Take a look at some of the matches, from Qwest, on USLLive.com. If you will notice, they NEVER show the upper bowl. Or watch a Seahawks game, sometime. About the only time you see the upper bowl is when they show aerial shots of the stadium. And that's when the stadium is full! From the tenor of your post, I take it you haven't seen these pictures, either. From MLSinSeattle.com:
I was at the Sounders/Rapids game this past year and while not too full the stadium still seemed great for watching soccer. I walked around a bit and didnt see too many areas that would have been considered bad for viewing. I put in for my season tickets and am wondering.. where is the supporters seating going to be??... I want to be in the loud supporters section not really the family section.. anyone know where that might be if i ever get a call about my tixs?? thanks
Thanks!! I just found the supporters website and joined up... consider this kind of a double post then =)
At the risk of dragging out that dead horse, I was reading through a thread elsewhere about how badly NFL teams have messed up soccer fields in England and elsewhere. In all the discussion of Qwest, I don't remember ever seeing this problem brought up. Though I dislike the idea of fake grass, the more that I think about it, the more I'm satisfied with the decision to stick with the fake stuff there. I keep remembering seeing what the Cowboys did to Azteca. It was horrendous. Haven't seen what happened in England, but I can just imagine. No matter how easy or hard grass is to grow in Seattle, football tears up the field. It's inevitable. The only way the Sounders would have a playable field at the end of the season is to go artificial.
Though I dislike the idea of fake grass, the more that I think about it, the more I'm satisfied with the decision to stick with the fake stuff there As am I. My only beef here is, FieldTurf has a newer brand of turf that it is not installed at QWest. An "upgrade" to this better turf would be nice, the turf at Qwest went in early 2002 after all. I've run around on the surface at QWest, it is great for running and turning, I have no idea how a soccer ball behaves on it though, I imagine the ball bounces more than it probably should, given what the turf feels like when you run on it. Overall I think QWest will be fine.
And another great example of this is what happened in Pittsburgh at Heinz Field this past Monday with the Steelers-Dolphins game... with a completely unplayable surface after a bunch of other gridiron games before this, then the field was re-sodded and then a huge rainstorm made it a mud pile and an embarrassment for the NFL. Grass would only work if there were a tray system installed where the NFL and MLS could use entirely different playing surfaces.... as well as being able to replace individual "trays" where the pitch has deteriorated from weather or overuse
Since FieldTurf only warranty's their product for 8 years (as does SprinTurf), I'd say there will be a new surface installed, if not before '09, than definitely before '10. F&G won't want to risk being put on the hook if a player, in any sport, is injured do to the surface, so they'll want to replace it before the warranty runs out.
Good ESPN column today about MLS and marketing to the urban crowd rather than surburban families: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=487388&root=mls&cc=5901 Pretty much spot on, and why I think MLS at Qwest will do better than the naysayers on B.S. think. Yeah it might not be the ideal capacity (a tad too big), but being downtown will help a lot, and should help the ECS and other supporters groups grow much more than a far-away suburban site would. One other key will be how the front office does their marketing. Not enough entirely to play downtown... the club will need to focus, as the column says, on the twenty/thirty something demographic that comes into the city for sports, music, etc... as well as those that LIVE downtown or within close proximity.
Adrian wouldn't have a say, one way or the other. First & Goal is who would need to be asked that question, since they operate the stadium for the WSPSA.
To that, I say "Feh". If you'll recall, the owner of First & Goal is one of the owners of Seattle MLS. But that isn't the point. Hanauer's a good source of information, and he should be the one people ask. Speculating about it is a waste of time.