Official RFK Stadium Reviews/Reports - Now that We're Sharing

[nancyb]

Well, let's see.

They still have bozos running the parking lot entrance. Tell me why you need a golf cart parked in the road into Lot 8 from the Southeast Freeway so there's only one lane to get into the parking lot?

The clock? Sure looked like a Nationals Logo to me.

The great yawning cavern where La Norte used to be? Very sad, really.

The pitch? looking pretty good.

[CHICO13]

The urinal flushed ok....

[NattyBo]

it was fine

-natty

[DutchFootballRulez]

Natty is ok, YEAH!

[Bootsy Collins]

There seemed like a lot of slipping on the pitch early, but I have no idea whether that had anything to do with the quality of it. It'd be nice to hear what the players have to say about it.

I'm annoyed that the Nats clock was up, especially given that they take our *championship banners* down for baseball.

Beer prices have gone up big time.

I really miss La Norte doing their thing behind the goal.

[monster]

The concrete held me.

The beer was cold.

There was a soccer game in front of me.

I didn't really notice anything else.

[swedcrip34]

is the pitch the same width/length as last year? It looked a little narrow to me and let's remember that MLS lies about SJ's width all the time (not that I'm saying it looked that bad, maybe it was the stands removed and extra grass out there that made me think it might be different?).

[ursula]

From TV-land it looks like the field has moved laterally towards the loud side. Is this correct? I'm also surprised that the player's bench didn't have any covering- that will need to change come summer.

[entropy]

Well, let's see.

They still have bozos running the parking lot entrance. Tell me why you need a golf cart parked in the road into Lot 8 from the Southeast Freeway so there's only one lane to get into the parking lot?

The clock? Sure looked like a Nationals Logo to me.

The great yawning cavern where La Norte used to be? Very sad, really.

The pitch? looking pretty good.

Yeah, the parking bozos were ridiculous. Also, the CSC incompetens manning the stadium entrances were a nightmare. Much better organization is needed. If they can't handle 20,000 fans for a soccer match, what's it gonna be like for baseball?

The seating and field were fine. I think they should do something about that yawning gap in the stands. Maybe get a big tarp with a DC United Logo to stretch over it. Due to the gap, the lower bowl is packed tighter, which is kinda cool.

[Sanguine]

From TV-land it looks like the field has moved laterally towards the loud side. Is this correct? I'm also surprised that the player's bench didn't have any covering- that will need to change come summer.

it was shifted, not sure if it was entirely toward the loud side, but it was certainly closer toward the south goal. it seemed to be more pivoted than pushed in one direction.

The benches at RFK are never covered for DC United games. The covers only come out in National team matches that I've seen.

[TOTC]

They also won't let Nortenos stand in the first two rows of seats; they were added for baseball and have metal floors. I guess they don't think those metal floors can handle three years of jumping up and down that we do. It's a more intimate space, though.

[nancyb]

I forgot to add that the signage seems closer to the field than before so I'm no longer able to see the sideline from my seats. It was definitely obstructing my view and it wasn't like that before.

[Knave]

From the press ...

Everyone was curious to see if the new field -- with grass covering the baseball infield dirt -- would create any problems. Moments before kickoff, Anschutz and U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena poked around where home plate usually sits.

There were issues: The guide wire holding up the backstop obstructed normal TV angles, forcing midfield cameras to be moved; the grass was cut at an odd angle, creating an optical illusion that the field was lopsided; and, of greatest concern, a slight crown rose along the strips covering the baselines.

Goff: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32575-2005Apr6.html
Last night's game was the first since RFK has been modified for baseball. Notable was the outline of a baseball diamond covered by turf and the missing stands behind the north goal ... "We found a foot-length oval stake in the ground in the warmup," United defender Mike Petke said. "Right in front of Nick in the first half, there's a divot 5-foot wide that goes down half a foot, but [Pumas] had to play on the same field as us."
Haydon: http://washingtontimes.com/sports/20050407-123312-6610r.htm

[Sanguine]

From the press ...

I wonder if maybe Bruce was there to see if the field was suitable for playing one of the yet-unscheduled quallies on.

[Sinderella]

Unless you sit in an affected areas it would not bother alot of the folks...I thought it was depressing. Am I the only one that thought the pitch looked horrible the only thing that made it look like nice was a few patches of green grass.

A big gapping hole where 120 used to be...I already miss standing behind the north goal....the "you suck a**hole" when the goalie kicks off did not "feel" the same. throwing the toliet paper did not "feel" the same. the nationals clock sucked, really makes the current champs feel like they have a "home". The first two rows "reserved" for baseball only is absurd and they are buying up more seats so where will that leave fans that sit in that area? Even standing on the "reserved" platform or even putting your foot on it they told you to move.

It's gonna be a loooonnnnnggggg couple of years sharing this stadium with the nationals...and it probably won't get any better and I will get used to it. It will take a little bit and when the season is in full swing maybe it won't bother me as much, but after last nite I personally am not that happy about the changes but it is what it is and I won't be able to change it and neither will anyone else so just grin and bear it.

Oh well I guess the only good thing to come out of this is we can now aim for the netting above us to see how many rolls of toliet paper we can get to stream from it during a game. :D

[CHICO13]

It's gonna be a loooonnnnnggggg couple of years sharing this stadium with the nationals...and it probably won't get any better and I will get used to it. It will take a little bit and when the season is in full swing maybe it won't bother me as much, but after last nite I personally am not that happy about the changes but it is what it is and I won't be able to change it and neither will anyone else so just grin and bear it.


It's not out of the realm of possibilities for the DCSEC to tell us to take a hike next year and the year after that if this whole mess doesn't work out.

[MattR]

I for one was glad that the stands still bounce. Walking to our seats underneath it looked like the old bouncy stands, as if this new expensive renovation was little more than an update to the existing configuration.

Up close, (not in photos) the pitch did look horrid. The fancy lawn mower effects for baseball didn't look too good with soccer lines. There looked to be dirt -- yes dirt -- behind where the second base line would be during the second half. That whole sod tray thing didn't get implemented, and *surprise* just putting sod over dirt didn't last for 90 minutes.

I like the idea of a flag covering the hole between the two sets of seats, but I would like to point out the stadium looked very full without all those empty seats in day-glow orange.

[Gemmell]

I was happy that they had blue moon on tap. Though as others have pointed out premium beers (foggy bottom) are more expensive, or in reality you just get a smaller cup than last year.

[um_chili]

I'm surprised at all the griping. No, wait--this is bigsoccer, I'm not surprised at all.

Agreed that the gap looked weird, and it's a shame that LN is homeless. However, while at first I noticed the altered configuration left by the sod trays on the field, after getting into the game I totally forgot about it. If the players had a real problem with it, that's another issue, but FWIW both goals were scored at the end where the grass is unaffected, and I didn't see any player having trouble with the surface (and Petke only said that the field was a bit sloped, not that it caused anyone any trouble).

I think there are quite a few good things about the change--the concessions seemed of a higher quality, and the place seemed a lot fuller than it typically did last year. Yeah, it would have been nice if the Nats had not come here, but they did, and DCSEC has done a good (and expensive) job of accommodating soccer at RFK, so for now at least I'm pretty cool with the situation.

[ignatz]

What distresses me most about the stadium situation is the fact that I haven't seen a word about the SSS in weeks. Total silence from Kevin Payne and the powers that be. Does anyone have any idea what's going on? (Maybe Anschutz's first-had inspection of the situation might spur activities).