The #1 team on that list has atmosphere and little else. No roof cover, horrible queue lines, and bench seating do not make for the best of experiences.
Remember that it costs a lot more to operate a bigger stadium. In addition to extra maintenance and utilities, you need to staff any upper deck. Building an upper deck also costs a lot more money for not that many more seats. Those seats are also cheaper and less likely to be sold so ownership doesn't get as much return. As @Eastern Bear said, ownership will expand the stadium when the demand for those additional seats makes it worthwhile. Buzzard Point is expandable with enough money, just like most engineering projects are feasible if you throw enough money at them. For what it's worth, my rec league teammates are excited about the new stadium. They all view RFK as a dump that needs to be left behind as soon as practicable.
I wouldn't correlate the physical stadium itself with attendance. On that list, I see a mixture of teams who haven't been very good on the field, and have stadiums that aren't centrally located. Philadelphia has made the playoffs once in five years, Colorado is having a season that is as bad as ours and has a far-flung stadium, Dallas's attendance is always going to be low because they play an hour's drive outside of town with no transit access, Columbus missed the playoffs last year after making the MLS Cup, Chicago has been bad on the field since 2012 and is finally in a resurgence but attendance lags any new resurgence, and our attendance has always been held back by the anchor that is RFK. The Pigeon's stadium is awful for soccer, TFC's is pretty erector-set, as is the Galaxy's. I don't think that the razzle-dazzle of the stadium is a big deal once you are above a certain threshold that doesn't look derelict and dirty.
Incorrect, cant expand really. The PEPCO easement and the boundries of the site make it nearly impossible to expand. Maybe the northeast corner you can if you get rid of the building, but were at 19000 until we move.
they have shown some renderings of the lounge for VIPs where Chef Andres will provide the food. I don't know if those are just at the sales center or if they're online too
Didn't the architect essentially admit at one if those zoning meetings that there is no expansion possible?
Yes, he said there is no expansion possible (but take away the NE building, replace with seats) and that 19k is a viable number for the next 20 years and average of current MLS stadiums now.
I symbolically roll my eyes at this statement. Even at Fenway Park they added two tiers of seating on top of their main level that was built nearly 100 years prior. They had to reinforce the foundation by digging underneath it, but they still managed. If there is a will to expand there is a way. The only thing to sort out is the financial impact. There are many options for the current set up. The architect was lying in order to convince naysayers that traffic wouldn't get worse.
The western stand supports extend over the property line in planning documents. The now two-way road on that side will be narrowed soon and you can see the idea of what the sidewalk may be in one of my last photo posts. The problem was the false-narrative that a power line can't be moved.
Correct. Baylor University built a stadium a few years ago that had under ground power lines as well. They turned them off, dug them up, and moved the lines across the highway. Numerous buildings all over the world have been built over roads, etc. Just in DC they're building a huge project over the AMTRAK right of way by Union Station right now.
Actually they are building a huge project over I 395. There are plans to build a project over the AMTRAK right-of-way.
To @Cavan9's point, the teams he mentioned, with exception of Columbus have stadiums that are not centrally located. The Union's stadium is nice, but its in 'effing Chester which was beyond blighted for many years and a good 20 miles outside of Philadelphia and requires Jersey fans to cross the Commodore Barry bridge. The Fire's stadium in in Bridgeview, which isn't near a bridge, but is about 2 or 3 miles from Midway Airport located in a working class neighborhood mixed in with warehouses and light industry. Dallas, which is LA without the ocean, has a stadium far outside of town. Same with Colorado, compare Dick's with where the baseball field in located in LoDo. Whether or not it's an erector set, Buzzard Point will be filled to capacity or close to that on a regular basis simply because of location.
Evidently some of the workers expect to see me down by the site (especially on weekends) as much as some of the people in this thread. I was actually asked by two workers today if the Washington Post photos were mine. Damn Goff. I was also told there have been "a lot of problems," but nobody wanted to go into any sort of detail and I didn't want to push too much. I asked about the weather and was told "that hasn't helped either." I'm sure Goff will be investigating this.
Keep in mind that construction workers like to bitch because I used to be one in earlier life. I would take the issue of "problems" with a large grain of salt. Now the weather being an issue, I would believe.
I'm sure some of it's baked into the schedule and normal stuff. I was surprised my mention of the weather didn't get a greater reaction.