I would like to see how many people are interested in fully moving the team back home to the Cotton Bowl. Obviously there are massive stipulations to this; FCD's contract with PHP, Cotton Bowl's prices for new tenants, losing STH from the suburban Frisco area, and I'm sure many others will be addressed. BUT, the question is: If FC Dallas had the opportunity to relocate to our old home at the Cotton Bowl, would you favor that move over remaining in Frisco, TX... And why or why not? p.s. - don't forget about the $50 million dollar renovations (shown in above picture) and new capacity of 90,000+
My opinion (not included in the original post, although it was probably biased) is that Yes, FC Dallas should indeed move back to Dallas. For the following reasons: Location, Location, Location • Fair Park is smack-dab in the middle of the Dallas metropolis, easily accessible from all reaches of the city. • The Cotton Bowl is less than a mile from the soon-to-open (9/14/09) Fair Park station on the Green Line (Click to See Green Line) of the DART Light-Rail system… This further increases the ease of access from people all over the DFW Metroplex all the way from Fort Worth/DFW Airport to Garland… from all over South Dallas to way up in Plano… with plans for it to stretch from Carrollton to Rowlett! • The addition of our stadium being near a rail station will vastly improve the amount of people who consider going (many of my friends do not want to “make the drive” to Frisco… and I live in Richardson! All of them would be willing to jump on the DART Rail and ride to a match.) • Having FC Dallas play in Dallas should be a no-brainer. Equating our team with a suburb located 30 miles away puts it on minor-league status to many (Before you say it… I know, I know, the Dallas Cowboys have the same problem.) • Fair Park… as we will see on the 9/30 match against NE, the Cotton Bowl is located in the middle of Fair Park… which for the last portion of our season (during playoff races.. mind you) is also home to the State Fair of Texas… marketing potential is enormous. Availability • I would imagine The Cotton Bowl is begging for new tenants. • IIRC from now on the both The Red River Shootout & The Cotton Bowl BCS Game will be moved to Jerryland. • This leaves the Cotton Bowl extremely vacant with a drastic need for money to come in… we would bring in more revenue than they are currently experiencing and more-than-likely get a fantastic deal as a result of such. Facilities • The Cotton Bowl is recently renovated. As a result of the $50 million dollars in improvements it is a first-class facility and worthy of being home to our club. History • It is our home, and a historic stadium… I need not elaborate. • I remember, and I'm sure thousands of residents of the metroplex do as well, going to games at the Cotton Bowl, enjoying ourselves and watching our team... I think nostalgia/history would add to some people coming back that may have felt detached from the club with its move to suburbia. It is clear where I stand on this issue, and I hope many of you feel the same. If enough of us do feel it would benefit the club to move back to our old stomping grounds, perhaps we can start a fan-based movement, garnering enough support from fans both new and old to bring us back home, to Dallas. Thank you.
9000 fans in a stadium that holds 90000? I don't think so. Depending on this year's game goes, I think it may be a good idea to have 1 game a year at Cotton Bowl, but its not a good idea for a permanent move back.
Bingo. People forget that since HSG took over the team, they haven't been that great at selling tickets for the team ANYWHERE, even the Cotton Bowl. Don't people remember the craptacular attendances at Fair Park in 2004 and 2005? Why would it be any different now? If I'm going to be at a game with 8,000 of my closest friends, as I was in 2004 and 2005, let's just keep the damn game at PHP, thank you very much. It's the biggest reason why I say: IT'S NOT THE LOCATION, IT'S THE OWNERSHIP.
I like the one or two games a year concept. But they should do with friendlies or with a CONCACAF Champions League game, if they ever manage to qualify for one.
No. Even good attendance of 20K would still look and feel horrible. For the last time location of PHP is not a problem. Beckham games, opening day, the SuperLiga games, InterLiga games, the DH of Everton-America and FCD/Rapids a few years ago, the huge #s they got out at Jerry World for the Gold Cup and Chelsea/America - all this are indicators that PHP location is not an issue. Getting soccer fans to the games - whether due to the team performance or marketing issues, that is the problem. Stadium is always going to be closer for some and farther for others. I would venture a guess that for many people the Cowboys stadium is farther than PHP, yet many of those people do not go to PHP to see FCD but they did go to see Chelsea/America or the Gold Cup games. I know this for a fact for at least 20 guys on my team current or past. I do think FCD should commit to doing this one game a year, during the State Fair, and it would be smart to have it a DH w/ a friendly attached to it. It is an excellent idea, esp. if your game ticket is admission to the Fair. 15K people in PHP is a great atmosphere (or can be a great atmosphere), 15K people in the CB would suck.
I would disagree slightly. When the Burn played there and they had both ends of the stadium tarped off and didn't sell any seats upstairs, the atmosphere was pretty good with 15-20k people, because those 15-20k people were compressed into a seating area that only held 20-25k. But I will say that with the recent additions to the Cotton Bowl, I'm not sure if that would still hold.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYlZiWK2Iy8"]YouTube - Barney Frank Confronts Woman At Townhall Comparing Obama To Hitler[/ame]
The Red River Shootout will remain at the Cotton Bowl until 2015. Says so here: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2844007
Yes, New owners should bring back games to the cotton bowl, with an assumption that the end zones will be cordoned off. Note that the train will be going to Fair Park by the time the new owners decide to move the team back.
The problem with this discussion is that the two choice are not PHP vs Cotton Bowl, it's PHP vs not having a team.
So if someone asked you if you wanted to take a job that payed you $100k a year for a job that you may not like or a job where you would have to pay $50k a year to work for them, but it was more fun which one would you choose? Edit: Also, for those of you who like free parking and $1 beers before the game, forget about that because that ain't happening at the Cotton Bowl
Young, inexperienced coach fired in the middle of a rebuild followed by old, seemingly-inexperienced coach having had about the same amount of time on his own rebuild ... if what you say turns out to be true.
I was curious so I looked it up, and last year we had 26 points through 23 games, and right now we have 23 points through 21 games, so I guess we will see if this is our second worst year ever.