The 2014 schedule would be hard because it was not built to accomodate an additional tennant at Yankee stadium. 2015's schedule will be built with NYCFC in mind so they will find room. This year would not be impossible, it would just mean a lot of non-standard match days, like the interesting 2 home game week where only a Monday and Friday split would work.
I don't know. That schedule looks packed not sure where you find more space. MLS only needs roughly 17-20 dates, but it will be difficult. I can only assume October will be a long road trip. That is if the Yankees even make the post-season.
Not taking into account the WC break this year I was able to come up with the following dates: GM 01 March 22 GM 02 March 29 GM 03 April 2 (Wednesday) GM 04 April 19 GM 05 May 8 (Thursday) GM 06 May 22 (Thursday) GM 07 May 25 GM 08 June 9 (Monday) GM 09 June 13 (Friday) GM 10 July 6 GM 11 July 10 (Thursday) GM 12 July 31 (Thursday) GM 13 August 15 (Friday) GM 14 August 29 (Friday) GM 15 September 15 (Monday) GM 16 September 28 GM 17 October ?? The worst is the number of non-weekend dates, however, this could be mitigated if the 3 days is not a literal 72 hours. So if work began after matinee games finished, could the field be ready 3 days later, and not 4, if so that creates a little flexibility. The last two games are certainly problematic with MLB playoffs. Some of this could be mitigated by eliminating the 3 game road trip to Toronto and combining that with some other trip. There are other efficiencies that couold be gained by re-arranging some of the Mid May schedule. It should also not be dismissed that DCU and the Nats did this (albeit with 1 or 2 fewer MLS matches), and SKC did this with the T-Bones who also have a shorter season, and perhaps longer road trips. But it is not without precedent. So yes the 2014 season would be very difficult/impossible but 2015 knowing that a co-tenant is present should make scheduling a bit easier. I would have to read up on the scheduling rules for MLB to know what the regs are for their schedule. I know length and consecutive days are covered by the CBA, not sure if the number of road trips at a certain length is also negotiated.
I applaud you for your efforts. However you proved my point. 2/3 of schedule on weekdays is not good scheduling.
Oh I agree completely. But again this was an exercise in shoe-horning NYCFC into a non optimized schedule. That will not be the case in 2015, it still won't be easy but it should be slightly more manageable.
In the press conference they said the conversion takes 3 days, but they feel it can be done in 2 and a half if needed. That makes it sound like the field could be ready 3 days after a baseball game.
which is exactly what they said they were planning on doing during the press conference. the guy specifically said they would build a base under where the mound goes and then build a removable mound that they store away and put back as part of the field transition ... they mentioned they were stealing the procedure from another MLB team ... SF Giants i think the guy said. now i don't know how much variability or fluctuation there is with a removable mound when you move and reinstall it and how pitchers will react to that but apparently such methodology is already in use in MLB.
I do think you have a point about the NYCFC launch in general. The league forced the issue for 2015, because they really, really want 2015 to be a 'special' year for the league. First, it's the 20th anniversary season, an occasion for bragging about how much you've accomplished. Second, being the year after the WC (and probably the most watched one ever at that), there's the opportunity to put a spotlight on your league either if the US team does well or by bringing in foreign players who played in it. Third, new TV contract. Fourth, new CBA that will probably loosen the purse strings to one extent or another and thus move the league the next step forward. Those reasons will turn out to have been insufficient, though, if the team can't get a stadium deal (and they're watered down a bit if they have to go outside the city limits to do it, seeing as how they made a big deal about being the city's team). If we're looking a year or a year and a half from now like we're looking now, everyone's going to be shaking their heads at the hubris of it. (Additionally, starting up the team without the deal often gives the city the upper hand in negotiations, though the Yankees might actually be able to play baseball fan ire to the advantage of the deal they want to do.) That said, I think @edwardgr has a point about the nature of stadium negotiations. Going public early almost never helps, almost always hurts (you can trust a DC United fan that's learned from bitter experience on this point). If you're 90% there, not saying anything until you're 100% there is usually a good policy. Present a fait accompli, it helps your odds.
You would, however, say The Multiple Listing Service, which is what the initials MLS stood for before Rothenberg & company decided to start a sports league. Also, intialism.
so in 2015 (and beyond) the yankees will give up prime week-end dates (three each week-end) for the sake of a single mls game? is that what we're expecting? iow, how exactly will it be easier than it would have been this year?
all this is true, but i don't quite see the logical connection to starting ny2 precisely in 2015. getting the ny expansion right trumps anything like 'it's our anniversary!' right. present a fait accompli. just like they did with the fmcp plan.
Yes, but I sure hope the NYCFC officials weren't referring to MLS as the Multiple Listing Service. If so we have bigger problems. Again I said that this doesn't bother me as much as it does many others on there. There have been entire threads about this topic with people ranting about it. I just figured I wasn't the only one thinking it while listening to the press conference.
@holiday I had a response typed out for this before you even asked the question. I deleted it because it was somewhat rambling and I thought the conversation with SoccerPrime was wrapped up so it was also not necessary. But I think this is being addressed mostly to me so I will respond. First I am not asking the Yankees to give up any prime weekends, I don't think I said that anywhere. What I did say was that knowing two teams will be using YS for the foreseeable future will allow for better schedule optimization to accommodate both teams. As of right now the schedule in May has a few interesting quirks. Not many Yankee home games, but they have the following: 5/5 - 5/11 Road 5/12 - 5/13 Home (Subway Series) 5/14 - 5/15 Road (Subway Series) 5/16/- 5/18 Home 5/20 - 5/28 Road So I get that they want the 4 game subway series to be split between YS and CF, but you could either flip the dates moving the CF games to 5/12 and 13, or you move the series back 3 days and take the 5/16 - 5/18 series and move it to before the subway series. This adds at least one more May date. NYCFC could possibly play opening weekend at YS in early March, but weather unpredictability makes that somewhat dicey. Beyond that the Yankees this season play a total of five 6 game round trips, with two 3 game trips. Eliminating the two 3 games trips by making a single 6 game, and combining three 6 game trips into two 9 game trips would also provide better flexibility.
i was actually just asking myself. maybe i'm oversimplifying, but... i would assume the yankees want a certain number of week-ends playing at home. if that number doesn't change, ultimately there's no reshuffling the schedule that would create more room for nycfc. and as i said, a baseball week-end is three days, soccer only one. that's my simple logic, without delving further.
That's probably true, but wouldn't the yanks only want (roughly) half of the weekends during the summer? (I can't imagine any baseball team can claim more than 50% of weekend home games, seems unfair) Even before the stadium sharing, about half of the summer weekends, YS will be empty. Now with the share, seems like they should be able to figure out a schedule where half of the time, the yanks are playing at home, and when they aren't, NYCFC can have a weekend home game.
fine, but then there's no problem to begin with and the stadium share is easy as pie. which would be ok, although it's still a lousy venue for a soccer field.
Don't get me wrong, there are a LOT of difficulties. I played baseball my whole life, and I think this will be hell on the field. I'm just saying that as far as things that worry me go, open weekends isn't high on the list. The 3 days on either side - yeah, that's going to be tough. I'm guessing we'll see a lot of Wednesday-Saturday home stretches for NYCFC (or vice-versa) to save a conversion of the field.
It's pretty much guaranteed that every MLB team will be home for half the weekends. MLB would have to do something highly irregular with the schedule to avoid that. For Yankee Stadium, the key will be to structure the start and end of road trips so that NYCFC will be able to make use of the 50% of weekends that the Yankees are not there.
You may want to take your hands off the keyboard while you do that If talking to yourself is a sign of being insane, I am not sure what typing to yourself on an Internet message board indicates.