving forward at a glacial pace.
The city has spent $15 million to secure a tract of land and the team's owners AEG have offered to underwrite the lion's share of the estimated $100 million price tag. AEG hoped to have a sealed deal by summer's end, however the financial crisis, the political environment created recent elections and the damage wrought by Hurricane Ike have delayed the prospects for a concluded agreement.
"We have a window now up until the end of the year, where we can get this thing done despite the economic challenges that exist in the market place," Luck added "I'm pretty confident, and also because the elections are over; there isn't any political grandstanding going on."
