Mack_Dundee
06 Feb 2007, 09:48 PM
Before there was a St. Louis expansion thread on this forum, there was a topic in the general expansion forum area discussing possible locations for a stadium in the St. Louis area. Since we have a forum of our own, and since we don't know which locations Jeff Cooper is looking at outside of Collinsville, I wanted to start a new thread for this discussion.
I agree with just about everyone who has commented on the subject that, in terms of selling a St. Louis MLS team, a downtown location would be the ideal. Some may take the attitude that true soccer fans will drive anywhere for a game within the region. But St. Louis is NOT any different than ANY city in the US or Canada in that a team would need to attract not only the already converted soccer fan, but also the non-converted or casual fan. While a guy who wakes up at 6 AM every Saturday morning and puts on his Blackburn Rovers jersey to watch the EPL might drive anywhere in the region, a "typical" fan may not be interested in buying season tickets for his family of four if it means driving an hour and a half to a game and an hour and a half home from a game to a section of the region that they would otherwise wish to avoid. I believe Collinsville's location, in particular, would be a significant obstacle that I worry a St. Louis club would be unable to overcome. One can roll there eyes and complain that soccer fans should just be happy to have a team, but what about the POTENTIAL soccer fan?
To me, the idea of additional soccer fields with the project, as other teams have done, is an unneccessary burden to the project. The St. Louis region isn't exactly lacking in parks and I don't think I've seen a park in the city that doesn't have at least one set of soccer goalposts. Plus, the Soccer Park already fills the bill. Another Soccer Park would be, at this time, redundant. If the deal was just for a stadium (one with the dual-purpose of hosting concerts such as those in Chicago and Dallas) and if it included additional commercial or housing development, the deal could be tweaked so that it would be eligible for tax credits as has happened with much of the development downtown. Such a development would be attractive to Rollin Stanley and his vision of downtown. Also, such a deal could be attractive to outside developers already involved in downtown, including some from out of town.
If MLS, and US soccer in general, want to shake the notion of the sport as a white suburban game, I would think they might want to place teams in areas that aren't overwhelmingly white and suburban. A downtown stadium would have the greatest opportunity, in my opinion, of attracting people throughout the region and from various demographic groups. If located near Soulard/Chouteau's Landing, the Central West End/Forest Park or Washington Avenue (where there is plenty of room for development) the spill-off from the neighborhood would help make the gameday experience top-notch.
By the way, the Isle Of Capri Casinos, who were willing to build a new arena for the Pittsburgh Penguins are headquartered in St. Louis. Is the deal with Pinnacle for exclusive rights to gaming on Laclede's Landing? If not, I'd love to see a stadium either there or, my preference, Chouteau Landing (which is across from Soulard on Broadway http://www.chouteauslanding.com/ ). A soccer-specific stadium could help give the Choteau Landing project an extra an extra push. When the MLS switches to the European seasonal schedule a game during Mardi Gras, if a team is near Soulard, would be a must.
I agree with just about everyone who has commented on the subject that, in terms of selling a St. Louis MLS team, a downtown location would be the ideal. Some may take the attitude that true soccer fans will drive anywhere for a game within the region. But St. Louis is NOT any different than ANY city in the US or Canada in that a team would need to attract not only the already converted soccer fan, but also the non-converted or casual fan. While a guy who wakes up at 6 AM every Saturday morning and puts on his Blackburn Rovers jersey to watch the EPL might drive anywhere in the region, a "typical" fan may not be interested in buying season tickets for his family of four if it means driving an hour and a half to a game and an hour and a half home from a game to a section of the region that they would otherwise wish to avoid. I believe Collinsville's location, in particular, would be a significant obstacle that I worry a St. Louis club would be unable to overcome. One can roll there eyes and complain that soccer fans should just be happy to have a team, but what about the POTENTIAL soccer fan?
To me, the idea of additional soccer fields with the project, as other teams have done, is an unneccessary burden to the project. The St. Louis region isn't exactly lacking in parks and I don't think I've seen a park in the city that doesn't have at least one set of soccer goalposts. Plus, the Soccer Park already fills the bill. Another Soccer Park would be, at this time, redundant. If the deal was just for a stadium (one with the dual-purpose of hosting concerts such as those in Chicago and Dallas) and if it included additional commercial or housing development, the deal could be tweaked so that it would be eligible for tax credits as has happened with much of the development downtown. Such a development would be attractive to Rollin Stanley and his vision of downtown. Also, such a deal could be attractive to outside developers already involved in downtown, including some from out of town.
If MLS, and US soccer in general, want to shake the notion of the sport as a white suburban game, I would think they might want to place teams in areas that aren't overwhelmingly white and suburban. A downtown stadium would have the greatest opportunity, in my opinion, of attracting people throughout the region and from various demographic groups. If located near Soulard/Chouteau's Landing, the Central West End/Forest Park or Washington Avenue (where there is plenty of room for development) the spill-off from the neighborhood would help make the gameday experience top-notch.
By the way, the Isle Of Capri Casinos, who were willing to build a new arena for the Pittsburgh Penguins are headquartered in St. Louis. Is the deal with Pinnacle for exclusive rights to gaming on Laclede's Landing? If not, I'd love to see a stadium either there or, my preference, Chouteau Landing (which is across from Soulard on Broadway http://www.chouteauslanding.com/ ). A soccer-specific stadium could help give the Choteau Landing project an extra an extra push. When the MLS switches to the European seasonal schedule a game during Mardi Gras, if a team is near Soulard, would be a must.