Texans business: Mike Tomon on Toro District, ‘productive conversations’ on NRG Stadium, potential international game

PHOENIX – The business of football never really stops, especially during the NFL annual meetings with conversations ranging from media rights to rule changes and international growth.

For the Texans, there’s a lot going on.

Between the next steps for their planned state-of-the-art ‘world-class’ Toro District sports and entertainment complex and team headquarters in Bridgeland, ongoing stadium negotiations, the gameday experience for fans, a ticket price increase and more, this is an extremely busy time.

There’s no shortage of work to do for the AFC South franchise one year into the tenure of team president Mike Tomon, a central figure with the Toro District project along with ownership, team executives and key partners like Howard Hughes Communities, Gensler and Harris County commissioners.

How the Texans and Howard Hughes, their real estate partner, created a vision for ‘Toro District,’ an 83-acre development in Northwest Harris County involved a significant amount of market research.

They are planning a cutting-edge team training facility built across 22 acres as the centerpiece for the project.

The Texans, in a collaboration with Harris County and Howard Hughes , the developers of Bridgeland, The Woodlands and Summerlin in the Las Vegas area, plan to break ground this year and move into their new digs during the summer of 2029. Having football and business under the same roof was a major motivator in leaving NRG Stadium, for training.

“I think what guides us through this is principles,” Tomon said during an interview at the Arizona Biltmore. “The main thing is football. What we want to have is the most optimal situation for our team to compete. And so that’s a driver on how we think about the players’ journey, the coaches’ journey and, candidly, all of our teammates throughout the organization. For us to be together as an entire organization, for us to be focused in on the goals and the purpose of the overall training facility, those are the drivers.

“We have principles that we kind of go through. We sat and we talked with the architects and went through, ‘Here are our principles. here’s what we’re trying to do.’ So, there’s a strategic nature to it, and there’s a tactical nature to it, but it all comes back to our principles. That’s why we’re so confident and excited to kind of jump into this.”

Over the past year, the Texans and Howard Hughes visited multiple sports facilities and multi-purpose developments. That included The Star, the Dallas Cowboys’ practice hub in Frisco and adjacent retail and entertainment center Legacy West, The Battery, which the training center for the Atlanta Braves, the New England Patriots’ team facility and stadium, in Foxborough, Mass and other venues. Cal McNair, Hannah McNair and the Texans envision an ultra-modern destination for the team and staff to work under the same roof all year long along with a fun destination for fans.

There are no shortage of businesses that want to get involved with Toro District.

“That’s one of the real benefits of being able to announce it is that everybody is now aware of it,” Tomon said. “And because of that, we’ve had a lot of incoming interest. We have had early discussions with some of our key partners on what a relationship would look like there which are important things to give time to because we want to make sure it is the right fit for them, and that presence is creative, it’s thoughtful, it’s innovative, and it enhances the overall experience. So, there’s a lot of pieces that kinda come into that.

“The idea that we can make a truly unique destination, a 365-day-a-year destination that doesn’t currently exist from a sports and entertainment perspective, as well as a live, work, and play perspective here in Harris County, those are the things you can expect from us, That you could come to an event, you could come to, call it training camp, you could come to a youth sports event, and you could feel comfortable that you could fill not only your full day with your family, but a couple days. Between the hotels, the restaurants, the retail, and the other entertainment opportunities, a really unique destination is what we’re driving to and that’s what we’re in the process of right now.”

Gensler, a global architecture and design firm, is leading the master planning design for Toro District, while Howard Hughes Communities manages leasing for the development. The Texans will participate in the development of Toro District through an affiliate.

‘There’s the good, the bad and the ugly of all the other mixed-use developments around sports-anchored catalysts," Howard Hughes CEO David O’Reilly told KPRC 2. “Both the Howard Hughes team and the Houston Texans team have spent a lot of time over the past several months on airplanes touring all of the above. The way we’ve thought about the Toro District is that we’re going to do our own best-of collection, and we’re going to take the best of each one of those mixed-use entertainment districts that are around sports catalysts and create one that is authentic to us, authentic to Bridgeland, authentic to Harris County, and pure Texans all the way.

“From that perspective, we’re going to be able to create probably the best sports and entertainment district in terms of places to live, work, play, shop, dine, and experience that’s ever been built. I think that the McNairs and the Texans had a choice of any location in Houston where they would want to do this. And I am humbled and honored that they chose to partner with Howard Hughes. It’s unique when you’re able to align public leadership with a long-term community builder like Howard Hughes and a world-class NFL franchise. You can really build something that’s both economically powerful and community-centered. That’s exactly what we’ve done here.”

The AFC South franchise shares NRG Stadium, the site of their games, with the rodeo along with concerts and other events held there throughout the year. And that has created frequent spacing and scheduling conflicts as they conducted practices during the season along with training camp and offseason activities. Tomon emphasized previously to KPRC 2 that the focus remains on finding workable, financially viable solutions to upgrade NRG Stadium. They are under a lease that expires in 2032.

The priority for the Texans regarding the multi-use, 72,220 capacity stadium built in 2002 at a cost of $352 million is to renovate the facility, which is in need of extensive and expensive repairs and general improvements, in partnership with Harris County, the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Relocation to a new stadium isn’t the Texans’ stated goal. They want to refurbish the stadium.

Negotiations are active and ongoing with lots of time left on the current lease. The Texans are attempting to be proactive about the stadium situation. And Tomon struck an upbeat stance on those discussions.

“We have a ton of momentum,” Tomon said. “Our partners at the county have been fantastic. We’ve had some really productive conversations, and our partnership with the rodeo couldn’t be stronger. We couldn’t feel more fortunate to be going down this journey with great partners like the rodeo, and we’re so aligned on what we want to have happen, certainly for our respective businesses, as well as the city of Houston. So, really, really positive, and we continue to work on it right now.”

Contractually, the Texans are not responsible for the repair and upkeep of the stadium. That task lies with Harris County under the terms of the lease arrangement. The Texans have contributed millions of dollars, though, toward multiple repairs and maintenance of the stadium since the launch of the franchise in 2002 by the late founder Bob McNair, Cal McNair’s father.

“Absolutely, our focus is to be here,” Tomon said after the announcement of Toro District. “Our focus is to be at NRG Park. As we like to say, ‘You want to see us on our biggest moments? Come to NRG. You want to see us on our day-to-day, the other 350 days a year? Come to Bridgeland. And so that’s kind of how we look at the Toro District. And our focus remains making this our competitive advantage here at NRG.”

The Texans plan to have several events and things to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the inaugural season. There will be a special patch on the uniforms. There will also be Nike rivalry uniforms for a home game against an AFC South opponent.

Making the gameday experience as fun and smooth as possible is crucial to the Texans.

‘That’s a driver," Tomon said. “That’s something that we think about every single day. We’re really excited to have fun with our 25th season coming up here. We think there’ll be a lot of unique experiences that will showcase our fans. That’s gonna be a big part of this.

“We also really try to dive into being relevant to our market. We have a really special market, a diverse market. So, how are we relevant with our experiences? Even, just how people use their experience, (5:38) their tickets, when they come here. We’re trying to introduce corporate-friendly opportunities that don’t exist. We’ll have a new premium product that we’ll roll out here in the next month or two.”

The Texans are increasing ticket prices this year after three consecutive playoff appearances.

Tomon said the price increase will be nearly 10 percent.

“We spend a lot of time on trying to make sure we’re as thoughtful as we can be, to our fan-base, to the business, to the market,” Tomon said. “For this year, the overall increase is just under 10 percent. We are below the average ticket price in the NFL even though we have one of the largest markets and we’ve been in the playoffs for the last number of years. We’re balancing those pieces. We’re trying to be really sensitive on the price side.”

The Texans’ average single-game ticket price last year was $252, per StubHub analytics. The Texans were the 17th most expensive ticket in the NFL.

“When we think about the pricing, we’re tenure-based,” Tomon said. “And, so, there are tenure incentives, so our fans who can be there with us from Day 1 are behind on the price increases as opposed to someone who is buying new.”

The Texans recently named Hannah McNair as chief community officer. She is also the vice president of the Texans’ foundation.

The title addition was intended to reflect her overall impact and leadership for the organization, including philanthropy, the growth of flag football, the volleyball franchise, Toro District and more.

“If you ever have a chance to be around Hannah, you’ll feel the leadership,” Tomon said. “She has been really a bedrock for us on kind of the community conscience. I think she is a great leader who, as we’re growing and we think about our purposes, she’s always making sure that’s coming to life in our efforts.

“When we think about our purpose of inspiring hope in Houston, what that means from making football and sports overall accessible and understand that she’s already been on the forefront of those efforts, it made all the sense in the world to put her in that official capacity. Especially when you think about where we’re growing and the need to stay true to our purposes.”

The Texans are a potential candidate for an international game this year. They have previously played internationally in Mexico and London, losing to the Las Vegas Raiders and defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars, respectively, in those matchups.

Both the Washington Commanders and the Jaguars are scheduled to be home teams in London next season, two of the Texans’ road opponents.

“Yeah, we’re open to it,” Tomon said. “We want to make sure it makes sense for football. So, we have to really think through those things. We also want to be able to promote the city on that global stage. And, so, those are all things that we’re open to.

“I think one of the things that we’re very supportive of is this international growth. And we think we’ll play a key role in that at some point. At some point is probably the thing you put in quotations right now. So, we’ll see when that is.”

Circling back to Toro District, Howard Hughes has significant experience in this type of mixed-used project.

They built the headquarters for the Las Vegas Knights at City National Arena in Summerlin, which operates as the NHL’s practice facility and community ice rink that opened in 2017 as a 145,000 square-foot facility with two NHL-regulation rinks, a team store and other features.

The partnership includes the Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the Las Vegas Aviators, a Triple A baseball franchise that’s the affiliate of the Oakland A’s. Howard Hughes are the owners of the Aviators.

Summerlin is a master-planned community in the Las Vegas Valley adjacent to Red Rock Canyon built by Howard Hughes, which also developed The Woodlands, Woodland Hills, Bridgeland in Texas, West Valley in Phoenix, Arizona, Merriweather District in Columbia, Maryland and Ward Village in Honolulu, Hawaii.

O’Reilly said several retailers are already looking to engage with a construction project projected to create $34 billion in economic growth over 30 years as well as 17,000 in jobs.

“Retailers as well as people that are looking for opportunities to find their next home nearby this incredible activation,” O’Reilly said. “Las Vegas, one of our master planned communities, where we built a practice facility for the Golden Knights as well as the full-time stadium for the Las Vegas Aviators, those two are anchored about a mixed-use entertainment district that’s consistently ranked as one of the best places to be in the Las Vegas Valley.

“This is tremendous. It brings the best of both together in terms of economic output, growth to the region, infrastructure, restaurant shopping, workforce opportunities, youth programming, an incredible civic gathering place, and a community activation that makes the lives of the residents in that area even more fulfilled and better. I’m as excited as I can be in my career here of building communities. At the end of the day, this is about building Houston’s future, not just the headquarters.”

The Texans, under the leadership of coach DeMeco Ryans and general manager Nick Caserio, have qualified for the postseason each of the past three seasons and won one playoff game annually. They lost in the AFC divisional round each of the past three seasons, falling to the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens.

The Texans, including the top-ranked defense in the NFL, are bringing back the core of their roster for next season with several key additions, including running back David Montgomery, safety Reed Blankenship and new starting offensive linemen Braden Smith and Wyatt Teller.

“We feel really fortunate,” Tomon said. ”We have such great leadership, from ownership to coach to Nick. We have a really special locker room. This is a special time in Houston right now, so we’re excited for the future."

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com