No chance. Soccerplex would be the kiss of death for this team. It's tough for people to get there and I think it's actually further from Baltimore because you either have to cut over to Frederick before you go down 15 or go around the beltway and up 270.
How as the District slowed the process? No one is waiting for the city council to pass anything. DC isn't holding anything up. United wants to be at Poplar Point - which is federal land, not city property. The city has zero leverage in this process. At least direct your anger at the right player in this drama - Congress.
I don't question Payne's commitment or loyalty, I question MLS. We're not in a good situation with no owners outside of AEG and a stadium plan that is so unimportant that it doesn't even show up in the presentation for Anacostia Development.
I love this club, but if they move anywhere near Maryland they'll be down 2 season tickets. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I don't know why the D.C. council is so thickheaded - look at what the MCI Center did to Chinatown. Although with the difficulties that the Nats have and continue to have I'd imagine that its evey worse for the United. I wouldn't totally write off NoVa - they did make a big push for the Expos and Tysons would be a good location with the new Metro stop. I'm sure Virginia would like to have some type of pro team.
I'm aware of the geography of this area, but thanks. point is, somewhere like the soccerlpex would be bad news, since it seems that united gets at least 1/4th of their ticket sales from metro riders.
they would certainly put it on the metro line. when they looked at the land in college park it was walking distance from metro.
Agreed. If MLS or AEG ever tried to move DC United, they would essentially implode. The only scenario where it becomes a reasonable move is a (heaven forbid) horrible event I would not even wish to think about. I have always thought that reading big soccer was like an opportunity to talk with crazy people and attempt to figure out what makes them tick. Sometimes that's the only thing that keeps me coming back. But I got to be honest, I really really really wonder about the fundamental sanity of folks who think that DC United would ever be forceably moved out of the DC metro area. Now, if by moved, you mean that Beltsville or Burke or Olney or some other place way out in the sticks were to step up and pull a Frisco...well I could see that happening. But Philly? That is certifiably insane. Cheers, Tim
The council has not even considered anything remotely connected to a soccer stadium at Poplar Point. The city doesn't own the land.
But, it was important enought to be included in the guidelines the AWC had for choosing a master planner.
"The United"? Anyway, the DC Council isn't being thick-headed on this (yet). It's out of their hands until the congress gives them the land. It's valuable land, so it's something of a potential gift to the city, and in turn a potential gift to DC United. It's not something you can criticize the congress over either. This parcel is only one of several from a larger package. There will be time enough to criticize the DC Council. Believe me.
true enough. if they managed to tuck it in close to dc, they'd probably keep the name (probably do that anywhere in the dc metro area actually). pipe dream i know, but how cool would it be to stick a stadium in the old convention center plot? or even somewhere in rock creek park? tailgating might take a hit downtown, but it's got 3 different metro lines next to it. plenty of room for tailgating in rock creek but traffic would be a nightmare. i know i know, that mall plan might have a better shot at happening, but still...
There is an obsolete building between East Capitol and Constitution and First and Second Streets NE that we could tear down for a new DC United stadium. Right downtown, near to Metro. The work done there has pretty much moved to other Government offices anyway...
We could always play in the swamp come playoff time. It won't be used for anything else (for MLS) then. Plus, it would be nice of us to show the Joisey folks some good soccer.
Its a SWAP - DC gets Poplar Point and grounds around Lot 8 - Fed Govt gets some downtown property - Overall, DC probably gets more than the Fed Govt, but its still a swap - And the Fed Govt (GSA) has no real plans for effectively using any of this property, certainly not the land near Lot 8 The big logjam was getting it out of committee which took about 4 months - I'm pretty sure this could pass by some sort of acclamation vote the way a lot of pro forma business is conducted in Congress esp at the end of the term Lets check back on this is in Oct or Nov - Should be over by then and then we can complain about DC Council
It's a swap, but I don't think anybody's under any illusion about the relative value of the parcels. Even though the federal gov't is underutilizing the land, it's still a gift or reward to the city gov't (Williams and Cropp) for cleaning up its act and doing good long-term development planning, more or less. Everybody's looking at is a gift, so criticism at this point is well out of bounds.
My understanding is that the work in the aforementioned obsolete building is fast undergoing "privatization." Within a few months/years the privatization will have transfered all the work to K Street, regardless. Hence, sounds like the space may open up for redevelopment! Tim
That's funny, because I think it defies reality to think the business people running MLS will continue to lose money indefinitely. So you say 100% chance they won't move. I say 20% chance they will. And you think I'm insane. I think you just forget this is a business.
well, this is where MLS being a single-entity helps us out alot. As more stadiums come on board and suddenly teams are (supposedly) able to make some money - that money all gets split-up/shared between the teams, so whatever money we may or may not be losing each week becomes less important, allowing for some patience to be used. Outside of this thread of course.