Yeah, they did. And the ancient Greeks and Romans knew how to build an amphitheater where every seat faced the stage and the acoustics were perfect and they didn't need no stinkin' roof to amplify the sound, but in 1911 when they designed Fenway Park, they still had a whole bunch of seats facing the outfield. If they had positioned Gillette Stadium at an angle perpendicular to how it is now, the sunlight patterns would have been more optimal. Of course, the high stands on either side meant that even on the sunniest days, it would be limited. (This even happens in places like Milan, where no one would argue soccer doesn't get "respect"). The other beef a lot of Pats fans had when the place first opened was that they did make it wide enough for soccer, which meant that there was a lot of room on the football sidelines. OK, so more room for the players' benches, but the fans were a lot further away, which meant it wasn't as loud as the old place. Back in the day when Gillette was being planned/built, I asked Jonathan Kraft about the stadium design and if he had thought about doing something a little different from just a more modern version of Giants Stadium, but with cup-holders and a nice scoreboard. Like mimicking some of the big soccer stadiums that have nearly full roofs. Maybe a larger version (3 decks?) of Sampdoria's stadium in Genoa, with towers for the lug-jury boxes in the corners? Imagine how loud it could get for a Pats game, they'd have a better home advantage than the Broncos at Mile High. He had this glazed over look in his eyes, and mentioned that he had been to Amsterdamn Arena. And look what we got! An empty corner of the stadium, a "lighthouse" and a cookie cutter stadium with missing sections that serve no aesthetic or architectural purpose.
That Genoa stadium has long been my fave - but suits a tight downtown location. I think Kraft was building something more like an amusement park.
Yeah, I've always liked the design of that place, but it is a little bit run down. Not that anyone needs to be told this, but that was the place where it was confirmed beyond a doubt, how difficult it is to learn English. There was a group of 5-6 young tuffian Tifosi on the tram, out for a day of aggro and all that. They were wearing scarves that were supposed to say "Hell's Angels," but instead, it said "Hell's Angles." I was expecting them to go meet up with a tough-looking isosceles triangle, or maybe a parallelogram in a leather jacket, leaning against a wall with a cigarette in his mouth, giving a "What are you looking at?" stare-down!
this has less to do about the stadium and more to do with overall frustration of a crappy owner who doesn't care. You don't see people complaining about Seattle and Atlanta. Because their owners invest and they fill their stadiums. None of this exists with Kraft.
Every time I see this stadium... I think that the notch at the end looks like a hack job.... I just don't get it. It looks USL, or like the stadium was build in phases and the notch is from an earlier phase.
It´s a 20k stadium near downtown in the nation's capital. Could it be better? yes. Is it better than RFK? yes. Do the architects/engineers that build the stadium know more than you and I?? for sure. I am an expert in USL stadiums (I go to one every 15 days and sometimes travel to see others) and this, my friend, has nothing to do with USL
The location of Seattle and Atlanta's stadiums also helps. It would be like Revolution playing at Fenway.
DCU's stadium problems are easily solvable with some money and ownership that cares. DCU has all the ingredients available to them to be a monster market/franchise. Levien too stupid to figure it out. Key thing they got right was location.
Probably a reference to the "steep rake" all our MLS stadiums are after now. That Genoa stadium was 30 years ahead of us - out of necessity. Like the whole SSS movement since Italia 90, it's interesting how this affection for an increasingly steeper stand has developed, with the end goal being a crazy environment. What do we name this narrative arc?