Where in that article does it say Gillette was a temporary location? Not to mention that the article was published as the Revolution were beginning their 18th year in the stadium. Gillette was built specifically to be a home to both the Patriots and the Revolution. The fact that the Revs say they're interested in building a SSS doesn't logically mean that Gillette is "temporary" in the way that it is used for sports teams like NYCFC at Yankee Stadium, FCC at Nippert, and so on. It'd be like saying that Crew Stadium was a temporary situation for the Columbus Crew.
Flooding is not a hypothetical. But I'd pin lack of sunlight as a more difficult problem because of storage.
I believe a bigger issue is more that the stadium’s location is a low point for the surrounding area, rather than it being below street level, so water has a tendency to drain towards the stadium., however, for the most part, the city’s water management system takes care of that.
The city still owns the stadium, but the Timbers operate it. For the most part, the Timbers pay for upgrades and maintenance. I believe the Timbers paid for most/all of their recent stadium upgrade and I’d expect the same to be true for a switch to grass. The big “issue” is that the city has to approve any changes to the stadium and they want to make sure any changes still work for the University of Portland’s football team. From what I understand, the amount of use in the field with the Thorns, Pilots, and Timbers all playing on the field is the biggest issue preventing the switch to grass. But I’m not sure how much longer it will be an issue. The stadium is too big for the Pilots and they are having issues finding dates in the stadium thanks to the Timbers and Thorns. As a result, they are looking for a new place to play. https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2...-65-million-portland-public-schools-snag.html Once the Pilots are officially out, I suspect the Timbers will install grass.
Yes.. The fact the field flooded 115 years ago proves that water management is an issue now.. That picture probably needs to be retired in this discussion. Since the field hasn’t flooded again in the 115 years since it isn’t exactly applicable any longer, is it?
It's the Portland State Vikings, not the Portland Pilots, and they don't play there anymore. They played one game there in 2018 and none in 2019.
And a stadium with fake grass can flood just as easily as a stadium with real grass, so I'm not sure what the relevance is.
Not all regions are created equal. Field being below grade means different things in different areas. Water tables are not uniform across the country nor are rain levels.
OK, but nobody's playing anything in an actual flood, which is what that photo is used to scaremonger about.
They've only just upgraded their turf. That's gotta be good for at least 5 years. "While media visited Tuesday, a new artificial turf field was being installed. For the first time, it will be a turf called Coolplay that will reduce on-field temperatures by around 25%. The Timbers had tested it on their practice fields last year and opted to make the switch for the game surface this year." Prosoccer.com, May 2019
To quote Jonathan Kraft, "Gillette Stadium is a great place to watch soccer." Don't forget to say "great" in a Tony the Tiger voice. But yeah, Gillette is, in fact a "temporary" home for the Revs. The day they play a home league game in a stadium other than Gillette is the day the Patriots decide that the place is "obsolete" and they open up a new palace across the parking lot. Some people, like that imbecile Grant Wahl, to name a few, make too much of an issue over the Krafts not wanting to drop $300 million or so on a new downtown stadium when they already have one. I've been critical of the Krafts, but on this I can see why they only will do it if they get free land in a prime location (which will never happen). The beef I have is their total lack of interest and effort to make the Revs at least a decent, relevant entity while they still are playing in a soul-less concrete edifice smack-dab in the middle of a suburban shopping mall. Even when the Yankees rented Shea Stadium from the Mets, they were allowed to put up their logo at the top of the scoreboard to cover the Mets' logo. And those were direct competitors, not owned by the same people. When the Revs signed Psycho Lekic a few years ago, he marveled at the stadium and was somehow under the impression that we were "as big a club as Borussia Dortmund." Well, the stadium was all decked out in Revs colors and had this sorta-revolutionary war kinda theme, although that logo looked a little bit different than the one on the jersey they made him wear for the photo-shoot, but still...
Considering the timing and nature of the renovations, I'm sure they had no other options rather than to go with artificial turf for the time being. I mean, there were construction equipment and cranes on the playing surface throughout the renovations. They'd have had to lay grass only after everything else was done, and that was't really conceivable. And, near as I can tell, the Timbers and Thorns are the only regular tenants there anymore. Grass in that stadium would be the final piece of the puzzle. While I have infinite respect for the vast, cumulative expertise that exists among my BigSoccer colleagues, I doubt any of knows what the hell we're talking about when stating opinions about the ability of a grass field to work in Portland.
Come on, they get nearly as much rainfall as Burnley so there's no way a grass pitch would work. Edited: I've been reliably informed that the current year is 2019, not 1978 and that Ralph Coates is sadly no longer with us.
It's not a temporary stadium. It's a modular stadium, and a temporary home, but I'm pretty sure this stadium is permanent* *well as permanent as stadiums are these days.