http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/14373439.htm Arrowhead Stadium will undergo renovations after the 2006 NFL season making it unavailable to the Wizards for the 2007 season. Since a SSS in Kansas has not broken ground yet and could not be finished before the 2008 season, the Wizards may have to suspend operations for the 07 season.
Wow, somebody's been putting their "Jump to Conclusions Mat" to good use. I have a strange feeling they could find another stadium to play at in KC, it may not be an ideal solution but they'll still be playing.
Why can't they play in C-BUS, at least they are more entertaining then the high school team that plays there now.
Chicago found a place to play when Soldier Field underwent renovations and Dallas played at a different stadium for a season too. I think the complicating factor here is that the team is in the process of changing owners.
I love it when headlines ask a potentially volatile or provocative question, and then answer it "No" with the story below. And, it looks like there are plenty of options for the Wizards nearby:
Sean Wheelock is retarded. Scheduling with 13 teams IS more difficult that scheduling with 12 or 14, but he makes it sound impossible. Like the league schedulers would sit down at the table, see an odd number of teams, and throw their arms up in the air saying "IMPOSSIBLE, WE MUST CUT A TEAM." Yeah, I'm sure it would take some pretty advanced calculus to figure out how to sit one team out on each match day. You have to integrate the number of team by 2, then divide by the hypotenus, then quadruple the Riemann sum and multiply that by ... Although it will suck for the Wizards to play in a different stadium for a year before moving to a new one.
Wow, that guy is beyond moronic. First, he raises and idiotic premise..one with absolutely no credibility. Then he goes on to quote every informed source and decision maker as saying 'we've never thought of it/no way" EXCEPT for Wheelock who mentions how difficult it is to do a schedule with 13 teams. Yeah, if you are in 3rd grade, and make poor grades. Finally, the author mentions 'there is precedent' for suspended operations and then mentions San Jose????? Geez dude- THEY MOVED TO ANOTHER CITY 2,000 miles away! Seriously, that is about the dummest soccer piece I've seen written in about 10 years....
1. No one, except the writer, says it's possible. I usually like Pete's stuff, but he never should have filed this. or he should have written it as a column. b. Why is Sean Wheelock an expert on scheduling all of a sudden?
There is no reason why KC should have to sit out a season. That is unfair to the fans and could be disastrous for the organization. Kansas City has arguably the best current form in MLS and has the potential to be better since they have good young players and nobody wants to see this team sit it out. There are numberous possibilities to where they can play in 2007: 1) Kauffman Stadium: This is a baseball stadium seating 40,000. Obviously, a deal would have to be struck with the KC Royals and there would be scheduling conflicts, but then again, DC United shares its stadium with the Washinton Nationals, so it's possible, and it would keep the Wizards right in the heart of the city, where they belong. 2) Lawrence, KS: The college football stadium for the University of Kansas holds 50,000 and it's approximately 40 miles from Kansas City. There is not that serious since Olathe is being considered for the new KC soccer stadium and Olathe is 22 miles from Kansas City. And there would be no scheduling conflicts at this stadium until Sept. when the college football season starts. I think these are the two best bets. Two other less likely scenarious. Play at Mizzou's college football stadium in Columbia, which is about 2 hours drive from KC. And less likely, but maybe good to promote a future MLS team there, St. Louis. It's a 4 hour drive (yikes) and I can't think of anywhere the team would play. U. of St. Louis soccer stadium only holds 7,000 and I don't see them playing at the Trans World Dome or Busch Stadium. Any KC locals know of any other options?
The ones mentioned in the article are probably the best options, better then Kauffman and Lawrence anyways. With Lawrence it's all about preception. It might be only 40 miles, but it's not within the metro area, while Olathe is, the team would lose interest from the soccer families that wouldn't want to travel out to Lawrence for the game.
They aren't huge, I'd say the biggest would only be around 6K, but I'm not sure, it'd be a Naperville situation where bleachers would need to be brought in to get it up to minimum MLS standards.
RFK was built as a dual-use stadium. I don't really think there's any way that Kauffman could be set for soccer with any sort of reasoably decent seating arangement, or if a proper soccer field would even fit in there at all.
They're also renovating Kauffman at the same time. Kauffman won't happen. KU actually is the best ready-made stadium option, but the drive is a bit much. It'll be a Naperville situation. And Lord knows what Grathoff was thinking with this article. It's a joke.
Central Missouri State in Warrensburg is a closer option than Columbia for a ready made stadium, but Lawrence would probably be better from a distance standpoint.
Why I would love for it to be in CMSU. 10 bars within 3 blocks of the stadium, plus you could actually take the train from KC to the game, getting back is a whole nother story.(station is between the bars and the stadium.) It is to far in the wrong direction. I live in the South east Metro area and it is 30 mins from me. Johnson County is about 30 mins in the other direction, and Lawerence is probably a good hour drive. The advantage though is to hold it in Johnson County while a permanment stadium is being built there.
What is the seating capacity at CMSU? I think Kansas City needs to play somewhere where they can average at least 10,000 if not more. I'm guessing they would be saving money (rent) by playing at CMSU rather than Arrowhead, so maybe their average attendance would not be that important. I wish MLS teams would use sponsors on the front of jerseys to generate more sponsorship money so we can raise the salary cap and get some big time players in this league. Now that would definitely increase attendance, TV ratings and the overal reputation and awareness in MLS.
it seats 10K. The problem is it's location in relation to the target audience the Wizards front office would likely go after, which lives in Johnson County probably about an hour away from Warrensburg.
What about Tulsa for a season? They seem to respond pretty well to the MLS exhibitions that come their way, and they have been mentioned as an expansion possibility. I could see them doing 10,000/game in Tulsa. It is a little far for KC diehards to travel (4 hours), but at least it is in the region.
I don't think Tulsa is a good idea. KC fans deserve to have the team as close as possible. They need to show some commitment to their fans because they are hanging by a string right now as far as their permanence in Kansas City. They need to get this stadium deal finalized ASAP so that they will spend no more than one year away from "home", wherever that may be. This team has no so much potential on the field, I think they will start to attract bigger crowds as the season progresses. Perhaps that will catch the eye of investors who will take charge and get a stadium built.
Wow, what a dreadful article. I love how everybody said "no", but then he went and wrote the article anyway. How about this for next year's Wizards (if they stay in KC): -8 games at a local "high school" stadium -2 games in Lawrence -2 games in Columbia -2 games at Creighton -2 games in Oklahoma Why dump all 16 games into one crummy high school stadium? The Dallas situation was a bad one, so why repeat it in KC? Only having 8 games in a small KC stadium should keep local interest high in the team, while not giving fans too much of a chance to get sick of the minor league stadium. Playing 8 games at other midwest locales would be a nice attempt to build interest in both the team and the league. And only having two per location would keep the event unique and exciting for the locals. And if one of those 4 locations won't work, how about giving St Louis a try?