2010 Rowdies Stadium News Part 3

I'm nearly 100% certain that the Rowdies rent at GSF was anything but zero. It may have been reduced, since the Rowdies got nothing from parking or concessions, but they still paid rent and it was still most likely a substantial amount.

And for all other reasons already discussed both here and on the Mob website over and over, getting out of GSF should be a priority going forward. The place stunk it up as a pro soccer venue. I think the ONLY benefit I can think of was that it holds enough fans for the one or two times a year the Rowdies might draw a sell out. The home opener sold out and the 4th of July game had over 7k tickets sold. Due to bad weather, actual attendance that day was just over 5k.


Even if the Rowdies still don't control revenue at a place like USF, the parking is still far cheaper. Heck, in the evenings and on weekends you probably wouldn't even need to pay. Unless the Rowdies make some deal with the school to be able to charge a fee for parking. Which I would assume would be much less than what we currently pay.

 

Maybe they're not gouging them, but I would be skeptical of the Yankees being so magnanimous as to actually eschew money. Maybe I'm just cynical.

Which is not a problem if the soccer season starts after April 1, as it usually does.

Which would be a problem until they move to Orlando, by which point you'd hope to have your own stadium, for sure. For now, that's probably the biggest stumbling block because you end up with crap dates (for some reason - you'd think the TYanks couldn't possibly be home more than half the Saturdays from April to September, right?

Yeah, that (and September games) can be an issue. Especially since the Rowdies would already be into their season before the NFL schedule comes out.

Plus, they didn't really know how to sell tickets. That didn't help, either.

At this point, there'd have to be a really compelling reason to go to one of the other mentioned sites. If there's a wildcard somewhere that we haven't mentioned, that would be one thing. But unless someone can find land and build a stadium in six months, I'd have to agree with you.

 

There are many compelling reasons to leave GSF behind for a location like USF, if whatever differences that kept the Rowdies from playing there in the first place can be worked out.

Such as:

-Proper playing field
-Cheaper parking/concessions
-little to no scheduling conflicts
-correct site lines for fans
-the Mob gets out from under the thumb of Yankee security (if you don't think this is compelling, you are wrong)
-(Assume) a cheaper rental deal
-they sell beer
-I could go on and on

Negatives obviously are that it would likely need some investment to increase capacity, not by alot but some. And it won't work for a long term situation so ideally the Rowdies will still need to break ground asap on their own soccer house.

GSF looks fancy, but blows huge donkey balls as a soccer stadium and the Rowdies suffered for it this past season. Get out of there.

 

Well I certainly don't know, but just on parking and concessions GSF had to be making money, even without rent. Maybe Hank Steinbrenner got them an "at cost" rental to cover the cost of lighting, hiring staff, etc. I doubt he would have allowed a Glazer/RayRay level of gouging of the Rowdies.

I thought the Rowdies were on the road a lot in the early season due to Spring Training, but that might be my memory playing tricks on me and I'm too lazy to look it up.

2013 is too far ahead to plan for, so it's TYanks messing up the schedule for at least the next two years. A good reason to get out of GSF.

Well, I'm just speculating in a complete absence of information. There was some reason why the Rowdies didn't play at USF this year, so I wonder what would have to change to make it worth their while to change to USF next year.

Certainly a proper soccer field, instead of the small size and infield dirt at GSF would be nice, but that's not going to be FCTB's first concern. Likewise, Ralph's Mobs problems with GSF security is an issue, but it doesn't even make it on FCTB's top ten check list when it comes to deciding where to play. The bottom line is and has to be location, scheduling, and the cost to rent the facility. Everything else is a much less pressing concern; a pressing concern to the fans perhaps but the owners have attend to the bottom line first.

 

Hank Steinbrenner isn't on "some" advisory board; he's on FCTB's advisory board. You should look at it; it's an interesting list of advisors.

Without Hank Steinbrenner the Rowdies might have been forced to play 2010 at Dad's stadium in Plant City or some other high school stadium, with an even worse pitch, far fewer seats, no beer, far from downtown, etc. Before you denigrate GSF remember that there could have been a lot of worse places to play.

This isn't just idle talk on my part: last year (or was it early this year? I forget; no matter) for some reason any plans to play at USF fell through. Without Hank Steinbrenner's intervention and the use of GSF, FCTB would have been up sh!t creek without a paddle in 2010. We seem to have forgotten that long, long, long wait last year when we heard no word about where the Rowdies would be playing in 2010.

The Steinbrenner kids grew up in the Tampa Bay area and, together with their recently deceased father, were fans of the original Tampa Bay Rowdies. They have a more than passing interest in the Rowdies. If it were just about the money, Hank would have never bothered to have any involvement with FCTB at all.

 

I know what "advisory board" we are talking about and i know those typys of advisory boards are mostly for show and i know that Hank had very little to do with getting them to play at GSF, the deal at USF didn't fall through they just thought they found a better place to play and it is costing at least 20k a game to play there.

 

You "know" all that, eh? Care to name your sources?

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Whitestar says there is mention of rumors of a Rowdies downtown Tampa SSS over on the Ralph's Mob board: "and on Fuerstein's fire blog radio, he's heard rumors that the Rowdies are planning to build a SSS downtown Tampa." I'm listening now but haven't gotten to that part yet:


http://www.blogtalkradio.com/feuersteinsfire/2010/11/17/feuersteins-fire-33

 

Start listening at the 54' min. mark. He say's he's heard rumours that the Rowdies are looking to build a stadium.

 

I was on the architecture website,Skyscraper City and they have a stadium
forum. I found this cool little stadium in France that Calais Racing Union FC
play in. The Stade de L'Epopee has a capacity of 12,432 and would make a great stadium for an NASL/USL team.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=59519279&postcount=1034

 

I like the pics, you are right we should have a SSS in NASL at least 10k expendable to 20k for the big league.

 

Let's keep our fingers crossed,maybe our owners will build the Rowdies a
cool little stadium like this.

 

Whitestar,I assume you're from Poland? If so,you will appreciate this
forum on Krakow's stadium.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=687000

 

Thanks for the link they just expanded the stadium but there not done yet, It has changed a lot since I've been there. I hope the Rowdies can have something similar but smaller.

 

That would be awesome if they did.