Memorial Stadium is owned by Seattle Public Schools and while the city does use it for events at Seattle Center, things get a little murky. While it sounds like the City and SPS have plans to renovate Memorial and build a new High School, it doesn't look like either project made it onto the capital levy that Seattle will be voting on next month. That doesn't necessarily mean it won't be included, but it may also mean it will be at least 3 more years before it shows up on a capital levy https://www.seattleschools.org/cms/one.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=59149575
Actually, no. It's not me being snarky. There's a reason the Reign dropped Seattle from their name. Tacoma is not a suburb of Seattle. Germantown and Bridgeview are suburbs of Washington and Chicago respectively. My point was to highlight that if someone who lives in/near Tacoma just hears mention of "Reign FC," they'll probably assume the Reign are still in Seattle and not realize the team is now much closer and easier to go see in person, thus the announcers will need to highlight that the Reign are now in Tacoma.
Except the Raiders have always been called "<city name> Raiders." Not General Bay Area formerly Los Angeles Area originally General Bay Area Raiders As far as I can tell, fans in a state (that only has one team of said sport in the state) only care so far as it informs them of where the team actually plays. Sure, they could go for the "Washington Reign" or "Pacific Northwest Reign" to try to appeal to the greater region. Or they could've gone with "Tacoma Reign" so everyone knows they are in Tacoma... I don't really see why calling a team by the name of the city they are in is so controversial to so many of you.
Well, you have to understand that not everyone lives at the exact geographic center of Seattle. I have had it take over 2 hours to get from Northgate (a neighborhood in the north of Seattle) to Tacoma on a Saturday afternoon. But if you're in the south of Seattle, it won't take nearly as long as you won't have to go through Seattle traffic to get there. It is a baseball stadium. It is 100% grass. But they install temporary grass over the infield and pitchers mound when a soccer match is played. Like what NYCFC does when they play their home games in Yankee Stadium. But because it's a smaller baseball stadium, most of the seating is in and around where home plate is and there is no seating in the outfield. This is why you end up with half of the fans siting behind one of the goals. This is also why the Tacoma Rainers ownership group wants to build a SSS. And now that they have a 2nd tenant for their SSS, it is far more likely to be built.
Are you sure it was something that was actually written out in a legally enforceable way in his contract? Or was it more like a verbal promise they made to entice him to come but in fact has no requirement to be done?
While Seattle traffic is bad, LA traffic is on a whole other level. People here are used to driving 1+ hours to get anywhere (and I know some people that even commute 2 hours one way, so that's 4 hours total, every day). However, people in Seattle complain if they have to drive 30 minutes to get to Tukwila. It's a completely different state of mind.
And I agree with you. Especially the last paragraph. If I still lived in Seattle, I'd have no problem making the trip down to Tacoma for games. But there were many people who said they would stop going to games even if the Reign just moved back to Tukwila which is less than half the distance to Tacoma. Unfortunately, many people don't have the passion that you do.
It kinda is. There's a reason why there are three Sounder trains and a multitude of SoundTransit express buses heading from Tacoma to Seattle every morning.
Sure it's close enough to commute from, but it grew independently as it's own city before the automobile made transportation between the two convenient due to it's deep water port and being chosen as the terminus of the transcontinental railway. But you are from Seattle, so of course you're gonna have your bias
I know what you mean. Take Bridgeview for example, it is a a continuation of the city of Chicago, street after contiguous street, house after house and so on to Naperville and on the other side through Gary, IN. You can't tell where one neighborhood starts and the other begins. Tacoma and Seattle are physically separated.
Well it was public record that improvements would be made to the pitch and stands right at the time he was hired. As I recall it, he talked about facility improvements to come. They did do some basic improvements. If you search on the web they put in a new scoreboard and re-sodded. ( they actually also leveled the field a bit, which previously sloped more than 3’ towards the se corner. I have google Earth elevation readings that show that’s so.) But what was also promised was some major improvements to the stands, including expansion to the current stands on the North Side, stands on the South side to be shared with the baseball stadium, and locker room facilities for soccer. Most of that stuff is now lost to the web wormhole,but I did find this: There was more, and I’ll look it up on the wayback machine or whatever when you explain where the South stands went. What has happened instead is a couple hundred million improvement to Husky stadium and a new track stadium so close to the soccer stadium that I’m not sure projected improvements are even possible.
I actually looked into what train or bus transportation would be from Portland. A bus connection from my house to Portland’s train station was 15 minutes. Same bus I take to a Thorns game. A train to Tacoma and local bus to the stadium was another 11 hours to arrive at a time when a game might be ( 7:00 pm) The bus station is next door to the train station. Bus only was still 4 hrs. 45 minutes.
Some people think that because the airport is called SEATAC they are the same place. They might have a point. I’ve taxied from Dallas to Fort Worth after landing.
Yeah, I remember them doing that, and also the drainage improvements mentioned in that image. Those changes really improved the pitch. This is the stuff that doesn't seem to be happening. Especially since the baseball stadium was redone in 2014 (after the current men's soccer coach was hired). I don't think there ever were south stands? Even before the baseball stadium was rebuilt. They certainly can't piggyback on the baseball stadium's facilities without moving the pitch further north, which means getting rid of the north side stands and having to redo the drainage. They could fit locker rooms on the north side (east of the stands) as it is currently laid out, though. But I don't think that'll happen without a donation specifically to finance that building.
Yeah exactly. The quote I gave said there would be some piggybacked on the baseball stands. Never happened. That was actually before the baseball stadium or track were built, which would have been the best time to actually try that. There were more extensive changes talked about, but the UW website wiped all mention of them. And some of the land to the East is designated environmentally sensitive areas. Even that E-5 parking lot I sneak into ( oops, have I given something away?) isn’t actually supposed to be there at all. It’s all designated wetlands. One of the issues is they built all around that stadium, leaving no room for the first class facilities a program trying to surmount the PAC12 should have. ( the track wasn’t there when all this was discussed originally. They built it smack against the soccer stadium.they could have built it 50’ north and not impacted anything except RV parking for fat cats for football)
Ah, Clive's photo brings back memories, including of parking in the E5 area. Real creativity would allow increased stands into the Wahkiakum Lane area, which could do without the lane being there at all; in the area between parking area E18 (behind the goal); and something really fancy (and no doubt very expensive) on the ballpark side with grandstands that could face the ballpark for the spring season and the soccer field for the soccer season. There also could be some stands in the Canal Road NE area, which could do without that road being there at all. I mean this seriously, as I've been there many times. This reminded me of a game I was at, at the field, on November 19, 2000 (I had to go to archives to get the date). Portland v UW. It was an NCAA Tournament 3rd round game, with Hope Solo in the goal for UW. It was all out war, 0=0, deep into the second half. My wife and I (Portland fans) were there with our Seattle-area niece and her husband, who weren't big soccer fans. About the 77th minute, our niece briefly glanced away from the field. There was a crowd eruption, we stood up yelling and screaming, she asked, "What happened?" Portland's Venessa Talbott had put one off the woodwork and into the goal, and it turned out to be the only score of the game. A reminder to the uninitiated: Never, ever, look away.
Right on! One of the things I like about soccer is that one can never look away for even a moment because you might miss the big moment. That one really big moment in the game. American football and basketball have too many "big moments" to experience the thrill of a soccer goal. And to add to that, I like soccer because the game doesn't have many interruptions. I get disgusted with the endless timeouts of basketball and football. If I were given the power to change the rules of those sports, I would eliminate time outs. Just play the damned game without any pauses. Okay, I'm off topic......
I'm optimistic about the move, especially because of the Predmore open letter. If my Flash had moved only two hours away, I would still be a season ticket holder, and would be attending the games - except maybe for mid-week games, to be realistic. The Reign do have a fan base that was built over the last 6 years - so it is not like a brand new team is being set down in Tacoma. Maybe a park-and-ride with passenger vans or a ride - share program could be developed.
* Off-topic * I didn't comment yet about your return to "animal avatars", @CoachJon. After Netherlands qualified for WWC, you didn't feel the need to support Lieke Martens anymore and you could come back to your habits?
I agree, but some will argue, if you eliminate the time-outs where are you going to fit in the TV commercials because that's what really pays for everything?
I am happy for the Reign. The old saying, if you do the same thing over and over again, expect the same results...well, they decided to do something different. As a fan of the NWSL I wish EVERY team success because I would like to see more teams in the league and I want to go to NWSL games for a long time to come.
That’s not the only configuration. Bucknell has lacrosse and adjacent soccer fields sharing stands back to back with common press area , concessions and locker rooms between.
Looks like Addo will not be back in 2019. That’s not great news given the many Reign players that will likely be at the World Cup for an extended period of time. I was looking forward to seeing her continue to improve as she settled into the league. Elizabeth Addo finished the season with her 2nd goal. Even thou the team had a quite poor season, Addo showed her class in @WLeague . After mutually with Seattle Reign FC agree to part ways, Addos next club will be official in the close future #TeamNeverlandMGMT pic.twitter.com/FpzfEfR8RK— Neverland | MGMT (@NeverlandMGMT) February 4, 2019