By the way, driving by the "Dune" area today, I saw a sign that Lennar homes is putting up a new development in there, probably townhomes.
I would be disappointed if the stadium went somewhere other than downtown. You want the games to be events, attracting more than just the soccer die-hards. I don't think you get that at a suburban facility.
Armada FC soccer team narrows search for temporary Jacksonville stadium to two sites http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonv...soccer-team-narrows-search-for-temporary.html
So UNF Hodges Stadium with 9400 capacity or the Baseball Stadium with 11K and located in downtown. Downtown location sounds better if they can config it well for NASL but its a Baseball park.
Why limit yourselves? The Citrus Bowl served Orlando City well. Everbank Field could do the same for the Armada. Of course, the end of the season would conflict with the Jaguars, but personally I'd take playing a month or two on gridiron over playing all season on a sodded-over infield.
Limit themselves? The track stadium at UNF is a perfect size (10k) and they won't realistically be able to exceed that. If Jacksonville is following the San Antonio template and have a legitimate stadium plan in the works, where they play the first season or two won't really matter all that much. Unless they could get into EverBank on the cheap, they are much better off at a smaller venue.
There is that. City got a plum deal for the Citrus Bowl (read: the city was desperate for a tenant, and by sheer fortune we literally became the best non-handegg thing to happen to them since the World Cup). Everbank is not the sh*thole the Citrus Bowl was, and already has a marquee tenant in the Jaguars. Probably the only hope the Armada would have for a cheap deal, if they pursued it, would be the fact that Shad Khan is a soccer fan. (Or maybe if Shad bought the Armada...)
Okay, I just got a new idea. Shad Khan is looking at redeveloping the Shipyards. And that parcel at the east end looks like the perfect size for a soccer-specific stadium. Start at 10,000, with room to grow. It can use the parking lots already in place on the other side of SR 228.
What if you took a Timbers approach and turn the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville into a soccer specific stadium. The Suns never had good attendance records anyway and the location of the ballpark is right in the heart of downtown.
Here is a rendering of how the field will look at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. It actually looks pretty good. Nice sight lines along the edge of the field, and the seats near either goal look solid. Only negative is the supporters terrace is off to the side.
Based on the picture, the field looks very narrow. But based on this, the location looks pretty good (the one positive about baseball stadiums, location).
And here is a link to a short story on the Times Union's site: http://jacksonville.com/breaking-news/2014-07-11/story/jacksonville-armada-fc-play-baseball-grounds
Good question on the sod/resod issue. I really hope they do as playing in dirt is terrible. It is a very nice place to watch a baseball game, and I'm excited the picked the downtown location. Hopefully the start of something special in Jax.
My guess is no. I believe that when DC United shared RFK with the Nationals the cost of each field conversion was $40,000. I'm sure the only reason this occurred is because the Nationals paid for the conversions.
It is REALLY expensive to do. It would have been completely out of the reach of most D2 teams over time. But it might be worth it.
If this is a somewhat "permenant" (more than 1 season) and they invest in a "removable" mound ... this sort of thing isn't all that hard to do. I have a family member that was head of the crew that was in charge of changing it over for the KC Wizards when they played in the independent league baseball stadium the couple of years before moving into Sporting Park. It's managable ... although not ideal for sure.
Though, to be fair, OnGoal had a lot more resources than an NASL team and the baseball team in question in Kansas City was in a league that only played 96 games, while the Southern League plays 140. The mound is one issue. The infield dirt is another.
Very true. I didn't really know about the games played ... and who knows how many home games the NASL teams will have in the next few years. When they add Canada and put them all in a single table and get D1 Status from USSF ... oh wait ... wrong thread!
Eh, to those that like to hate on the constant change of format ... really ... get a life, who cares, every season (hopefully) some teams are going to play some games vs one another, at the end of the year, there's going to be some winners of some things (maybe mid season winners too). Anything else is negotiable!
Back to the stadium, are there any pubs nearby? I've only been to one Suns game and it was a couple years ago.