I tend not to judge a stadium until I have been in it.......so I would still rate RB as the best MLS stadium I have been in....been in other good ones...but RB is still my fave of the ones I have seen in person.....a couple that I am looking forward to that might test it are the new one in Orlando and Portland's looks fine.
When Columbus gets around to building a new stadium (and I do believe we will because of the restrictive, long term fairgrounds lease we will have to re-sign).....im hoping for something similar to Red Bull Arena. I feel like most of the newer stadiums being built have more of a English influence (which is badass) but RBA feels like a Bundesliga stadium to me and I think that fits the Crews whole image and new branding in my opinion.
Desktop Wallpaper kind of stadium images, courtesy of OCSC. http://imgur.com/tBYIYWQ http://imgur.com/80rClSL http://imgur.com/1rBXGSY
Sharp looking stadium as long as people actually sit in the low bowl. It looks terrible in Houston where that section is almost empty every game.
And sucks for the "lucky" few that aren't covered by the roof; I hope they got some kind of discount on their season tickets...overall though gets a from me.
That's a good point. Stadiums that provide a great experience for the fans in person don't always televise well, and vice versa.
Shouldn't be an issue. I expect every game to be a sell-out this year and there won't be too many amenities to keep folks away from their seats.
Many of Houston's games are "sell-outs" or near sell-outs also. That has never stopped the seats close to the action from being empty
There won't be a need for quotations around the words sell-outs for OCSC. No-shows should be pretty minimal as well, at least this year.
Better sight lines. From my seat on the front row of the 2nd deck I can see more of the field and from a much better angle than the lower bowl. For example when I went to the US-Mexico game and was behind the goal I couldn't see a thing happening on the other half of the field. Don't have that problem if I'm a little higher up.
I won't sit lower than the 15th row of a well designed soccer stadium. My 16th row at midfield seats at BMO offer the perfect view of entire pitch......the further from midfield I get, the higher up in rows I want to be.
I think in Houston's case it isn't people sitting up higher, it is people not coming. Tickets distributed tends to be a lot higher than butts in the seats in Houston. Disclaimer: this is all from watchting the games on TV/streaming. From TV it usually appears Houston doesn't have near the turnout they report. It used to be this way pretty much league wide but now Houston seems to be lone hold out.
I always thought that it was because they chose to build so many of their premium/club seats so close to the field.....Toronto has too but unlike Houston, you can only watch the match if you leave the club...whereas in Houston I got the impression that you could watch the match from the club (ie. you could see the live action from the club unlike Toronto).
That is exactly right. Except that "Houston doesn't have near the turnout they report" is incorrect. They are not reporting turnout, they are reporting tickets distributed. I don't know if even that is correct. Last year was terrible in terms of attendance but in 2015 there were games where the "Sold Out" signs were up at the box office windows, a sell-out was announced, and the stadium was still pretty empty. I guess they could have been lying and actually had tickets they just didn't want to sell so they could say it was a sell-out but I think the percentage of people using tickets they have is just low for a lot of games. A big factor in those lower bowl seats on the sidelines is that they are corporate sales. Companies buy a bunch and then don't use them. That is still a ticket distributed.
yes. I understand it is "tickets distributed" In Houston tickets distributed appears to be much less than butts in the seats when compared to most other teams.
That is true for the club seats on the west sidelines in Houston. Those people have access to a club that overlooks the field. On the east side, which is the TV side, that club does not have sight of the field. But that is the side where people are looking into the sun for some games and is definitely hotter. That is probably a factor as well.
Point taken. I used bad wording. Bottom line is that Houston reports sell-outs and near sell-outs while the stadium appears less than half full...on more than 1 occasion. More often than not the lower bowl appears virually empty while watching on TV. All I was pointing out is that there is precedent in the league for sell-outs and near sell-outs and the lower bowl not looking full. I don't predict that for Orlando.
I can kind of understand that. I sit behind the goal. I was higher up last year, third row this year. We'll practically be on the field. Sure, I'll have a hard time seeing the other side of the field, but I would anyway. We spent a lot of time last year looking at the video board. But we make up for it by seeing every single thing that happens on our side of the field. Incredible action. We sat at midfield for a US Open cup game and hated it. Couldn't see much of anything on either end of the field. Not much happens in the middle. Maybe part of it is I am used to watching youth soccer down near the pitch, but I like being where the action is.