Stadium News XX: Democracy is not a spectator sport

If there is a name change, I would hope that the name "The United" is strongly considered.

 

Dallas doesn't play in Frisco. They played in Irving and are going to be in Arlington this season. Huh? LA? There's a what? They have teams now?

Can anyone read this?

Also, there's a new post up on the Maryland Moment section of the Post website.

 

Something a tiny bit interesting from the Maryland Moment:

I hadn't for a second thought of a new timeline. Anyone else?

Also, I've never seen these two at the same time


Which one is this a picture of?


Most interesting part of that post...

 

Hmmm.

Like I said earlier, I don't think the bill being amended is a bad thing so long as it still passes. Getting that land from Metro is going to take some time and in the meantime DCU can work behind the scenes to grease the wheels. Lets just hope they're better the second time around.

 

Wow, ground wouldn't be broken for 3 years It's amazing how long a project takes to get physically started even when it's approved... Whatever happened to the good ole' days of bribing and building within a year

 

Hopefully that was meant to be "grand opening" not "groundbreaking"

 

Yes

Let's not run with a three years till groundbreaking freak-out discussion.

 

Aaaaah! Aaaaah!

 

Media whore? Not me.

I'm just a loyal fan who just happens to have at the ready stack of carefully measured talking points aimed at addressing the key concern of the day, in this case -- money for PGC.

I am not a media whore. I'm a media slut. Whores get paid.

 

This is from way back in the last thread, but yeah, Dustin, you're right, the type of people treating Morgan Blvd like it's Bowie are the same type as those treating Frisco like it's Oklahoma.

 

Yeah, but Frisco is to Dallas as Bowie is to DC.

Actually, Bowie is a lot closer to downtown DC than Frisco is to downtown Dallas. Annapolis is actually more in line with the distance between Frisco and Dallas.

 

Wait, this isnt www.bigstadium.com?

 

I was born in Plano in 1976, and the stuff they say about Frisco now, they said about Plano then. It's a different story today.

Also, Frisco is north of Dallas, and most Dallasites with any money live on the north side of town. Whereas Bowie is East of DC, but most in the District with money live on the west side of town. Frisco is slightly closer to LBJ than Bowie is to DuPont/Adams Morgan, for instance, and it's not streetlights the whole way or the Beltway all the way around the city.

 

i work on brightseat road and i would prefer the morgan blvd site as well. although it really just depends where on brightseat they are looking. the half east of 202 is easily accessable by the largo station, but the west side is not.

something right next to central ave and the morgan blvd station would be perfect for train commuters.

 

It's far away, regardless. Even if it's not in that city's 'favored quarter.'

I know Dallas got a stadium where they could get one, but that doesn't mean it's a smart decision in the long run. Toronto, New York - stadiums accessible by transit with strong urban connections - that's what DC needs. If they get the Morgan Blvd land, that's OK. You'll get some groaning, you'll probably lose some fans, too. If they take Brightseat Road, a good mile from a Metro station, I think they'll take a big attendance hit, all else being equal.

 

This
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/18/AR2009031802283.html?nav=hcmodule

is good news for a state or locality looking to issue new bonds, I would think. Sort of suggests that amending to take out the authority to issue the bonds quickly would be a bad move.

 

Washignton City Paper chimes in on the stadium issue with this week's edition.

Dave McKenna wrote the article, available here. He also has an accompanying blog post that introduces it, available here.

I think he hits on a huge issue with a lot of fans - moving to Maryland (particularly some parts of Maryland - more on that later) would be a mistake. From the blog:

The part about suburban stadiums is spot on. And I don't mean suburban in terms of jurisdiction, I mean suburban in terms of design. That's why I'm particularly troubled by the factoid from the article that lends some more data to the two locations under consideration.



We know Morgan Boulevard is the top choice - on land owned by WMATA, directly on top of a Metro station. This could mitigate the move to a part of PG that's particularly suburban - no real urban context, a lot of single use zoning, residential subdivisions sprinkled with cul-de-sacs, and autodependent sprawl. Still, with the Metro and the available land, there's room to shape things.



However, the other location was simply designated as 'Brightseat Road,' without identifying a cross street. This article does:

Brightseat Rd and Landover Rd? That would be horrendous. To get to that intersection, it's a 2 mile walk from the Largo Metro, the Landover Metro, and the Morgan Blvd Metro.



I can say right now, that particular location will impact my attendance in a negative fashion.

If this is the thinking, they've got some serious reassessment to do. Living in DC is not just a political choice, nor does the "urbane atmosphere" only cover some superficial details. I like living in DC, enjoying city life. So much so, in fact, that I got rid of my car, as it was superfluous. I know that I'm not alone amongst United fans in terms of lifestyle.



They're walking a very fine line here, I just hope they realize it.

 

Well said! Bravo!!!

 

Well seeing that there isn't much of a choice...it's either build a stadium in Maryland or no more DC United. I'll take the 1st option even if it's not the best option. Why are we still arguing that the team should build in DC? They tried for 10+ years to get something done, the City has said to them we don't want your team or stadium, so no we move to plan B...if plan B doesn't work I'd really hate to see plan C.

 

Yeah, I had a feeling (wasn't it reported by Goff?) that the old Landover Mall site would be an option. And yeah, that's not good. Let's see how it plays out though. United would have to use shuttles from New Carrollton and Largo/Morgan stations if they go with that site.