He is rarely heard from anywhere. Most of the talk about the MLS mission has come from Terry Byrne - he is running the show. This is why the Jack Bell rumor didnt disturb me that much - yea PK was always out there talking about the brand and the business plan and he would talk MLS but MOST of the soccer news came from Terry anyhow. PK being silent isnt the worst - if we go months without hearing from Terry - we are in trouble. However, Garbers comments disturb me I happen to agree with you - I think outside of the branding - they build a world class stadium and brought in some world class players. Cant really complain with how they are running the club. Although I'm sure the big Red Bull fans can
Some would question whether you truly are if something as simple as a name has got you bent out of shape in light of the Taj Mahal you play in, the never end resources Red Bull pump into your team and the likes of freaking Thierry Henry prancing around on field. Be mad about Backe, be mad about Marquez... be mad about never winning a trophy, not made about the organization that lifted your team from irrelevance and apathy to something to be proud of. Might not have been a great year but NYRB are on track. Can you even remember Giants Stadium?
Dreadful - as much as we might have a rough relationship with the ESC - they were the only ones to bring atmosphere to that place - yet they got treated like shit. There are many who hate the Redbull name because they consider it advertising to their energy drink but Redbull is very involved with sports - especially extreme sports. if they are using sports to market their drink or not - they are providing a lot of athletes with a lot of opportunity. I guess I see the point of those who hate the branding but its not a huge deal for me.
But everyone has already said Randells is ridiculously stupid and expensive and it would "cost more to make accessible than to build the facility in the first place". I do remember that at one point, there was plans to build a 40,000 SSS over the track post NYC 2012 olympics, something similar to what happened for Man City. But even that idea got scrapped, I don't know how it could have suddenly turned into a good idea over night.
At this point, I don't care. It's technically close to everyone. Just getting onto the island needs to be solved. If Bloomberg really wants to invest in making Randall's Island a venue for NYC entertainment, he would understand the investment in infrastructure and transportation. It would need to be added to MTA's capital plan.
Randalls island would be a bust! Yes initially people would go out of curiosity but ultimately it would become tedious, similar to going to The Meadowlands.
Imagine game day. Where are all the people going to park who are coming from areas outside of the 4 boroughs? The Triboro is a nightmare as it, how Is it going to look on game day. It's not like we are smart about game times. Games commence at 730, rush hour is still going on and this is just going to add to the congestion. Now if games started at 9, like they do in many places in the world, and the bridge added staff to accommodate the increase traffic then maybe it could work but other than that, its going to be a bust.
So because of this rumor, I revisited my Google Maps exploration of Randall's Island. As expected, it would be terrible all-around. It would take a lot to make it accessible but I have since revamped my strategy to take the best of what we can work with. Would this be part of Icahn Stadium? Or would this be over other fields of the island? Has anyone been on the East River Ferry that hops around BK and Lower Manhattan and the tourist islands? Could an expanded MTA ferry system operate for gameday (and other events)?
They have ferry service that they already use for big festivals on Randalls. For the Electric Zoo I look the ferry from 35th St. It was pretty easy to get off the Island when the last set was finishing up but the nearest subway once you get off the ferry is still a pretty long hike.
Having played a ton of youth matches there, coming from the heart of Queens... ...I hated it. Saw a couple US matches there in the 70's also. There is a reason that land hasn't been seriously touched or bid on for 40 years, even during the boom times. That's probably why it's feasible for soccer. No one else wants it.
While I think it's a bad idea to put a soccer stadium there, Randall's Island is neither Untouched or valueless. IT is used constantly by private and public schools, Icahn stadium hosts many different events. Everyone in NYC who has a 7-16 year old who plays soccer has been to Randall's Island for practices and games. And the original bid for the ICahn stadium back in the late 90s was for a 20,000 seater, until clearchannel put the kaibosh on it. So, it is utilized, significantly. The issue is whether you want 30,000 people going on and off island at the same time all the time.
Not for me.. Just pointing out that even the Meadowlands is more easily reachable by mass transit than Randall's Island is.
If I recall, this wasn't really close in any way, shape or form. Was it? Yes, tons of folks have played youth soccer there, and most bitched and moaned that they had to go there. That's the problem. There weren't that many choices to have that many fields. Yes, it is utilized, but for a piece of land that big, in the heart of NYC...it is vastly underutilized by real estate standards. It's all relative to where you are. I know folks in the commercial real estate/development biz who really can't fathom how it has remained like it has over these decades. I'm sure there are various entities that have rights/leases/etc, that probably make it difficult, but for NYC standards it's pretty amazing. That's all.
Oh it was. Indeed, they won the RFP competition, but Clearchannel went to every elected official on the panel and said, build a 20,000 seat stadium, and you will never have a concert there. We represent 97 out of the top 100 acts in the world. Everyone caved. ********ers. At any rate, we don't really disagree, but the many playing fields are heavily utilized, and part of the project there really is to not overcrowd it with other stuff.
Wow. I'm shocked I really didn't know about that. Must have been during one of my foreign work jaunts. Thanks and sad to hear now.
I only know about it because I was counsel to one of the spineless elected officials who had a seat on the bidding committee, and was sitting with him/her when in the kindliest, most polite manner, those Southern fukers said "we'll turn it into a mastodon by not booking a single show there". And we said, "ok, we'll take it under advisement" and everyone got together to find a way to cave to them while avoiding getting the sh!t sued out of the City. Ahhhh government.