2012-13 offseason thread

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1110...pect-mobi-fehr-signs-with-major-league-soccer

Former US U17 midfielder/defender Mobi Fehr is signing with the league and will apparently go through a lottery. Not sure we'll join in on it as it sounds like he's similar to Rosell.

wasnt sure where to put this. This was interesting. I wrote down the times Robb H. spoke at the Ivy Sports Symposium:

http://new.livestream.com/SBEN/sportssymposium

12:05
23:10
30:30
43:45
49:10 <-- reference to bigsoccer.com

Bonus points for the person who finds the referenced BS post...

http://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/the-what-can-we-do-better-thread.481505/
or
http://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/do-my-job-for-me-im-just-a-rookie.571248/

seem to match

Speaking of Robb and the off-season, he was busy on Twitter today. Speculation running rampant about the goal scorer he was thinking of (hopefully not Connor Casey). Also very obvious he is working on Besler's deal as well.

I hope everyone is catching Robb's "Stuck on a plane" Q&A session on Twitter right now. Great stuff (we asked about Peter Crouch?!?) and some funny Field Turf-based trolling.

some of these questions (some he's not answering) are down right hilarious, although I take many of them with a grain of salt.

He has not responded to my plea for ballpark nachos in the Shield Club. I am disappointed.

What's a brother gotta do to get some orange cheese and pickled peppers without traipsing halfway around LSP??

Someone specifically asked about Casey, and Robb simply replied, "No." Apparently he is seeking a clinical finisher from a South American league.

Both warm my heart. Would love a player up top in that mold. Keeps the ball to feet, and can play through the middle.

Sorry if this is the wrong place, but had any of you guys heard the specifics about adding 7,000 seats in 2018 prior to his twitter-athon? Great stuff from a truly great owner.

SMURF TURF

East and south stand raising is what I'd been told.

The turf stuff had me rolling. I feel slightly sorry for the suckers who bought it.

Serious answer to the expansion question: 7,000 seats in 2018 was news to me. We've been told "4,000-ish more seats, someday" since the plan was unveiled. The ability to add an upper deck over the East and South stands was baked into the original stadium design.

Well, except the sidewalk. And the street. I suspect setback requirements limit what can be done on that end. You could probably get a few rows into the space where the upper walkway is now, but would it be cost-effective?

Hard to do with the limited space on that side of the stadium.

4,000 seats sound small for undergoing a major reconstruction process. Would it be worth it for just 4k?

i haven't heard anyone mention the 4,000 number. i'd always heard it was expandable to 25,000, so 7,000 falls right in line with that.

Numerous mention in the past about how the stadium was built with expansion in mind, that the South and East stands could support a second tier.

It is a shame that they can't expand the member's stand, as that was the first to sell out its season tickets and generally is the hardest ticket to get. May see the South Stand continue to grow in supporters' club prominence.

I can totally see how the extra stand would work on the East Stand - basically I expect that the current concourse become more like a tunnel with the back of the stand kind of sitting on top of the concessions and such. South Stand would probably be similar, but the question for me would be - what happens to the video board and such then?

Will get pretty crowded in there, I suspect, but I suppose it explains why they have such a huge stairway behind the East Stand since right now that stairway is much too large for what is necessary for the area (compounded by the fact that probably 80% enter through the Sprint Plaza, mostly because that's where parking is at).

Parking, actually, is my biggest concern. I hope that they are figuring out how to use the space either South or East of the stadium which isn't used today. They've done well with their shuttles and such, but they'll really need to lighten the load that does come in through the Sprint Plaza and also utilize the underpass that goes beneath State Ave. Hard to complain when it is free parking, but I do think the logistical problems are there.

I'd also like seeing the Cauldron not being so shallow. Knowing nothing about architect it would seem to me that the Member's Stand could extend back and the side walk could then be under a tunnel.

So going Kob style and expanding into a single large steep section would be a no go for the cauldron correct? Shame because that would be awesome looking.

Correct, there's really just not the space to do it.