Like Hitman I too wonder what attendance will be like after the HOF seats are available. I also doubt they will be close to filled. Like the rest of you I've been here too long to predict they really know what they're doing on that side of the club. Show me.
Overhangs on the stadium? No. 1) It would cost money. 2) It would improve the fan experience in the rain like last Saturday or in the sun in a month or so. I've gotten lots of solicitations from the club to buy HOF seats. They cost more than my centerline seats (on the hot side) and they're in the endzone. Why would I want to do this unless I'm really dying to be in the AC?
From Sports Illustrated's MLS "Ambition" Rankings (we're #12): "FCD said it’s spending around $58 million on upgrades to Toyota Stadium and the Toyota Soccer Center that’ll include a new National Soccer Hall of Fame, new locker rooms and more." https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/04/23/mls-ambition-rankings-2018 $58M seems like a lot for new locker rooms, the HOF, and maybe some soccer center field upgrades. Could we, the fans, get something out of the $58M? Or do we just not believe this article?
Thanks for all of the responses! One of these days I will make it back home and take in a game, but until then I will just have to root from afar.
Thanks for not getting sucked into the "super cool, best team on Earth" vortex of Atlanta Silverbacks United.
Actually glad they ditched the Silverback stuff. Watched a US Open cup game against Silverbacks in Atlanta and they had a DJ playing music during the whole game. Totally lame. Really surprised what they've done and wonder if Dallas would be similar if JJ bought the team and moved them to the Death Star. Wonder if I'd actually personally like that as I'm so used to small crowds, inefectual marketing and the resultant easy access to good seats and great tailgates from that.
As much as we can "envy" what Atlanta and Seattle have done, I would not trade Toyota for AT&T. I know 60,000 vs 15,000 fans will be hard to turn down on a weekly basis (in this hypothetical world) but that place just feels so fake to me. Even faker than a SSS in the suburbs that looks like it was designed by the same dude who built all the strip malls round Frisco.
I could go for bigger crowds and more local enthusiasm, but not under the evil empire of Jethro Jones. Even if it meant not having to expain "FC" stands for and answer questions like, "Oh, is that soccer team still going?"
No, Dallas will always be my team (grew up in Southlake), however I did go to one Atlanta game. It was pretty impressive although there are two massive things I really can't get over. I have seen a game in Munich in the freezing cold on snowy grass and I would take that over an air conditioned stadium with plastic grass any day. As great as the environment was the product just seems cheap on turf with a closed roof. I'll take an outdoor stadium any day.
Interesting point about indoor vs outdoor. I generally don't like a game in football, soccer or baseball that's played indoor for the same reason. However, really hot games may be a small exception as they can really suffer if the players are super over heated while cold weather means they will be able to play harder. Does any stadium with a retractable roof resemble a regular stadium ie roofed only over the stands when the roof is retracted? Seems most only have a smaller opening at the top than a regular stadium has so even open it's not the same.
Check out Seattle's Safeco Field (home of the Mariners). I've been there for a game with the roof open. You'd hardly know it could be closed. It's a nice ballpark, way better than it's predecessor, the Kingdome, which was like watching a game in a parking garage. I've seen soccer, football, and baseball in domes. Aside from fake turf, I don't mind an indoor night game, but day games in a dome are weird, especially if the weather is nice outside.
We sure got something. My STH price went up 130% the year they announced they were building the HOF. We obviously canceled after 10 years. The FO has since seen the error of their ways (rapid drop in STH and attendance) and dropped the price back down to reasonable.
The rumor is that Mercedes Benz Stadium will never open (the roof) again. They tried it once and something happened and it is not designed correctly, or something. But I doubt they ever open it again.
Montreal invented expensive retractable roofed stadiums that become fixed roof stadiums because of technical issues:
The Atlanta roof is supposed to be working again by Memorial Day. The electronics weighed more than they thought, so the mechanism sagged more than anticipated. I've been stuck overseas since Mercedes-Benz Stadium opened, but those games at Georgia Tech were hot. The sunlight in Atlanta is almost Dallas levels of brutal, and it stays hot way after sundown in the summer. I don't prefer turf, either, but I will happily watch a game on turf if I can do so out of the heat. On that note, the idea of having a World Cup in outdoor stadiums in Qatar at any time other than the dead of winter is laughable. I got to see one of the stadiums they're planning to use, and it's nice, but it's hot as Hades over here even in the middle of the night in the summer. I've been to the stadium in Frisco in all seasons, in all weather. I don't think there's a way to make Texas less hot, but being in the shade makes a ton of difference there. Much like the perceived distance to Frisco, the perceived crushing sunlight keeps people away. It's a known problem, and therefore the FO will likely never address it.
Ok, I had not heard that, I just knew it was not working. On your other points, if it is anything like Afghanistan or Kuwait, you are correct again. You might as well sit on the surface of the sun. I remember it being 91 degrees at 1am in the morning in Afghanistan. There is so much good about FC Dallas, it is just a shame that the Hunt's don't do two simple things right: market the team correctly and take care of fans correctly.
I remember trying to camp at Big Bend one July 4th weekend and it was 93 at 2-3 o'clock in the morning. I couldn't sleep with it that hot so I left. Lesson is don't go there in the summer and yes it will be hot at MLS games in Texas in the summer. The 8:00 games helped.
Went to Vegas in August a few years ago. Got off the plane after midnight and it was still 90+ degrees.
Frisco Chamber of Commerce @FriscoChamber Jul 8 Seriously, can’t wait until this opens! Look at the progress made on the @soccerhof!pic.twitter.com/veNbeT56Fh