Back to stadiums news.... Sorry can't find a linkable story, but it's being reported the St. Louis ownership group is not letting the states backtracking on tax credits to hinder their plans. (To no one's surprise).
Purpose built stadiums: +Columbus - MAPFRE Stadium - Built for MLS, opened May 15, 1999 LA Galaxy - Dignity Health Sports Park - Built for MLS, opened June 1, 2003 Dallas - Toyota Stadium - Built for MLS, opened August 6, 2005 Colorado - Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Built for MLS, opened April 7, 2007 Montreal - Saputo Stadium - Built for D2, opened 2008, expanded for MLS in 2012 Toronto - BMO Field - Built for MLS, opened April 28, 2007Salt Lake - Rio Tinto Stadium - Built for MLS, opened October 9, 2008 NY Red Bull - Red Bull Arena - Built for MLS, opened March 20, 2010 Philadelphia - Talen Energy Stadium - Built for MLS, opened June 27, 2010 Kansas City - Children's Mercy Park - Built for MLS, opened June 9, 2011 Houston - BBVA Stadium - Built for MLS, opened May 12, 2012 San Jose - Earthquakes Stadium - Built for MLS, opened March 22, 2015 Orlando - Exploria Stadium - Built for MLS, opened February 24, 2017 LA FC - Banc of California Stadium - Built for MLS, opened April 18, 2018 DC - Audi Field - Built for MLS, opened July 25, 2018 Minnesota - Allianz Field - Built for MLS, opened April 3, 2019 +Miami - New Lockhart Stadium - Built for MLS/D2, opens March 14, 2020 Redeveloped stadiums for soccer: Portland - Providence Park - Built for PCL/baseball, opened in 1926, major renovations for MLS in 2011 Vancouver - BC Place - Built for Worlds Fair, opened in 1983, renovations for CFL and MLS in 2011 Built for other sports/events: +Cincinnati - Nippert Stadium - Built for NCAA football, opened in 1915 +Nashville - Nissan Stadium - Built for NFL, opened August 27, 1999 -New England - Gillette Stadium - Built for NFL, opened May 11, 2002 Seattle - CenturyLink Field - Built for NFL, opened July 28, 2002 +Chicago - New Soldier Field - Major reconstruction for NFL, re-opened in 2003 -NY City FC - Yankee Stadium - Built for MLB, opened April, 2009 Atlanta - Mercedes Benz Stadium - Built for NFL, opened August 26, 2017 +Notes Cincinnati and Columbus have new stadiums under construction, Chicago has left their purpose built SeatGeek Stadium. Miami's New Lockhart Stadium is designed to eventually be the home of their D2 affiliate, and they are working to secure a site next to Miami airport. -Comments New York City FC is actively trying (and so far failing) to secure a location to build their own stadium. New England annually teases that they're interested and working on a more urban stadium when it is time for season ticket renewals. 2021 Expansion Austin FC will play in a purpose built stadium currently under construction Charlotte will play at Bank of America Stadium - built for NFL, opened August 3, 1996 2022 Expansion Saint Louis will play in a purpose built stadium that has yet to be built Sacramento Republic currently play in Papa Murphy's Park - opened in 2014, but have plans to build a new stadium for MLS.
Are they really trying or just paying lip service to the howls about playing in the outfield at Yankee Stadium?
Nice work, Andy. Great info. My only quibble would be with BC place & the Benz. Blank built the Benz with soccer in mind IIRC. But I would not put either in the same category as Portland. But putting the duals in categories is tough. No matter what choice you make, some jerk will come along with a quibble. So, totals for existing clubs: Built SSS for MLS = 17 Renovated for soccer (small) = 1 (Port) Renovated for soccer & pointy = 1 (Van) Built for NFL & Soccer = 1 (ATL) Built for NFL or MLB = 6 2 of the 17 with existing SSS are trying to build a second. Columbus' is under construction & Miami is, well, Miami. Though they hit a bit of a bump on the golf course site. Of the other 6, 2 have advanced stadium projects. Cincy is under construction. Nashville hoped to be but hit a bump. Citeh & Chicago are really trying, but it may take a bit. Skeptical on NE. Sea is going nowhere. Neither is ATL or VAN. When the dust settles on this known round of expansion & stadium building (30 teams), here's hoping for: 22 SSS built for soccer (MLS or D2) & expanded (17 now + Cincy, Nash, Austin, Sac, St. Louis). Plus Portland. With Citeh & Chicago actively hunting. 25/30 is not bad. ATL, SEA, NE, VAN, & CHA all in basically pointy stadiums for the forseeable. Though CHA at least grass & NE might do something.
Pretty much every NFL stadium built since World Cup 94 has been built with soccer in mind. Both Gillette and CenturyLink were built with MLS in mind.
Jonathan Kraft used to say that Gillette was "built with soccer in mind." True, the field is wide enough, unlike the old stadium where they had to remove the corners to make it wide enough. One of the biggest complaints from Pats fans when it first opened was that the stands were so far away from the field and it was nowhere near as loud as some other places. That was because of "soccer." Now being built with "soccer" in mind is different than making your soccer team a serious partner in all things stadium related, but that's another story...
If you mean NE might do something as in build a soccer stadium, well everything is possible, and I suspect it will eventually happen. If you mean NE might put in grass, I don't see that happening while Bill Belichick has anything to say about it.
Nah, neither of those things will ever happen. Fools like Grant Wahl always brings up the lack of a new stadium when it comes to his Ambition Rankings, but that isn't something I can really fault the Krafts on. Why spend $250-$300 million on a new stadium when you already have one? Sure, the new place could also host non-soccer events and they could have giant, mega-concerts at Gillette in the summer without the Revs in the way, but at some point, the 2 stadiums would be cannibalizing any possible non-sports events. The best chance would have been the Olympics, where the modular stadium could have been downsized to 25-30k for the Revs, but overall that would have been a disaster on so many levels. As much as I would have liked to see the Revs in their own place downtown, it's just as well that whole thing fell through. What I can fault the Krafts on is not treating the Revs with any real seriousness or relevance in 24-1/2 years. We optimists hope that, by hiring the soccer equivalent of Belichick, that will all change, but it's too early to tell just now.
I did the soccer media tour during construction in the summer of 2001. They did build separate locker rooms and other facilities into the stadium from the start, which is definitely more than just making sure the field was long and wide enough. Hell, Lamar Hunt intended for Arrowhead to be built (in 1971) for soccer. The problem is that he didn't follow up. You can, in fact, fit both the full length and width of an international soccer field into Arrowhead. Unfortunately, you can't do both at the same time due to the rounded corners. Modern NFL (and even some newer college football) stadiums, with the notable exception of Heinz Field in Pittsburgh are being built to hold 120x75 soccer fields, and even more recent ones are even wider than that in order to hold the field level LED boards and so on. Operationally, Gillette is definitely ahead of the curve for NFL stadiums of its day. Having worked multiple events there and in its contemporary stadiums in Seattle and Charlotte, I'd put Gillette at the top as far as being operationally designed for soccer. But then, of the three, Gillette was the only one of the three built with an MLS team waiting to move in.
Yes. NFL owners, post-World Cup 94 saw the revenue streams available from hosting soccer in the summer. In fact, much of the history of team sports around the world is full of stadium owners looking to fill dates. Aussie Rules is played primarily in cricket ovals for a reason - much as Rugby and Cricket often share grounds (and different seasons) in England. You see the same in local recreational sports. Bowling and Dart leagues are typically Mon-Thu affairs with lanes and pubs being full of other customers Fri-Sun.
Indeed when the NFL was at the MLS' current age, it was almost entirely fall/winter programming at old legendary (then-active of course) MLB venues. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the first purpose-built stadium for an NFL team was Lambeau Field in 1957. The Bears were at Wrigley until 1970.
Yep and I wouldn't be shocked if the narrowness of American Football fields is related to wedging the field into baseball stadiums a century ago. EDIT: I can't find why the early form of the game picked 160 feet for the width, but I did find that after Teddy Roosevelt threatened to ban the game (after a large number of player deaths) unless changes were made, the commission that was set up to make the game safer and codify the rules of the collegiate game in order to save it proposed make the field 40 yards wider. In the end the fact that schools had already been putting in permanent stands (notably Harvard Stadium) based on the existing field size nixed that rules change. I can't imagine what American Football would look like on a nearly square field. As it happens, I shot a WPS Boston Breakers game at Harvard Stadium. It's not the narrowest field I've ever seen in person for a professional game, that would've been the WUSA Atlanta Beat at the 2001 version of Bobby Dodd Stadium (and not the 2017 version that Atlanta United played in.)
American football started out on a 140 by 70 yard field although there was a lot of variation place to place. In 1880 the field was standardized at 110 yards long (but without end zones) and 53 1/3 yards wide. I don't find any specific reason for the reduction in size from a rugby-type field other than the fact that they also reduced the number of players from 15 to 11 at the same time. I don't think it had anything to do with baseball fields. I think it had more to do with fitting inside 400 yard tracks. The 100 yard length with 10 yard end zones didn't happen until 1912.
FWIW.. Here's the article i couldn't find this morning. https://www.stltoday.com/business/l...cle_b7402718-20e7-5a3b-91ea-06509764cabe.html
The former, though I share your skepticism. Agree that other pointy ball stadiums were built with soccer in mind (post 1994), but only two (I think) by owners who also owned an MLS team (Blank & Kraft?).
Honestly, not really. It's pretty clearly an NFL-designed place. The field is a bit narrow but not Yankee Stadium narrow, and the 300 and 400 levels have a slightly obstructed view of the nearside touchlines for soccer/rugby width fields, though that latter point won't affect many Fire games.
Another article on St. Louis' stadium. Looks like the highway off-ramps that need to be removed for the practice facility & offices are being closed by the state on Monday the 3rd. Five Highway 40 (I-64) ramps to close permanently on Feb. 3 for new soccer stadium
I'm not one of their fans. It is. To be fair, the regulations do allow for some ridiculously narrow fields. But Yankee Stadium is still wider the the Crew offered the league at Ohio Stadium if my memory serves correctly.
It's much wider, in fact, wider even than the original field at Spartan. But this is the year - What year is it, Cicci? - 2020, and I can't get myself or even allow myself to watch game played at Yankee Stadium.