One short term thought I had was that the Aztex might even look at playing at House (or another stadium), but paying for the replacement per season with soccer specific lines. It's been done in other areas where you roll up the field based on who's playing. If done right (and I have no experience in this), you could even build the underlying buffer a bit better. This of course wouldn't change the dimensions that much. This is high level, and no details really in it. However, at first glance, it makes sense that instead of incurring all the cost in the short term of the entire structure, why not fund the real issues in an existing facility through the contract with AISD...the pitch. If we had a soccer specific pitch, with decent under pitch infrastructure (reducing injuries), wouldn't House be just fine?
I would be perfectly content with House Park through and through for a number of years. But yeah, only if the pitch was better. If the Club and AISD have not explored this option, someone should bring it up. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wKYtmMgEX8&feature=PlayList&p=573D31A37E1CB9B6&index=0&playnext=1"]YouTube - Bowie vs. Austin High[/ame]
Not a bad idea. The question, as always, is cost. I tried to google how much the new surfaces cost at House and Nelson, but the only thing I've found so far was this pdf, which includes the cost of a lot of other work. Some of the money at Nelson was spent on the baseball field, for example. I guess the best thing is for us to pack the stands at House next season, and then maybe the team could afford to negotiate an arrangement like that with AISD.
nuff said. And we don't just need to pack the stands, we need to blanket the whole district. I'm talkin out of control tailgates either in Peaze or in the parking lot portion owned by ACC, streamers in the trees and on the telephone lines, marches from Cuatros etc. House Park is a central platform from which we can shout our existence to the rest of the ATX and beyond, we must take full advantage and the rest ,as they say, wil ltake care of itself.
Ōmiya Park Soccer Stadium Home of the Omiya Ardija (the Squirrels) in the J League. Recently upgraded from 12K to 15K. Club Web Site (in Japanese) where you can find more photos of the stadium.
Thanks. I'm now addicted to looking at small stadiums. Kenilworth Road http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenilworth_Road capacity: 10,226 Home to Luton Town F.C. Old and charming. But, an upgraded House Park could look like this given the our dimensional constraints? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Panorama.jpg/800px-KenilworthRoadPanorama.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Kenilworth_Road.jpg/800px-Kenilworth_Road.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/LutonTown-OakRd.jpg Do checkout this diagram. A look at the stadium plan reveals an interesting setup given the proximity to the adjoining road (cough: Lamar) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kennydiagram.png And damn the shade from a roofed stadium would be nice in this heat!
Dream cum true for me if Phil and co. purchase House, the ajoining property, and implement such a design with at least one stand as a terrace. But the real question is has such an idea even been proposed to Phil and co. at all????
Well I don't think AISD would ever sell it, but if they did, I'm sure the Aztex would consider it seriously.
There's been lots of discussion on the Dallas and Houston boards as to whether a roof is a boon or a detriment on hot days. Yeah, it gives you shade... but, unless the roofing is designed right, also prevents any breeze. It's possible that, instead of helping, it could just hold the heat in and bake you even worse than if you were sitting out in the sun. But I'm not an architect. I'm sure things could be done so that you get a nice breeze under a roof. Down in Shoal Creek (where House is), it might be a little harder. But up on the land where Highland Mall is, it might be easier.
Well, that would let out Highland. I'd take your odds, betting that the existing mall doesn't completely shut down within that time. 10 years? Hmmm, isn't that exactly the time frame they're talking about for UT's Brackenridge tract? (The golf course lease runs out in 2019?)
Putting a stadium on the Brackenridge tract would make as much sense as building a 'new downtown' there. It has absolutely no access from anywhere -- public transport or cars. A land swap is an entertaining idea... if Highland weren't privately owned land. Swapping the properties doesn't get anyone any closer to anything helpful.
Since we're having all this discussion about modifying House Park, here's an interesting tidbit on the GRASS blog. If by 'field house' they mean locker rooms, then demolishing the current ones and moving them to the north side of the field makes room to move the east stands and allowing a wider soccer field. ...hey, I can dream, can't I? ...oh, and can we have input on the new locker room design, so that seats can be built on top of them sometime in the future?
My understanding is that the design for the new building is already finalized but if you want to dream about moving the stands to the east, yes, I believe the new location allows you to do so at your peril. I just posted an updated site plan showing the location of the old and new. GRASS website
I'm pretty sure this is just the same locker room renovation that's been on the table for about a year now; until about January, they were hoping it'd be done in time for this season.
Cool. Thanks for that additional info. Yeah, that design probably wouldn't allow for stands to be built around it in any way. But it definitely leaves room to move the east stands farther east. Hey, if we're going to talk about fantasies, may as well have fun with it!
So design it right. Just put a sufficient space between the roof and the upper stands for airflow. And angle it such that it deflects sound down, but make it broad enough that the sun is kept off of the stands for most of the day. Honestly, without direct sunlight, even with less airflow, the stands should be kept cooler than the outside temperature. Shade makes a huge difference. Plus then we can put solar panels covering the roof structures and sell the energy back to the COA. Ideally you'd design roofs that tilt depending on the time of year to follow the sun, but I imagine that might cost a little bit more. Adding an underground rain water run-off reservoir making the stadium development the catchment area for the parking lot and surrounding streets and neighborhood, would keep the streets from flooding during heavy rains and mitigate the cost of maintaining the perfect green grass that we're planning on having. Hell, if you time it right, the federal gov't might subsidize something like that.
Man, I'm sorry that I didn't look at this back when you posted it. Wow. Yeah, that's getting there. Though I'm amused to look at it on google maps, because there's no way that would ever happen in Austin! The neighboring streets would end up packed with people parking for the games. I'm fascinated and curious how things work there. I don't see anything in the way of ...oh, wait. I see the railway. Still, it would be fun to have a funky stadium like that. But all the houses right next door? Never gonna happen here!
Following the rules (thanks VioletCrown) continued from this thread: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1151096&page=4 I wanted to reply to babieca's comments about Zilker. That's pie in the sky stuff for me mostly b/c I live close to Zilker and hang out there a lot. I have been examining that stretch of open grass that is located NE of where the new "great lawn" is. It's the area just next to the Mopac overpass and the trail. If you look closely on the map, you'll notice it's juuuust wide enough for a soccer pitch and a few stands, but not as wide as say House Park. But, yeah. You could totally put a soccer field there and surround it on ALL sides...maybe even enough if you went big on the goal lines...say...2000K capacity? just a big guess. But, then come the folks who wanna claim that for overflow parking..and other folks who don't wanna walk from elsewhere. We need more of those Uncle Billy golf carts along Barton Springs to clarify, i'm talking about this largely unused stretch in this clip http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=30.270919,-97.769185&spn=0.003262,0.009012&t=h&z=18 too bad someone put a weed...uhh..flower park just south of it
I was thinking here: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=30.267217,-97.769067&spn=0.002307,0.004823&z=18 If that doesn't fly, maybe tuck it right in where Butler park is now. http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=30.265841,-97.760264&spn=0.004615,0.009645&z=17 it's not something I expect to happen, but it sure would be nice.
While things are quiet here in town, it's fun to see what's happening with other USL teams. Crystal Palace Baltimore, for example. Considering that Wilmington appears to have folded, Bermuda was shaky to make it through the season and may not be around next season, and I saw a rumor that Western Mass might not make it past next year, I have to wonder what Baltimore's plans are. Seems pretty likely that they're aiming for USL1. At the very least, the news gives us (differences in local economics aside) a number to have in mind for the cost of building an Aztex stadium.
I was walking my dog around the lake on Sunday and couldn't help stopping at Butler park and day dreaming about an Austin Stadium again. There would be a beautiful view of Downtown from an open east end of a stadium. I put Nelson field in the space just to see how the footprint fit and it looks like there would be plenty of space (even with my weak crop job). There's even room to expand some parking for a tailgating lot and there's plenty of parking within a short walk. A boy can dream.
Please keep dreaming. Ya know if you had such a place that close to Zilker, there's not reason that couldn't become a music venue as well. I haven't done any measurements. That space looks a little tight. But, the chance of adding a stage or 2 to ACL (or some other event) would seem to be attractive. The more density that can be added to this area, the better the argument for better transit solutions. I look forward to the day when most of Barton Springs is off limits to cars except for 2 lanes and the rest being rail. I too can dream... I'm a bit pessimistic that you could (politically) get a stadium by replacing an existing park. But seriously...little league downtown is an underutilized space. No offense to 9 year old baseball zealouts but you can play little league anywhere... I'm too lazy to play with the maps tonight but I wonder if that Office Depot on South Larmar and Oltorf combined with the area behind it would be wide enough/long enough for a small stadium? There's nothing "sacred" right there and it's the intersection of 2 big roads.. Others? Go House Park!