http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/teams/skyblue2.php?article_id=29123 Sky Blue looking to follow ATL's footsteps and build their own stadium? Interesting idea, and I like the fact that they've apparently been approached by townships already.
This all well and good. If I was the owner I wouldn't make a move toward a new stadium until the league expands to at least8 teams. This is encouraging news though and this league definitely need it.
Bumping this since 2012 is now close to over.... I've read (I think on the Equalizer) speculation that Sky Blue is unlikely to return to Rutgers, so does anyone in the area know if this new stadium is still in consideration? (Or why Sky Blue hasn't tweeted anything recently like the other teams have?)
My first reaction is to laugh. But seriously, I do not think this is in the works, have not read anything about it in the past year. Not now in NJ, unless FEMA will cover it. The gossip was that the rent at Rutgers in '09 was $10K a game, which included staff for everything (ticket office, takers, security, ushers, etc). After '11 season, the gossip also was that the team would move to Kean University, further north in Union with a 2600 seat football/track stadium, harder to get to and park than at Rutgers. Do we even know that its still Tom Hofstetter & the others partners involved in the new club?
Yeah, I definitely thought a new stadium would be more than a stretch; still worth bringing up, though. I thought I read somewhere earlier today that all (or at least) teams are looking at 4000+ stadiums... I don't remember where, though, so maybe my mind made that up for me. Kean does not sound like a good option, especially considering how this new league seems to want to portray itself. Pretty sure he's still involved; this article (admittedly from back in August) mentions/quotes him as one of the people bringing about the new league: http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/11/for-womens-leagues-strike-1-strike-2-strike-3/ While it ties him to the NJ group, that doesn't necessarily mean he's the one currently involved. Humorously, while talking about why European leagues have been around forever, he said “There’s nothing from the U.S. federation, nor will there ever be,” in terms of financial support. X-D Oh how things change.
Skyblue started tweeting again in the last 24 hours, and they are working on the website. Those good people, you can tell have been chomping at the bit to get restarted and hopefully the fans are just as eager. Princeton would be a nice new field to rent! They are close to public transit and parking shouldn't be too much of a pain. I know they are presumed to be leaving Rutgers, but if they were going to stick around, I wonder if they could be cut a better deal than the one they had which was purportedly too expensive. But Princeton has a gorgeous little arena with seats on all four sides. It could pack them in and be a great family environment. They have a concession area as well. I believe the teams should go to online ticketing with ticketleap as their preferred method of sales so that they generate enough presales to turn the lights on. The lines at some games were atrocious (not saying skyblue in particular, but I went to four different arenas in 2011 and experienced some crazy lines) because the teams could not afford to open more than one or two box office windows. One of the teams I followed (not skyblue) insisted on printing up their tickets on demand right at the point of sale which was causing a further backlog to an already long line. they really should have had some numbered & preprinted stubs that they could just exchange for the money and generate a paid count that way.
I'm sure all options are being looked at, all they need is a good bid. Here are some to look at: Yurcak Field, up to 5,000 capacity Rutgers football field 52,454 (too large) Roberts Stadium, Princeton, capacity 2,356. The national team has trained there. The stadium has seating on all four sides, all seats are close to the field. Would allow for season ticket holders like the old Chicago Redstars model but could not be expanded upon for walk-up sales or rivalries. http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10600&ATCLID=3753658 Princeton football stadium 16,000 in the lower bowl and is expandable to 27k for marquee league match-ups down the years. TCNJ, 1984 built Lions' field, capacity of 6,000. Their men's and women's soccer programs use it as well as TCNJ football.
I am repeating this from the Sky Blue 2013 thread: Letter From Sky Blue FC President & CEO Thomas Hofstetter http://www.skybluefc.com/home/682886.html No comment about playing site but interesting bit of information from new office address Sky Blue Soccer c/o Points Group 6 Dumont Place, 4th Floor Morristown, NJ 07960 Tom H. had moved his company's office further north on Rt 287 to Morristown, about 20 minutes (non rush) from his and Sky Blue's old office in Somerset which was about 10 min. north from Rutgers. The team's practice fields were close, down a local road from the Somerset office. It smells as Rutgers is not in the plans (Hykos, forget about anything further south). The closest college in that area is Drew, which has a soccer/lacrosse "stadium" , don't know about size but the school is about 2000 students. Montclair State would be a good hike. Take this into account about any specific Jersey Girl being with the team. Lloyd could commute to Chicago in about the same time.
http://equalizersoccer.com/2012/12/26/sky-blue-fc-gears-up-for-nwsl/ Sounds like it's still Yurcak at Rutgers. So what does that change?
As I wrote in the "SkyBlue in 2013" thread, there are no other sites in the state as good as Rutgers in terms of central location, highway connections, parking, etc. It just seem to me last week (above) as Rutgers was not in the plans. The Yurcak page on the team website cited by Kassouf has been there for a while, so I don't know how much to read into it, but I have to assume that Kassouf is not just assuming its Yurcak without a confirmation by Tom although the story is somewhat vague on it in me opinion. In terms of location of Rutgers versus a site further north in NJ? Not much, some people further south in Jersey would be less inclined to go to games if the site was further north than Rutgers, just as some people in norther Jersey will be less inclined to go to Rutgers. In terms of Players? Rampone has the same commute as in '09 and '10 before she fled SkyBlue in '11, Health has no family connections left in NJ, Loyden if is she is in Vineland, that is so south it could be another state, and Lloyd ? what can I say?
I had put this on the other Sky Blue tread: According to someone from Rutgers that I met this past week, with "knowledge of the situation" as they say in newspapers, it looks like Sky Blue will play at Rutgers this year but nothing was yet final. I had to look up Icahn Stadium; its the rebuilt former Downing Stadium on Randall Island. My first reaction is to say "do people look at maps anymore?, the tolls alone would discourage anyone from New Jersey". But that would be like me commenting about travel around the Twin Cities. The team's market is New Jersey (except maybe way down south), Penn. just across the Delaware River and maybe Staten Island. No Long Island.
