In Oakland the Raiders are still costing local taxpayers over $20m a year. This 14 years after they returned to Oakland, a city where education provision for its young residents is utterly abject. Interesting priorities.
I seem to remember reading that they expanded the end without adding extra turnstiles (which contributed to the crushing at the turnstiles which caused the police to open the exit gates) and some report from the previous year advising a small cut in capacity because of it. That and something about a less than ideal arrangement of entry to the pens or something. Even so, with a bit of a brain in stewarding and no fencing, nearly all of the more "classic" stadiums are safe - Ninian Park for example is brilliant, albeit rubbish on all this stuff like "sight lines" and "ameneties" and pointless stuff like that. So naturally, they started the most utterly stupid plan to replace it with a standard-issue one that involves everyone losing out except a few property developers. Part of the temporary stand at Blackpool came close the other week. Can't remember who against but when they jumped up to celebrate a goal the flooring couldn't handle it and cracked
that stand was as it was when built in the 1960s. The turnstile layout may not have been ideal, particularly when thousands of fans are arriving later than expected due to road work on the route from Liverpool to sheffield, but that, along with the pen layout, is a problem with crowd management rather than poor structural conditions of the stadium. Temporary stands really aren't suitable for football.
Except that the residents of Oakland (or Alameda County) didn't get to vote on whether to give the Oakland Raiders this corporate welfare.
Additionallly, Heysel was a publically-funded stadium, indicating that fleecing local taxpayers probably isn't a prerequisite for safe stadia to exist. Rather, what's needed is strict licensing standards, and requirements to upgrade stadia when standards are increased.
Anyway, back on topic, support for Benitez from an unlikely source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7206276.stm
well with that said America is a constitutional republic where the citizens vote for the best canidate who is thus given the right to vote on legislation that they feel is best for the people they repersent.
well thats a noble thought...thats also pretty slippery ground you're on there. Do you know how George W Bush made his personal fortune? Let me give you a hint: it had nothing to do with oil and everything to do with fleecing the citizens of Texas over a baseball team, with nary a vote from anyone in texas...very similarly to whats now going on in Liverpool and Manchester. The English aren't upset over nothing...its just that we Yanks havent gone up in arms over this behavior in our own leagues, even though its been going on for decades on this side of the pond. entire populaces being held to ransom so some millionaire (or in the case of dubya, someone with a name) can avoid spending any of his own money on making himself more millions. and if they can't get their way? it's their team, they can do what they want with it, including moving it somewhere else to a place where they CAN fleece the population. idealism is so out of place in this discussion. but having said that the fact that Hicks and Gillett are Americans is not whats important, and that crap has no place in the discussion either.
although it has to be said, that isn't what the Liverpool owners are doing. they lacked popularity for undermining a popular manager, and made themselves less popular by organising a refinancing package which saddles the club with massive debts while (the perception is at least) lining their own pockets. Like the Glazers, they didn't seem to actually have the money they required, and they'll use the debt to pay for their investment, whereas the fans will see that as money that could have been spent on the team.
I never claimed that it was a structural fault, only that I remembered reading a few things about the design being one of those things that with hindsight, faults could be found in. Not really, he'll try and exploit any weakness that another team shows to the media however it presents itself - today its support, tomorrow it might be the opposite - it doesn't matter what he says, as long as it weakens their position a bit.
The EPL will get what they deserve for allowing their clubs to become companies...i.e Corporate Managers and investors Sometimes I´m very happy that my own club (S04) is a non-profit organisation owned by it´s 70.000 members. But back to topic, how come no one have identified that group of American investors that are buying Derby County FC..? It´s top secret or what?
the design of the stand was fine. It had three tunnels leading to the terrace. Although most people will go down the central tunnel, with the terrace originally being unfenced, people could spread out across the terrace once inside. Once there were pens however, with no control over how many went into each pen (which should have had equal capacities) the central pen would tend to have more people in it than the ones at he sides. It meant you had three pens which should have held (roughly) 2000 each, but actually had about 3000 in the middle one and 1500 in the two side ones.
This is really significant. It is the first time American ownership will come face-to-face with the realities of relegation. Good luck to them. I hope they have sufficient funds to support the club.
Lerner also doesn't have a hothead Spaniard as a coach, like Hicks is saddled with. Benitez is a good coach no doubt, but publicly calling out your new owners in the media for being idiots on the transfer market (even if it's true, and let's face it, it probably is true) does not engender good will on either side. Hicks is insensitive and all about the dinero (I lived in Dallas for seven bad Rangers seasons), but he is building their new stadium. That is a nice commitment from a guy who is -oddly- being mistaken for George W in L'pool.
Unfortunately, Hicks who is a hack sports owner here too, is giving all the American owners a bad name. Lets not forget, Hicks is the moron that Scott Boras bamboozled into giving Alex Rodriguez $250 million when no one else's offer was even over $200 million and his team had no pitching. While I understand English fans being upset with their clubs becoming more corporate, and I think its a shame the way owners here extort the municipalities for new stadiums; these things are unfortunately the way that the world is going. Impassioned fans who will support a club no matter what + billion dollar investments = Owners squeezing as much money as they possibly can out of the fans. 10 years ago the best seat in Yankee Stadium was less than $40. When their new stadium opens (and they are actually paying most of the costs for it, unlike other places), that same seat will cost something like $120.
Thats the problem supply and demand. The demand is high enough to charge those prices. And with a nation of 300 million your going to fins enough people who can afford those prices to fill the stadium.
Agreed. Its not just in the States or because of American owners though. Look what Chelsea, Spurs, or Arsenal tickets go for these days.
Yah thats one of the biggest myth on this site. American teams are greedy out to squeeze every last dime out of the fans while european teams are all about the fans and community.
Moving the team elsewhere? We never had them to begin with. We asked them to come to us. AND O THANK GOD, THEY'RE FINALLY FIXING OUR FREEWAYS ALSO. Maybe they'll come blackmail us for the Mavs new arena in 15 years or so.