Houston Sports Tours
We offer four sports tours. Please read the descriptions below the slideshow to select the best one for you. All of the tours will enlighten you to the current, past, and demolished stadiums and arenas, and the current and past major and minor league teams. Learn about the sports history, leagues and mergers, the teams, owners, star players, the highlights and lowlights, and the stadiums. Bring money for a lunch stop on Tours C and D. Lunch is typically at a sports bar, a restaurant in one of the stadiums, or in a restaurant close in proximity to an athletic field.
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- Sports Tour
The car company Toyota paid $100 million for the naming rights for the stadium.
The Toyota Center opened in 2003 for basketball. It has a seating capacity of 18,055 for basketball games and 19,300 for concerts. It is the home of the Houston Rockets basketball team, concerts, some conventions, and high school graduation ceremonies. It was the home of the former minor league hockey team, the Houston Aeros. The Aeros relocated to Des Moines, Iowa after the 2012 - 2013 season.
The Houston Rockets were originally an expansion team in San Diego, California, in 1967. The team was the San Diego Rockets for its first four seasons. The team moved to Houston for the 1971 - 1972 season. The team played most of its home games in the University of Houston's Hofheinz Pavilion for four seasons.
Hakeem Olajuwon was the greatest Houston Rockets player of the 20th Century. He played with the Rockets from 1984 to 2001 and one season with the Toronto Raptors before retiring in 2002. With the Rockets, he was a 12-time all-star, league MVP in 1994, and led the Rockets to two championships in 1994 and 1995. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. His uniform number was 34. In a bit of irony, Olajuwon never played in the Toyota Center. He had retired 1.5 years earlier.
Houston Historical Tours offers a variety of Sports Stadium Tours. Minute Maid Park is one such venue. This is the main entrance where the tours begin inside the building.
The sidewalks are adorned with what looks like baseball seams. Baseballs are sown together.
The ballpark is surrounded at key security points by heavy two and three foot high baseball barriers. In the ground, multi-color bricks are designed to look like baseballs.
The site of the baseball park had previously been used as the police's livery stables in the 1800s. The statue of the Blacksmith is a memorial to that time and its functions.
The roof is open in this view towards the north end of the park. A train engine and coal bin, symbolic of the building's former use as a train station, rides on a short horizontal track located towards the top of the stadium and toots it's horn when an Astros player hits a home run.
Minute Maid Park opened with dual names as Enron Field and The Ballpark at Union Station, in 2000. After the fall of Enron in 2001, the stadium was renamed Astros Field followed by Minute Maid Park, in 2002. Along with the American football stadium, it is one of two Houston stadiums with retractable roofs.
The interior of Minute Maid Park is largely made of marble. It is impressive. Configurations of the stadium change almost annually, but the seating capacity has been between 40,950 and 42,060.
The playing field was the area where 17 railroad lines converged into Union Station when it opened as the main southern train depot in 1911. The field is sunken to help keep air conditioning expenses low(er).
This is the Golden Boot. It recognizes both of Texas's baseball teams' successes in making post-season playoff games. Texas's other major league baseball team is the Texas Rangers, based in Arlington, Texas, between Dallas and Fort Worth.
Display cases showcase historic and proud moments in Astros history. The Astros have been in two World Series. In 2005, the Chicago White Sox swept the Astros in four consecutive games. In 2017, the Houston Astros won it's first World Series championship. It took an exciting seven games.
Minute Maid Park has a gift shop at the south end and a cafe at the north end of the main entrance.
What souvenirs do you want to buy or collect?
This statue is of first baseman Jeff Bagwell taking the throw from the Astros's second baseman. Bagwell played his entire major league career with the Astros, from 1991 to 2005. He was a four-time all-star and the National League's MVP in 1994. He became the second Astro player, who as an Astro was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in 2017.
This statue is of second baseman Craig Biggio throwing the ball to the first baseman. Biggio played his entire career with the Houston Astros, from 1988 to 2007. He was a seven-time all-star and became the first player as an Astro to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in 2015.
This area is dedicated for flying artificial pennants for each Astros team that has made baseball's playoffs.
Houston Sports Tour A
This tour is three (3) hours.It is a short driving tour with opportunities to get out and look at stadiums/parks/arenas and take photos. It does not include any tours inside of stadiums. It takes you to the four currently active major league stadiums, as well as to six (6) past stadiums and areas. Lastly, the tour includes going past the site of the former Houston Buffaloes (Buff) Stadium AKA Busch Stadium for the minor league baseball team, the Buffs, from 1928 to 1961. This is available everyday.
Houston Sports Tour B
This tour is four (4) hours. It includes touring 2 major league stadiums/parks/arenas and driving to see the other two major league sports venues. This tour is only available on Monday through Thursday. The Toyota Center can only be included on Tuesday and Thursday.
Houston Sports Tour C
This tour is five (5) hours. It includes tours of the basketball stadium, baseball park, and football stadium. It is only available on Tuesday and Thursday.
Houston Sports Tour D
This tour is six (6) hours. It includes tours of 2 major league stadiums/parks/arenas, driving to see the two other sports venues, seeing all of the former stadiums/parks/arenas, going to the sites of the demolished stadiums/parks/arenas, and going past the site of past the site of the former Houston Buffaloes (Buff) Stadium AKA Busch Stadium for the minor league baseball team, the Buffs, from 1928 to 1961. This is available Monday through Thursday.
The tours begin at the Houston Visitors Center in downtown. Please click here to be connected to the address and parking information.
The current major league stadiums are:
- BBVA Compass Stadium – home of the Houston Dynamo soccer team and Texas Southern University (TSU) Tigers football team since 2012.
- Minute Maid Park AKA The Ballpark at Union Station – home of the Houston Astros baseball team since 2000. This was formerly known as Enron Field from 2000 to 2001. It was Astros Field until July 2002.
- NRG Stadium, formerly Reliant Stadium from 2002 to 2014 – home of the Houston Texans football team since 2002 and the 2004 and 2017 Super Bowls. It was the home of the University of Houston Cougars football team in 2013.
- The Toyota Center – home of the Houston Rockets basketball team, the Houston Comets WNBA basketball team from 2004 to 2007, and the minor league Houston Aeros hockey team from 2003 to 2013.
The former homes of major league sporting teams include:
- Astrodome – the home of the Houston Astros from 1965 to 1999, the Houston Oilers from 1967 to 1996, the 1974 Houston Texans in the WFL, the Houston Hurricane soccer team from 1978 to 1980, the Houston Gamblers in the USFL from 1984 to 1985, and the home for the University of Houston Cougars football team from 1965 to 1997 and then as UH’s quasi-home from 1994 to 1998. The most famous mid-season collegiate basketball game in history, the Game of the Century, played by the UCLA Bruins and UH Cougars on January 20, 1968. The undefeated UH defeated the undefeated UCLA 71 to 69 in the first nationally televised in prime time NCAA basketball game during the regular season.
- Hofheinz Pavilion – the original home of the Houston Rockets from 1971 to 1975.
- Lakewood Church – formerly known as The Summit from 1975 to 1998 and the Compaq Center from 1998 to 2003. It was the home of the Houston Rockets from 1975 to 2003, the Houston Aeros of the WHA from 1975 to 1979, the Houston Texas Terror/Houston Thunderbears of the Arena Football League from 1996 to 2001, the minor league Houston Aeros from 1994 to 2003, and the Houston Comets of the WNBA from 1997 to 2003.
- Reliant Arena – home of the Houston Comets in 2008.
- Rice Stadium – home of the Rice Owls football team since 1950, the AFL Houston Oilers football team from 1965 to 1967, the 1974 Super Bowl, the UH Cougars from 1950 to 1964, and the Bluebonnet Bowl from 1959 to 1967 and again in 1985 and 1986. It was also the site of a famous President John Fitzgerald Kennedy speech on September 12, 1962.
- The University of Houston Stadium on the site of the former Robertson Stadium AKA Jeppesen Stadium (1958 – 1980) AKA Public School Stadium (1942 – 1958) – the original home of the AFL Houston Oilers football team from 1960 to 1964, the location of the first and third AFL championship games on January 1, 1961 and December 23, 1962, the Houston Dynamo soccer team from 2006 to 2011, the Texas Southern University (TSU) Tigers football team, and the University of Houston (UH) Cougars football team from 1946 to 1950 and again from 1965 to 1997 as a quasi-home, and then full-time from 1998 to 2012. The East-West Shrine Game was played here in 2008 and 2009. Robertson Stadium was demolished in 2012.
Lastly, the tour includes going to the Houston Sports Association Museum on the site of the former Houston Buffaloes (Buff) Stadium AKA Busch Stadium for the minor league baseball team, the Buffs, from 1928 to 1961.
