SKC has completed Pinnacle, their National Training Center. It cost about $87M for this plus 12 youth fields, but taxpayers paid 2/3 of the cost. This facility makes you realize how far behind the Quakes are! http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mls/sporting-kc/article198537254.html
That "taxpayers paid 2/3 of the cost" will never happen here. I think the stadium was also largely publicly funded. How do they manage that in KC?
That's the exception. Look here! Only the top five clubs draw more than 7K. This is the Bay Area we're talking about, with tons of things to do and sports teams to follow. Unless they do a heckuva job marketing, they'll be in the 3K to 4K range. I wish them well of course, but a 15K stadium is not necessary. Maybe build 8K with room to add more seats if necessary. GO Quakes!! - Mark
This isn't bad compared to what the Sharks did. For years and years there was a $25 handling fee for them to send (UPS/tracked) the ticket books from the printer. 2 years ago they discontinued hard tickets, but still charged the $25--to mail us an instruction kit on how to use pdf or e-tickets. The charge is still there even though it's all e-tickets now. After listening to us STH bitch and moan, they reinstated the option of professionally printed ticket books for 2018-19...for the modest sum of $50 per season ticket. That's on top of the $25 handling fee for nothing being handled. Electronic tickets as the only option are coming, whether we want it or not.
When the Quakes changed the name from Season Tickets to Season Passes, I thought we might get a reusable card with a bar code for each seat, like a Clipper card. I believe other MLS teams use that method. I would have preferred that system to having to pay for something that was free last year or to printing out .pdf tickets for each match. You are correct that electronic and mobile tickets will be the only options eventually. I haven't given up on trying to cheat the system, although I'm not going to depend on my earlier suggestion on a per game basis. I have an idea for Saturday. If it works, I'll share.
Nothing is free. Just because there wasn’t a line item charge last year doesn’t mean you didn’t pay for it. It just means you have an illusion that you didn’t pay for it.
The bleachers have been removed and sections 117 & 118 have been converted from GA to assigned seating.
https://www.sjearthquakes.com/post/...nnounce-supporter-section-changes-2018-season Ultras will be in the standing terrace at field level. I assume they will have access to pulleys in the roof to raise tifo's. The capo seems pleased.
One of the first looks at the inside of Audi Field, DC United's new stadium. Can this "steep rake" trend in MLS soccer stadium design be traced back to Dave Kaval and our stadium? I don't remember steep rakes being such a big thing before Kaval started using that term regularly...
Steep rake not only is better for sight line, it probably requires a (marginally) smaller parcel of land to build. Win Win if you ask me.
I thought the site had limited space, forcing a steeper rake whether the liked it or not. I think that is why that one side doesn't appear to have regular seating, I believe there is a rail line right next to it.
Not a rail line, a Pepco (the local power company) easement. Basically not far from the field itself, there are two "lanes" for big power company trucks to occasionally drive through the stadium, under the stands! Here you can see it from above, the red parts: In the small image in the bottom left, you can see it from the side, the stands are both steep and a bit elevated, so there are two empty rectangular areas under them (middle-right, ground level): The easement is why the stadium is squished up against the 2nd street side on the left, even though there is plenty of space on the right (the stadium can't be moved any further in that direction or trucks would be driving through the pitch). Pretty bizarre stuff.
They have trucks driving under the stands, we have a pumping station to treat toxic groundwater. Trucks are definitely cooler, though I would be in favor of showcasing our pumps (putting them behind a glass wall and making them sort of an exhibit with informational placards and signs) as part of the site's history.