What a gorgeous stadium this will be. It's going to look great on those FSW Friday night telecasts -- and even better from the stands. I hope we will see Open Cup matches shown from Silverback -- and Blackbaud and the new one in Rochester -- in the seasons to come. Congratulations -- and may you sell out every match!
wow, looks like a great place for soccer. ....But late in 2003, the A-League's Atlanta Silverbacks also announced that they would be building a new soccer stadium, an announcement that caught the soccer community, and many Atlanta soccer fans, somewhat by surprise. Because the stadium project is privately funded, the project had maintained a low profile. But by the time the project was announced, the stadium site was all ready for groundbreaking, which took place on October 16, 2003. i for one never heard about it being built, and am definitely one who is surprised by this. i didn't think the team is supported that well, especially to the point to have their own stadium. also, the place will be natural grass and hold 5,000 people. when looking at the pic though, it seems like it holds more than just 5k.
Great day for Atlanta soccer. The Chiefs are smiling down from that locker room in the sky. Privately funded. Natural grass. Music to our ears. Slightly on subject, I'll share this article again for those not interested in the Cleveland threads: www.cleveland.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/sports/1080217844290720.xml Doesn't say much for the IQ of baseball fans, I guess. But we know soccer fans are generally far more intelligent, don't we? Tip of the cap to ya, Silverbacks and backers. Now, how 'bout a row of crape myrtles in front of that naked fence on the far side?
Yeah, it looks great. Does everyone in Atlanta drive cars with the windows painted out? And what kind of trees are those again?
I didn't even know about this. Looks like a Blackbaud clone, many props must go to the Private Financers on this one, enjoy your new digs Silverback fans, though you are few and far between
Sports teams in Atlanta that do not include Michael Vick have horrible attendence. It would be a huge mistake to expand into Atlanta any time in the near future (as in 50 years).
This has been in the works for quite some time. We originally were told that the stadium would be open for the start of this season. I wouldn't say that we were surprised by the stadium. We were simply surprised that they actually ever broke ground. Everyone that comes to these boards knows about the challenges teams face in building a stadium and the proverbial an "announcement in 60-90 days." Ground has been broken. The last time I drove by, the light standards for the practice fields were in place. And, lots of earth was being moved. I have been out of town for a while, so I am not sure of the current status. I think the place is modeled after Blackbaud. Complete with a bar/restaurant as well.
Hopefully attendance will improve with the quality of the facility and its accessibility. Because right now, DeKalb Stadium is probably the biggest piece of crap I've ever seen professional sports played on and it is in the crappiest location.
Tell that to the 2.5mil - 3mil that have been showing up at Turner field the last 10 years. Here is a picture of the progress in Atlanta. http://www.atlantasilverbacks.com/nailer/nailer.php?did=/clubsite&id=26&page=3 The link doesn't look the same as it does in my post. Any help from the mods would be appreciated.
Blackbaud is pretty different - it has walls (facings) and walkways around the back side of each stand. It has no development on either end (apart from a "wine garden" and picnic area) - nothing like the "field house" in the end of the park shown in the conceptual model. The stands are roughly similar, but Blackbaud's superstructure is a bit bigger and there is no demi-roof. Blackbaud's home stand seems a bit higher than this too, although that may just have been my impression. Where is the new Atlanta stadium located?
Looking at that aerial shot, it doesn't look like they can fit everything in that little space! I hope parking is better than it is at DeKalb stadium, where I had to "offroad" in my car and park on a grassy hillside during a US Open Cup match.
Now I see - spaghetti junction. That is great - less than 2 hours from where I live. I could easily see myself attending a couple of games a year.
It is in Northern Atlanta, near I-75 I think (or maybe I-85). Their website doesn't make anything easy to find.
The area does seem small to have parking for 5k. I guess some smart homeowners in the area will make some extra cash the night of matches. I applaud the Silverbacks for this. They have been a team that has had problems for quite a while. Lets hope this is the first step to turning the franchise into a viable one, and a well run one.
It is interesting to note that this stadium site is very close to Chamblee and the Buford Highway ("little Mexico", "little Korea", etc) areas which are extremely heavily populated with soccer-loving immigrant communities. The stadium will be very close (easy shuttle bus ride) from a couple of the extreme northern MARTA stations, so I would think a lot of people would use mass transit.
Two of the practice fields will be field turf. The club plans on using these fields as parking lots on game days.
That seems like one of the worst ideas I've heard in a long time. It won't affect the fans, but the field turf will probably be next to worthless in no time flat.
it looks like there are about 100 cars in that picture. In addition, they can always make the parking lot bigger. 5,000 k stadium needs about 1000 cars parking lot. It will fit. check out the 2 tennis courts and a swimming pool if i am not mistaken. There will be bars, restaurant and maybe a bowling alley if my memory serve me correctly. Anyway, very positive news for the development of american soccer.
If they threw in a few apartments and a laundromat, you'd never have to leave the complex if you could get a job with them