Stadium News, Speculation & Possible Truthiness XXVII: This time with less Zzzzzzzzz

Discussion in 'D.C. United' started by Riz, Mar 21, 2012.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. blockski

    blockski Member

    Feb 13, 2009
    Club:
    DC United
    Huh?

    First, New Soldier Field is a fantastic stadium. Yes, I've been there. I love the vertical feeling the stands give you - you're right on top of the field. If they had built that as a stand-alone stadium instead of a 'renovation', nobody would complain.

    Second, If they (magically) did the same thing to RFK (gut the interior and rebuild a modern stadium within the old footprint), I certainly wouldn't complain. As far as history and architecture goes, RFK is no Soldier Field. RFK's concrete ramps aren't exactly the equivalent of Soldier Field's colonnade.

    Third, I'm not sure how the Feds 'allowing' anything is relevant. They have no teeth in terms of historic preservation, but they do own the site. It's hardly an analogous situation - most importantly because no one with any money is proposing such a thing in the first place.
     
  2. ImNumberTen

    ImNumberTen Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    Washington, DC
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Sorry, sitruc. Missed your post somehow.
     
  3. GOREVS3000

    GOREVS3000 Moderator
    Staff Member

    New England Revolution
    United States
    Sep 18, 2006
    Boston
    Club:
    2 de Mayo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    RFK was the first multi-purpose stadium in America, I think that gives it some historical significance.
     
  4. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    The land wouldn't be the hard part. The infrastructure investment required to make a Poplar Point site work, compared to a Buzzard Point or similar site, is probably 8 or 10:1. That's why all the Poplar Point proposals have involved either a lot of things coming in quickly, or one very big thing coming in quickly, to help justify that. It's also why the recession has been one big box block to most of those ideas.
     
  5. greekchampion04

    greekchampion04 Member+

    Apr 2, 2006
    Richmond, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    one of the things i do love about RFK is the roofline...

    [​IMG]
     
  6. Cavan9

    Cavan9 Member

    Nov 16, 2011
    Silver Spring, MD
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ok. Are you trolling now?

    The District of Columbia has some of the strongest historical preservation anywhere. Almost every neighborhood is a designated "historic district" with very stringent development/teardown control boards. It's extremely easy to get something tagged as historic around here. The mayor's office has its own Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB). The Capitol Hill Restoration Society (CHRS) tried to stop a wildly popular streetcar plan because they claimed the overhead wired would disrupt "historic" viewsheds. The historic preservationists tried to prevent an intentionally ugly, crumbling, brutalist church from being torn down against the wishes of the congregation. (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2009/05/dc_lets_church_tear_down_bruta.html)

    In short, if RFK was going to be historically protected, it would be here where historic preservation is the norm rather than something special. If none of the 10,000 (I don't know the actual number and don't really care) historical preservation groups in the city and suburbs haven't tried to designate it yet, it isn't happening.
     
  7. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    Isn't that ugly-ass leftover of the MacMillan Reservoir 'historic' too? Ay yi yi.
     
  8. song219

    song219 BigSoccer Supporter

    Apr 5, 2004
    La Norte
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Vanuatu
    Since the land that RFK is on is federal, I suspect that it would be exempt from DC's historic preservation laws.

    I do agree with you that GOREVS3000 is trolling & worse not doing it very well.
     
  9. Hedbal

    Hedbal Member+

    Jul 31, 2000
    DC
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    More to the point, I thought I read somewhere that the closed Pepco plant at Buzzard Point is "historic."
     
  10. greatscott

    greatscott Member+

    Dec 21, 2002
    Richmond
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Read on soccer insider that dc has paired with Baltimore bohemians as a youth development partner.

    Just getting the local kids ready for their new
    Club :)
     
  11. Funkfoot

    Funkfoot Member+

    May 18, 2002
    New Orleans, LA
    Has it always been like that, or did it slump over the decades?
     
    1 person likes this.
  12. GOREVS3000

    GOREVS3000 Moderator
    Staff Member

    New England Revolution
    United States
    Sep 18, 2006
    Boston
    Club:
    2 de Mayo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I am not trolling I am deadly serious as you will note by my signature.

    I have a mild obsession with RFK Stadium and would gladly trade Gillette for it in a heart beat.

    If I were trolling you would know but many of my DC friends, not sure if any of them are reading this thread, can vouch for my love of RFK Stadium. I think I love because I've always had a great time there for national team games. Place just comes alive.

    Again, not joking.
     
  13. nobletea

    nobletea Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 29, 2004
    HarCo
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Sort of. It's about 15 miles north east of Baltimore. It's actually closer to PPL than RFK. So in that sense, it's a good partnership to pick up.

    And about 3 minutes from my house. I plan to go to the U23 game June 5th. stangspritzring you wanna represent? ;)
     
  14. stangspritzring

    stangspritzring Member+

    Apr 3, 2006
    NorMD
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    June 5th? Oooo, I may have to.
     
  15. Cavan9

    Cavan9 Member

    Nov 16, 2011
    Silver Spring, MD
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ok fair enough. I guess we value it less because as long as United plays at RFK, we remain in danger of losing our team to another city (Baltimore, while our friendly neighbor, is most certainly another city) or having our team simply suspended. While RFK is an ok place to watch soccer and it's very noisy when full, we also attach a lot of frustration of the lack of long-term fiscal sustainability of the place. We need a new stadium because the team can't make money there and the place is literally crumbling and it makes no economic sense for anyone to do a Soldier Field style rebuild. The fact that it's the first modernist poured concrete ring also makes it much more expensive to refurbish than a Pre-war stadium like Jeld-Wen that was originally made of steel and wood with a concrete foundation.
     
  16. Boloni86

    Boloni86 Member+

    Jun 7, 2000
    Baltimore
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Gibraltar
    The O Street SE wastewater collection facility is designed as historic. They basically filter poop from sewage water. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on constantly upgrading that facility when they could of built a new more efficient one for half the price.
     
  17. Shammypantaloons

    Apr 20, 2012
    Club:
    DC United
    I have this incredible gut feeling that one of three things will push the city toward really supporting a stadium: Caps win the Stanley Cup, Nationals make the playoffs or the Redskins make the playoffs. I don't even like baseball and I find myself cheering for Nationals now :/ and I even buy tickets for friends/as gifts to keep the seats filled.
     
  18. sitruc

    sitruc Member+

    Jul 25, 2006
    Virginia
    You're going to need to buy a lot more tickets to fill Nats Park... Don't forget your BS friends. I also wouldn't mind accepting Caps playoff tickets.
     
  19. fischy

    fischy Member

    Aug 27, 2006
    Well played.
     
  20. uniteo

    uniteo Member+

    Sep 2, 2000
    Rockville, MD
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    BBBulldog and Winoman repped this.
  21. Winoman

    Winoman Drinkin' Wine Spo-De-O-De!

    Jul 26, 2000
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Beat me to it! That'll teach me to do some work and neglect the DCU boards! :laugh: I speak for myself, and I am unanimous in that, but I hope, hope, hope that there will be some concrete, positive news regarding a new stadium that we can look forward to this summer.
     
  22. fatbastard

    fatbastard Member+

    Aug 1, 2003
    Lincoln (ish), Va
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I plan to engage in some Michael Phelps style coping as soon as I leave work tonight :D o_O
     
    Sandon Mibut and StagsUnited72 repped this.
  23. greatscott

    greatscott Member+

    Dec 21, 2002
    Richmond
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    with all this talk of phelps and new stadiums, i'm going to go smoke a jay, i'll check back in 60-90 minutes.
     
    fatbastard repped this.
  24. Hedbal

    Hedbal Member+

    Jul 31, 2000
    DC
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The Chinese will build it. All Chang has to do is convince the US Government to withdraw diplomatic recognition of Taiwan. This can't be any harder than convincing the Mayor and Council to support soccer, can it?
     
    skippy repped this.
  25. Potowmack

    Potowmack Member+

    Apr 2, 2010
    Washington, DC
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That's encouraging, I guess.
     

Share This Page