Summer start times.

Discussion in 'Houston Dynamo' started by juvechelsea, Jan 5, 2016.

  1. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    Dynamo have an online survey regarding whether to start 730 pm or 8. Preferences? Think they should consider 830 0r 9? In the summer here it stays hot pretty late and the sun is not behind the buildings for sunny side tickets until after 8, almost second half.

    What about morning games? Dawn is the coolest part of the day, morning it's still working it's way up. All these evening games are gonna be slightly cooled peak temperatures, beginning in hot sun and ending with a fair amount of heat. There used to be a sea breeze after dark at the Rob but not with how BBVA is built.

    Also, moving either earlier or later gets you out of thunderstorm hours, which tend to drop off after sunset. Every year games delayed for storms.
     
  2. DynamoManiac

    DynamoManiac Member+

    Jan 27, 2014
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Early morning or late night games equal a great way to kill attendance. I can say for me, my kids can barely stay away on the 8pm starts. Forget about later. Also, I can just see now the swarms of people coming in for morning games from the suburbs, etc., rather than going to their kids Saturday or Sunday little league baseball or soccer games. Root Sports would no doubt love those TV times too.
     
  3. ChrizG13

    ChrizG13 Member+

    Mar 1, 2010
    Humble
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    10pm Like in Spain!! Adults only lets do this!!!
     
    Beavis Stiffler repped this.
  4. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Canetti was so dang proud of pushing the summer night game times back to 8:00 as some sort of magic elixir to eliminate the woeful airflow design of the stadium I can't believe they would go back!!! How about whatever time that meets the requirements to squeeze in more concerts and inconvenience season ticket holders.

    Schedule is coming out on Thursday - gonna be interested to see how many "unavoidable" conflicts they have with the Astros.

    On the actual question - very little difference 7:30 or 8:00 on actual temps in summer other than east side sun cover so go with 7:30. I'd be fine at 7:00. I concur that 8:00 starts trending late for kids considering at 10:00 end time. At Robertson I know we had some 7:00 starts for TV in summer and never heard complaints.

    Dynamo end up on Root Sports overflow channel so many times they probably could deal with an 11:00 AM start.
     
  5. Soccergodlss

    Soccergodlss Member+

    Jun 21, 2004
    Houston
    Club:
    FC Kaiserslautern
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The hotter the better. We never lost those 3pm summer games.
     
    Beavis Stiffler repped this.
  6. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    The only serious summer league I ever played in here (U23) ran its games at 6pm to help out working players and try and get out of the heat (and not really accomplishing it). We'd play in some one-off tournaments over the summer but EDDOA league wouldn't start til September. Rec players play a fall/spring season usually done by April and not started til September, which interval is when you might want to play mornings. "McGuire Cup" spring seasons for select tended to be very short....youth might be mornings there but by U19 it's usually evenings for the same reason as U23. My experience, one or a few weekends and done. HS soccer is more involved but all but playoffs don't conflict. Fall select seasons more involved but usually start right after Labor Day.

    So, who is playing soccer summer weekend mornings?

    I grant little league but that's a more complicated thing. What % kids playing baseball are going to us instead of the Astros.

    What is Root showing weekend mornings in the summer? Baseball games are afternoon and evening. Being AL West usually gives us later start times. NBA is in the playoffs and is also a night game with some afternoons. College football starts close to Labor Day.

    The attendance discussion would be reality, but then has it ever been tested or are we guessing?
     
    Westside Cosmo repped this.
  7. DynamoManiac

    DynamoManiac Member+

    Jan 27, 2014
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Anyone who has kids who play soccer, which is a nice chunk of the fanbase (including me).

    It is not about what they would be showing, it is about the ratings they'd get on the games versus what they normally get. What they normally get is not fantastic, I'm sure, but moving to mornings would drop it even further.
     
  8. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    A lot of normal Saturday morning youth sports sort of go on hiatus from Memorial Day until Labor Day. Reality is any weekend prior to 6:00 is gonna have activities of some sort.

    On the TV ratings, there is a lot more competition in the evenings but a lot less TV sets on late morning. What the Dynamo should think of doing is is there is an Astros Saturday night game that is an "unavoidable" conflict in the summer, try an 11:00 AM start time once
     
  9. DynamoManiac

    DynamoManiac Member+

    Jan 27, 2014
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    11am isn't what I took from JC's post, which said "morning". 11am is more kind of early lunchtime start in my mind.

    That said, I can see the rush now of fans who can't wait to sit in the direct sunlight on a summer morning. Can't see how that would be any better than the 3pm April/May start times that have drawn so many complaints from fans. 11am means you are finishing around 1pm. Over that period of time, there are big stretches of the stadium that will be in direct sunlight. From my standpoint, the issue at BBVA with the day games is only 1 part heat. If you've ever sat in direct sunlight in that stadium. it is miserable.
     
  10. DeuceFive

    DeuceFive Member

    Apr 11, 2014
    Houston, TX
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Interesting strategy. I mean it is called the Orange Oven not the Orange Defroster!! They would have to install massive amounts of cooling fans and mists sprays for the fans but I'm down!!! Turn up the heat in the oven!!! Anything helps right?
     
  11. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not to get all into azimuth degrees and sun angle, but at high noon in June you may have as many seats under shade as later in the day given our partial canopies. See the May LA Gakaxy game in 2012 (which at 1:30 was a disaster)
     
  12. DynamoManiac

    DynamoManiac Member+

    Jan 27, 2014
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    That's what I mean, and that was like late April or early May I think? Can't see a July 11am start being any different than that one.
     
  13. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It was Memorial Day weekend. Move that game to 11:00 and I think it would be bearable. Like 99% not happening but the 1-5 window is worse than anything.
     
  14. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    My memory of youth soccer is, even at the select level, between Memorial Day and August 1 things slowed down. An evening practice or two a week, usually either at 7 or under lights. Maybe a day camp some place. Maybe an occasional flyaway tournament. I spent most of my summers playing pick up basketball, not soccer. Games themselves usually started week before Labor Day.

    And for rec, that's virtually non-existent. They don't even start til weeks into school.

    I was thinking start times in the 9-11 range. This actually flies for college football. I went to the conference championship at UH and that started before noon and had a huge crowd. I know people are saying you might lose late sleeping kids and partying adults but you might get back some people like me who, unless a friend is inviting, won't go once the temperature breaks a certain point. (So I routinely go to openers and late season/playoffs, or rare nice nights like Portland last year)

    It is just awful on the sunny side for 700-ish games. And while if I can help it I don't buy there, you can't always help it and the nature of the beast is some people will have to buy those tickets.....it's not a 30k plus beast like we used to have where everyone can sit home side. (To be fair, a summer evening game in Minute Maid sitting first base side can be similarly rough. Blinded and hot.)
     
  15. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    #15 juvechelsea, Jan 6, 2016
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2016
    Thinking in terms of the other direction, don't some Mexican league games start at 9? I don't know if that's a time zone thing but they have similar conditions to cope with in some parts of the country. And like I said, a game or two a year usually gets rain delayed for a thunderstorm, and this would move you out of that window June-September (before and after that it's cold fronts that make their own timing).

    The main problem I foresee on that is, as long as we are Roots, that would butt against west coast AL West games, which are routine. And even if you went to another network you'd be competing with that on tv.
     

Share This Page