since 1976 for its twin Great America parks. Six Flags continued to change ownership, being purchased by Bally Manufacturing in 1982, then by a private equity firm, Wesray Corporation, in 1987. Time Warner acquired a minority stake in 1990 and owned the company outright by September 1993. During Astroworld's first twenty years, it entertained more than thirty million visitors. The amusement park persisted while new competitors in Houston emerged and failed, including Busch Gardens, Hanna–Barbera Land, and SeaArama Marineworld. Attendance increased during these earlier years. In the early 1990s, the Six Flags parks gained access to DC Comics characters through its corporate owner, Time Warner; Batman: The Escape was installed at AstroWorld for the 1993 season. In February 1998, Premier Parks, led by CEO Kieran Burke, acquired Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. In 1984, Premier, originally Tierco, a property management group, hired Gary Story to rehabilitate one of its properties, an older park named Frontier City in Oklahoma City; Story's successful turnaround of that park started the company's theme park acquisition program. Closure and demolition The Six Flags acquisition was part of an ambitious Premier Parks purchasing program, which bought 31 amusement parks in four years, including the 12 Six Flags parks. Burke received a $2 million bonus for completing the Six Flags acquisition. However, Six Flags failed to turn a profit for five straight years after the 1998 acquisition, announcing a $122 million loss for the first half of 2003; capital expenditures began to be scaled back because of its debt load. In August 2005, Six Flags announced it was selling its chain of parks. One month later, on September 12, Burke announced AstroWorld would be closed and demolished at the end of the 2005 season. The company cited issues such as declining attendance, rising property value, and conflicts involving off-site parking at Reliant Stadium, which houses the Houston Texans football team and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR). In 1997, the combined attendance of AstroWorld and Water World was 2.27 million visitors; AstroWorld alone was ranked as the 28th most attended theme park in the United States with 1.99 million guests. AstroWorld attendance ranked 35th overall among all theme parks in 2000, 37th overall in 2002, 36th overall in 2003, and 39th overall in 2004, which was eighth among all Six Flags parks in 2004. A contractual agreement that allowed Six Flags patrons to park at Reliant Stadium