Re: Qwest Field soccer photos Not anywhere nearby, or likely even in Seattle. Most SSS spots are south in Renton, Kent, Tukwila, Midway, Fife.
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos They could probably buy some parcel of land for a ridiculous amount of money from that clown who is buying up all of Georgetown/South Seattle...
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos Visiting Minnesota Thunder fans were impressed with Qwest. They liked the atmosphere and afterwards one of them guessed the crowd at around 10,000. It was actually 3,800.
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos Does anyone know what the pitfalls or problems there would be with trying to refurbish Memorial Stadium? Once the Sonics leave town it'll be ripe for a new professional sports team. Seems to me (based on complete ignorance) that it might be able to hold a 20,000 person stadium. Of course they wouldn't want the same situation that the Sonics are already in. But then the NBA business model is completely FUBARed.
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos That space is a little wonky, because they'd need to expand the footprint of the existing stadium in order to allow for a normal sized field, as well as seat enough people. Or, if it would work, they could try turning it 90 degrees. That might do the trick.
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos Memorial Stadium. Great old place...great memories. To expound on what KnucklesBuchanan had to say... The roof is falling in, the stands are completely inadequate, the restrooms are atrocious, there are little to no concessions, and there are no beer sales (even after a rebuild). Memorial is not going to happen.
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos I guess I should have clarified: Memorial Stadium, in its current incarnation is unusable. It needs to be torn down and completely replaced. However, the problem with that is that the stadium is pretty well locked into its current footprint. It would take some shucking and jiving to make it work. As to the no beer sales thing, that would just involve getting the school district to sell it to the Center.
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos I don't know if that is even a possibility. I remember hearing something about it being a giant pain in the ass for some reason.
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos I don't think it is possible at all. However, that's what would need to be done.
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos The Memorial Stadium site is big enough - barely - to tear down & build an SSS. Here's a picture from Google Earth of Columbus Crew Stadium's rough footprint shown over Memorial Stadium. The inner rectangle is the grass field & the outer rectangle is the building's exterior. There are issues in the NE & NW corners due to a street & structure, but nothing an architect couldn't work around. There are other problems though. They'd have to buy the site from the school district, get the Seattle Center to approve it, and most likely do all the tear down & construction with private funds. And then they wouldn't make any money off parking since they wouldn't control any. Having said that, if I had hundreds of millions of dollars, that's what I'd do!
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos Have always had those same thoughts aswell why couldnt they tear down Memorial and build a new SSS there. I think at any good price the school district would sell it, since they need money. Im sure there are more than a few problems, but nothing that can't be work through or fix. I think the biggest problem building a SSS there is Parking and Traffic management. But like I said Ive always thought about whay they would never tear down Memorial and build a newer stadium, its in a good location , its still in downtown, its easy to get to, its right next to our landmark the needle. i mean can it get any better? plus Bumbershoot needs a better Mainstage for its festival (but please dont put a Stage thingy like the newer stadiums).
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos If they can get 18K into Key Arena for a Sonics game, they can get 18K into Memorial for a soccer game.
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos I'm think I remember hearing that the land was willed to the school district, and they can not sell it. Let Memorial die!
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos Indeed. SeattleSupporter is right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Stadium_(Seattle) It is owned by the school district. Does need to be torn down. Maybe a new structure that could also host gridiron games as well?
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos Just to clarify. Not the Memorial itself, but the idea of rebuilding a stadium there.
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos It was a grant to the Seattle School District. The funds for building the stadium, and memorial, were donated to the District, with the strict understanding that it could not be sold at some future date, otherwise the District would have to return the proceeds of the sale to the original donor (and/or their heirs). Which means the District would have nothing to gain from selling, otherwise they would have a long time ago (they REALLY could use the money).
Re: Qwest Field soccer photos Here's Seattle Center's legal view on it: From http://www.seattlecenter.com/images/media/pdf/seattlecenterStudiesSummaryFINAL.pdf So as long as the property is still used as an athletic stadium, there might not be a problem with it. If the city & Seattle Center were on board with the project I don't think they would challenge it. It's the economics that will keep that site from being used, nothing else. It's just too expensive to tear down & replace a stadium with private funds, and not have parking, youth fields, etc. when you're done.
The TRUTH about Qwest (photos) Seattle fans, I know we all want MLS eventually. But this charade about defending Qwest as a viable option has GOT to stop. Think of the league! Think of all the progress MLS has made all going down the drain, just because of US! How can we live with that? How could Qwest EVER live up to the wonderful stadium that houses DC United?
Re: The TRUTH about Qwest (photos) We MUST have an SSS to avoid embarassing empty seats and lack of atmosphere. You can see below how much *better* SSS look! This is the home of FC Dallas.
Re: The TRUTH about Qwest (photos) Playing in beautiful downtown Seattle, on the Puget Sound waterfront with hundreds of restaurants and pubs nearby is way over rated. We won't get a team until we can follow the lead of Columbus and build something like this: Now THAT's the majors! Don't SETTLE, Seattle!
Re: The TRUTH about Qwest (photos) the thing is, mls is trying to be viewed as a real professional sport, which means owning your own stadium and practice facilites and playing on real grass fields. if qwest had a grass field and no football team, id be all for qwest.