Now that this whole Olympic "BS" is over, the DCSEC will have nothing else to focus on near term but a SSS. Why don't we "the fans" start up our own website with forums/ideas for a DC stadium.. We can all sign some kind of online petition and show it MLS/AEG/ DCSEC. It will show all these folks how much it means.. plus, we can also put our insight into what the stadium should look like. (check out www.eurostadiums.com for ideas) any thoughts? We could start it as a free website somewhere, or if any of the fan clubs wants to chip in the $35 to register www.dcunitedsoccerstadium.com that would be even better. I'd be happy to start helping with the design.. lets proactively go after it.
No, now the evasive talk simply turns to baseball relocation and or expansion. Of course these issues cannot be addressed until the pending MLB strike is finished, but you know ... that's how it goes. -Tron
That's what we've been told since three years ago...sorry bad joke. But I have no faith that the Stadium Authority will do anything to take themselves away from the fat nipple they are sucking now.
Don't hold your breath. Something tells me the braintrust over at DCSEC will now pursue baseball full time, even though baseball is about to implode (again).
Where's that darn iwarp site? They had the "drawings." You can sign all the petitions you want. AEG and the DCSEC know of the interest in soccer here. Its a matter of economics now. And lets face it, outside of Carson, nobody is building stadiums now. The economy sucks, and Qwest (no one knows how tied to Anshutz and AEG it is) is in the toilet. Would an SSS be nice? Sure it is, but I think on a list of priorities for AEG, look where DC ranks in terms of needing a new stadium. 1. Metrodonkeys 2. San Jose 3. Chicago 4. DC Colorado and LA are out. Sure, RFK is old, but we don't have to compete with Helmetball... For all intensive purposes, RFK is an SSS (except the odd concert). The lease isn't as bad as people make it out. And nowhere nearly as bad as the Metrodonkey's. So lets look at this rationally (hard to do on BS, I know). 1. Economy Sucks, Qwest almost bankrupt 2. RFK is pretty good (bouncy stands, decent deal) 3. AEG has higher priorities Lets just be thankful we don't have to play on plastic 40 miles away, or on a postage stamp, or in the Swamp. When you look at it, RFK isn't that bad.
I'm for anything that gets MLS solid financial long-term dedicated investors. If we could get Steinbrenner involved in MLS I think he/his family would be ideal. They are committed, have the money, have their own freakin media network (YES=Yankees Entertainment & Sports or something like that) and his son is a soccernut. Let NYC get the 2012 Olympics and have Steinbrenner get a stadium co-funded by the City for the Olympics and then have revenue sharing. I don't care whether he buys the Metros, renames them GothamFC or gets an expansion franchise and calls em the Cosmos, we need guys like him. He and his son spend much of their time these days in Tampa, FL. They--and Eddie DeBartolo, another investor I'd like to have but I don't know that he's into soccer--were approached about buying the Mutiny. Steinbrenner actually took an active look at the situation because of his son's interest. In the end, he concluded that the stadium situation (i.e. very bad term lease with the Glazers) just made the venture impossible. But he actually did try to find another solution, and even tried to re-negotiate the lease with the Glazers ... but they weren't interested. It seems they'd rather have the occasional concert rather than the steady flow of MLS rents. Let MLS/AEG/Hunt put their monies where it best helps MLS. As long as DC United is around, RFK is just fine by me. Yeah, an SSS for United would be nice, but bigger financial issues should be addressed by MLS first, IMHO. -Tron
Evidently he's considered fitting the Yankees' spring training stadium near Tampa ("Legends Field" or some similar egomania) up as a soccer stadium. MLS almost-- not quite, but nearly-- doesn't overlap with baseball's spring training.
The Southampton Saints new grounds look like a good model - it seats 32,000. Imagine it with black seats, three sets of white seat "stripes" and logo in seats behind each goal. With DC United written in RED Seats through the stripes.
At the risk of sounding overly pedantic, I think the phrase you're looking for is "intents and purposes." As for the topic at hand, I personally like Roda JC's stadium in Kerkrade, Netherlands. The cost of 82 million guilders works out to about $38 million. http://www.eurostadiums.com/countries.php?lang=eng&stadium=143&co=the netherlands And screw lot 8, I think we all know the ideal placement for the stadium should be where the current convention center is in Chinatown.
Personally, I think the best location would be down by the Navy Yards. Williams is trying to revitalize that area, and there's a Metro station right there.
Another good site... I would certainly welcome that over Lot 8. I just don't know if DCU's timeframe for a new stadium would be quick enough/soon enough to get in there before something else does. I also have always thought the area just north of Union Station would be nice, too, but I read recently that the a lot of development rights were already sold and devoted to office space.
we're all missing the point here We're all missing the point here I think. We are all pessimistic about getting a stadium.. ok, that's fine. The fact is that doing nothing about it doesn't help either. If nothing else, we should set up a page on one of the supporters sites that has e-mail and mailing address links to people on city council, DC United, our I/O, the DCSEC, etc. we could at least try and express some interest. A lot of people comment on how MLS has higher priorities right now, but I'm not so sure that is good logic. It wouldn't be so bad for MLS to have a major market city that is selling 25k tickets to each game and making good money doing it. One succesful market could certainly help to bring in other I/Os to MLS. Since MLS pretty much owns all the teams anyway, having a cash cow or two couldn't hurt. #1 Stunna
Re: we're all missing the point here You can yell, scream, organize a rally of 20k people outside of Mayor Williams' office, RFK, whatever you want to do but it's POINTLESS. Unless you have an extra $50 million sitting around and would like to use it to build a stadium you're wasting your time. DC, the DCSEC, MLS, AEG and DCUnited are all fully aware of the support for soccer here. You'd be preaching to the chior. And you'd probably wind up annoying the hell out of people that are already on your side. Yeah, sorry bout that You have to forgive me, I'm from North Carolina, grammar falls somewhere behind shooting and fishing in educational priorities there...
Stunna, Point taken. As pessimistic as many of us are, I think most of us are interested in a new home for DC United. Getting the word out to show that interest to the powers-that-be is a good thing, and a website (with links to elected officials/business types, and maybe a petition, too...) seems like a good way to do it.
Re: Re: we're all missing the point here Don't feel bad. I've been rambling on about how the US getting the 2012 Olympics would hurt our chances of getting the 2012 World Cup... Hmm, 2002 plus 4 is 2006. 2006 plus 4 is 2010 OK. I'm from California, and apparently math was somewhere between surfing and putting the top down. Not to mention the study of logic. Let's see...World Cup this year in Japan/Korea. Olympics...where??? Oh well.