I hope they get rid of the beams over the field.. Totally personal preference, but I find the shadows across the field make it hard for me to watch a game.
"One complaint about Columbus Crew Stadium is that it’s too far from downtown. It’s really not. (It’s also close to a university that’s pretty substantial, offering up a lot of people from the demographic MLS covets.)" Not really. Millennials yes, students who move on after four years are not likely to be lifelong fans, imo.
I think it's a way to have a roof that actually covers the stands at an affordable price. But yeah, there are trade-offs to that. Of course it depends on how many day vs night games there would be, since in the latter case no one would care.
They're a nightmare. People in the first few rows get ********ed by people walking by to get to concessions/restrooms/play areas - not to mention the security guards and whoever else can't stay in their seat. And then you get the big events where people come out the tunnels and want to hug the railing. Sure, security shoos them away, but it still creates problems. Walkways directly in front of fans is absolutely terrible. Unless you're going to raise the seats up five or six feet so the people see over the walkway, you're screwed in those seats - and with the pressure in soccer stadiums to get the fans lower and lower to the field, something has to give.
Oh, I wouldn't take either design too seriously at this point. In both renderings the purpose is to look pretty rather than worrying about the final product. In Chicago's case, I'm sure Sterling Bay, the developer just told whoever was manning the rendering software, "just throw something in there that vaguely looks like a stadium." and the proportions of the thing don't look even vaguely realistic. I doubt it would actually happen, but the "plans" for the Chicago development call for a retractable roof, and the bowl-looking thing they've rendered looks nothing like it would have one. Though FWIW, a few design fixes here and there, and the basic setup of the Crew stadium would look good on the site that they're proposing for Ricketts' USL team.
Yeah, those people walking in front of the main deck on the right side better not have more than a couple of $10 beers because one stumble and boom! Off the edge and on to the unsuspecting head of some poor sap in the lower deck! If you gotta save on the budget, railings is probably not the way to go.
They saw what happened at opening day at Audi Field. If you don't have railings, then the railings can't come loose and hit your sideline reporter in the head.