I used to stand in the Kop at Anfield in it's hayday (heyday??) before I saw the light on the way to The Meadows in Nottingham, and you couldn't see most of the Kop end penalty area. Most games weren't televised back then so you'd never see the goal. That was before they put up the giant fences. The one in the away end at Derby was virtually impenetrable if you weren't on the back 4 steps of the terrace.* Europeans are used to partially obstructed views in any stadium not built in the last 20 years. And if you're behind the goal at any MLS stadium or in Germany there's a good chance your view will be obscured by a flag, banner or capo. And the Azteca probably has the worst views in a major pro sport North American stadium. I know they're supposed to be doing some work on it, I don't know if it will alleviate the situation. *We used to stand on t' cardboard box int' middle o' t'road.
La remodelación del Estadio Azteca está a tope y arrasando con muchas cosas en el interior rumbo al Mundial de 2026 de la FIFA. Las imágenes filtradas revelan que la obra va a toda velocidad y se augura una gran mejoría.Si Dios nos deja, estaremos para nuestra 3a Copa. pic.twitter.com/Eu8c5FuMI3— Diego Mtz Cabrera (@diegonews) September 2, 2024
Sure, I've been in some poorly designed old stadia too. My avatar name comes from the times I spent standing at Highbury in the mid-70's and IIRC there were no messed up sight lines. But then they replaced it in the 90's with a tow tiered all-seater, and I remember my one and only time (2006) in that newer stand, in the very last row, where I couldn't see the far end goal without bending down, chest on knees. LOL. I didn't mind too much though because it was a last-minute ticket to a UCL semi-final. BUT Atlanta's stadium is very modern and really shouldn't have any obstructed views of a footy match. LA's is even newer. So the default conclusion seems to be that they didn't consider the dimensions of a soccer pitch when they designed those places. If so, that was awfully short-sighted of them.
This was taken at last years womens world cup. On the left you will see a few rows of mostly empty seats. FIFA reduced the capacity of the stadium and didn't sell those seats (even as partly obscured seats) due to poor sightlines because of the photographers and advertising signs. These are normally sold for local matches. This may give you some idea of what FIFA may do with obscured sightlines at WC stadiums in 2026.
A few rows of empty seats is a pretty standard thing you see in stadia that weren't designed for modern electronic ad boards. And that may happen for WC'26. BUT that doesn't help with the ATL problem shared earlier... The only way to fix that would be to raise the pitch by feet/meters, or by removing/rebuilding the stands near the pitch.
they will have to do something, but I assume it is going to be some sort of compromise. TV image must be flawless, fans … well, we‘ll find it out. it is definitely going to be better than this, no doubt about that. you wrote in earlier post about them being short sited etc .. not really, they just don’t care about that minor sport. when hosting summer tours of european teams it doesn‘t matter, they will play on any pitch they give them, they are coming over only to collect the money anyway, and local MLS fans will take whatever they give them. most of them do not even know united is playing on very narrow pitch. as for the world cup, it is once in a lifespan of all those stadiums, they will do what they got to do for that event but they will bring their stadiums back to the original configuration when the cup is over and leave it like that for good.
I guess you're right that imperfect in-venue fan sightlines carry less weight than perfect global TV sightlines. On your other point about crammed-in, too-small pitches not being a big deal for pre-season friendlies... I'm not so sure about that. The coaches want "proper" pitches for training purposes, and most of these teams are pretty powerful... the very elite clubs from the most important footy region in the world. And absolving the stadium owners/designers from not having to bother with a "minor" sport like soccer? That doesn't ring true to me either. It's obvious that the most important game in the world is coming to USA more and more and more. It's myopic and parochial to not pay attention to that. And you say it's also less important because there's likely only one FIFA WC event in the life of a stadium. You're not factoring in the women's game, nor does it factor in Copa America, Gold Cup, etc. And it's also not out of the question for a WC to come here more frequently than in the past. So it's not too big a stretch to envision certain stadia hosting many events like this in their lifetimes.
@NorthBank , all those things you mentioned are played on whatever they give them and as long as TV sightlines are fine everyone is happy as well. World Cup is of course different beast and it creates so much money and so much attention that FIFA has the leverage to require neraly anything from the host and they indeed do so. It is going to be really interesting to find out how all those stadiums will look like for the tournament.
MLS has no serious requrements, they even play the games in baseball stadiums during the season, and as it is, it doesn‘t meet a single FIFA World Cup requirement.
MLS and USSF have strict stadium requirements and minimum pitch sizes which Yankee Stadium and Citi Field meet. Yankee Stadium is actually a great place to watch soccer, in person, but it looks crap on TV. There are imperfect stadium situations all over the football world, including the top leagues. "Daddy, Arsenal fans can see the players boots when they're taking a throw-in and I can't. Daddy. Why can't I see the players boots? Daddy why we can't see go to Arsenal, I don't like Atlanta".
Below is Barca's starting XI v City in their preseason friendly. Only one of those players started any of their league matches this season, and even that was only because of injuries. They fielded similar teams for their other friendlies in the US. Those preseason friendlies are just cash grabs. Plain and simple.
UEFA WCQ draw will be a mess 🚨 📰 UEFA and FIFA have agreed to the format for the World Cup Qualifying draw. There are A LOT of stipulations as it relates to the draw. Again, thanks to @Cramao_dk for this info.- 8 Nations League Quarterfinalists in Pot 1 along with the 4 highest ranked teams in the…— We Global Football (@We_Global) September 3, 2024 Also, they practically ensured that England is going to be on pot 1
the only thing yankee stadium is great for is to grab a sandwich during those 2-3 innings before it gets too boring but yes, you‘re righ, it fits MLS perfectly. it offers enough space on the sideline for the cheerleaders!
both FIFA and UEFA want all the biggest teams in the world cup, nothing strange there! let‘s see now who is going to screw it up by ending third in their group
Maybe I'm not bothered about NYC playing on a baseball field because it took 50 years for my English team to build a soccer stadium. This was our last match playing in one corner at Trent Bridge cricket ground. Sheffield United played on a cricket field until 1973 and Northampton until 1994. If you've been to Kenilworth Road you'll realize what a great situation Detroit City FC have. Highbury used to have seats directly behind pillars, I think Anfield still does, Old Trafford has a leaky roof, the City of London and Etihad Stadiums have shitty views due to the running tracks etc etc. Very few leagues have as many good stadiums as we do in American pro sports. A lot of our college stadiums are better than top 5 league venues.
OK. That's why I also said "crammed in". Clearly there's not much space between the side/end lines and their high walls that obscure visibility
I know you're joking, but it's not even good for that. It's literally the worst place for food or drinks in NYC. $28 + tip and tax for a watered-down Aperol Spritz? Pass.
Indeed, no wonder they'll need computer assistance! FIFA's insistence on using the world ranking to seed the draw rather than only basing it on the final UNL group stage ranking means that a team finishing in a higher position in its UNL group - say third instead of fourth - could be penalised by being demoted to a lower WCQ draw pot than their world ranking would place them in because they would then being playing a UNL promotion-relegation playoff in March; that's ridiculous. Using only the final UNL GS ranking would be significantly fairer.
I assume this was also to get England into Pot 1. This sucks. I wanted my Italy, England, Turkey, Sweden group.
Right, but that has nothing to do with the draw being a mess. The mess is all due to the unnecessary extra layers that were added to the Nations League. On your point, if that's FIFA's and UEFA's main goal they should have just gone with the FIFA rankings. Of course, I am predicting to some extent here because we don't know what will happen in the NL. But what we do know is that both England and one of Italy/France/Belgium will be in pot 2. And I'll be surprised if a 3rd and maybe 4th "big" NT don't join them in pot 2. Edit. Oh right, I missed the part about the next best 4 teams in the FIFA ranking being added to pot 1. Indeed, that is a sneaky way to ensure both France and England get into pot 1. Yawn.
England are now guaranteed to be pot 1. Italy are almost all but guaranteed... They would need Spain, Portugal, and Netherlands all fail to make the top 8 to not make it. If all the favorites make it to the quarters. This is what Pot 1 would look like: Croatia, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark. The best 4 would be England, France, Switzerland, and Austria. The gap between Switzerland and Austria is pretty substantial that I think Switzerland are safe to not be passed. The real question will be if we get some serious upsets in Nations League. But we would would need a bunch of upsets to get Germany to Pot 2. Something along the lines of Hungary over Germany, Poland over Portugal/Croatia, and Spain flaming out vs Switzerland/Denmark to make Germany Pot 2.