This is a video capture of a broadcast from our playoff game against Colorado last year, the night after a high school football game. Call me a Pollyanna, but I don't think that those kind of very faint markings will further his reputation as a has-been, but will only remind people that the United States is a country that supports sports other than soccer.
Maybe it's because I grew up watching futbol on full-time futbol fields, but I can't stand it. While not as nearly bad as RSL or Seattle, I still find those line a shame and a sin against the beautiful game. Lots of South American futbol fans would laugh at an image of Denilson playing on a high school football field. I console myself by knowing this is a necessary evil in order to help FCD become profitable, longlasting and close to my home. But I'm already hooked on the team, so I'm not the one the FO has to convince this truly is a "major league."
Is this a detail that would be known outside of North America? And if, as I suspect, the answer is "no," would they feel the same way about players playing on pitches in England and France that have faint rugby markings?
But Denilson is not playing soccer on a high school football field. The high schools are playing football on a professional soccer field. Big difference in my book.
Should FCD really be overly concerned with how some random South American soccer fans view their situation? I mean, other than to shrug their shoulders and say "Oh well", what else could they or should they do? Of all the things FCD has to concern themselves with, if South American fan perception isn't at the bottom of the list, it should be darn close. Let's get the LOCAL fans thinking positively about FCD before going global, shall we?
As I recall you can barely even see the lines when you're in the stadium so I wouldn't worry about that. I'm almost positive that in the original contract there was only supposed to be something like 5 or 6 games a year, but whatever. I'd rather be in our situation than all but about 3 other teams in the league.
That's not nearly as bad as I feared. I don't like the idea of pointyball being played on a professional football pitch, but at least it doesn't look like Qwest where I had a hard time distinguishing the proper markings. I swear Sala carried the ball across the box a couple of times, but fortunately the ref obviously couldn't tell either.
Well, this won't win hearts and minds here in Plano, but I'm kind of annoyed at the soccer stuff that gets littered all over the cricket pitches that the NTCA had installed. Theoretically, cricket pitches cannot be shared spaces. Plus the area soccer league schedules play havoc with the NTCA matches. I know, Crimea River and all of that. Re: "Pointy ball" lines on soccer fields, mmm, it's not like the USA has a worldwide reputation as a soccer-friendly country - in that we'd have stadiums reserved just for that purpose. Which is, to me, what makes the MLS stadiums such a huge deal. Steady on, etc.
I am a LOCAL South American futbol fan, so yes I do believe FCD should care what I and other potential fans like me think. If football lines are of turn off to anti-MLS fans hoping to enjoy jogo bonito, then I would be concerned about that if I was FCD. And don't worry about the Latin American fan's perception of FCD being at the bottom of the front office's list. It already is and they've done a fine job of making that known.
You qualify as a LOCAL fan, not a South American fan. And as we pointed out, the lines in person really aren't an issue.
I really had no idea that people in America played cricket. I have been to almost every state in America and I have never seen anything remotely associated with that sport. So take TG's advice and play baseball.
Everytime I have an early Sunday game at Russell Creek in Plano there is a group playing cricket. But I would still recommend baseball, if you are concerned with field purity.
Hey. Don't knock high school football stadiums. The Miami Fusion played at a high school football stadium and did OK for themselves.
Actually, seems to me softball and baseball are played interchangeably - though I may be in error. (ETA: I meant this in terms of not being able to "claim" a field as one's own.) Re: Nobody in USA playing Cricket, not sure if they actually built it, but there was talk of building a cricket-only stadium in Miami. Here in North TX there are lots of South Asians, as well as blokes from England/South Africa/Australia. I had to give up on Cricket though because honestly I don't have 9 hours to devote to a single game in 100F heat. It was cool to learn though. Very rewarding cultural experience while it lasted, for me.
Some of my Indian co-workers like to play cricket. They've even tried to explain it to me. I have no idea where they play it, though.
If it had been managed differently, Lockhart Stadium could have been the first true Soccer Specific Stadium and we might have had the glut of SSVs built a few years earlier. The venue wasn't the problem in Miami.
...Which is why I've been saying the term "SSS" is a total misnomer....."$$$" would be much better......after all that is all HSG really gives a fcuk about.
Do you honestly think that another community would have given us $55 million for a stadium? And while Adam quoted the $20 mil FISD gave to us, don't think that it wouldn't have made Collin County or the City to hesitate if HSG hadn't worked with the ISD. In that case, we still might have had a SSS, but it would have been much closer to what the Crew have than being the best complex operation in the league.
Wonder how much Grand Prairie put up for Lone Star Park, I know the total price tag was about $100 mil in 1997 dollars. Hell HSG could have probably built the facility completely with their own money. Whatever, we've been down this road before.
They can play their silly ass HIGH SCHOOL games on one of the ajoining fields.....I am sure that Morrow is under a lot of pressure to win something this year and ANYTHING that takes away from his chance of doing that is just unfair to him.....the damage to the field (God forbid they have a couple of fcuking downpours during one of these HIGH SCHOOL games) sure to be inflicted is just not acceptable at this stage of the season. If I were Morrow I would bitch up a blue streak about this ridiculous situation.
No matter the sporting event, if my school district had paid $20 mil for a stadium and then we played our main games on adjacent fields, I think I would have every right to be cussing a blue streak a mile wide. I do understand the complication it presents, but that is the deal that was made. And having seen what other MLS teams have done for soccer specific venues, I'm pretty sure that HSG made a very solid decision to go this route.