A change of heart (for Valentine's Day ) for Mayor Fenty: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021303412.html?nav=rss_print
Re: DC Stadium But, man oh man, if it does finally get done that stadium will be amazing. DCU already has one of, if not the, best atmospheres in MLS... I can only imagine how intimidating that place will be with roofed in noise. I simply cannot wait to pack up a 1,000-2,000 SoB's for a roadtrip to watch Philadelphia SC smack around DC United in their shiny, new house in 2012.
Re: DC Stadium I don't know for sure, but if the MLS is growing as we think it is, they could fill the place 8-10 years down the line. Of course that all depends on ticket prices, which is where MLS so far has been great about. I really hope DC gets a deal done, they deserve it for boosting the profile of the league so well over the past several years. According to an article in the Washington Post, their attendance averaged over 20k last year.
Re: DC Stadium Remember that United had the 45k Beckham data point in that number. But still, 20k is a reasonable expectation. The lower bowl of RFK holds just under 25k now, and they had to open the upper deck more than a handful of times last season. Also putting it above most other SSS's puts it in a higher weight class when it comes to bidding for WCQ or other events/matches.
Re: DC Stadium That's the thing, does positioning itself as the East Coast's National Team Venue based on capacity still fail to give it significant traction in terms of supply v demand in the season ticket and single game advance market? Plus if they are drawing under that normally now, can they afford to raise ticket prices to become profitable in their own building?
Re: DC Stadium You make a good points Bryan. Perhaps their logic is, if they controlled the revenue then perhaps they could make up for the some of the gaps in attendence with friendlies, future Foreign matches (Possible EPL, Bundes League Etc.), National Team matches (Women and Mens). I am not a financial analyst so I can only speculate. It still may not be enough to cover some of the losses. Maybe have solid rivalries with NY and a future NY team down the road, Philly and New England would attract more visiting fans and increase fan interest in the market which would lead to higher average attendence. Just a thought...
Re: DC Stadium I think part of the expectation of United is that they don't want to go through another drawn out process to expand the building. A lot of the SSS's going up are around 20k with the ability to be expanded. Either by adding decks or seating areas behind goals. United's now going into their 7th year of talking about stadiums with the District (and other local governments), so I think they want to kick any additional stadium talk as far down the road as possible.
dc united averaged 16,000 fans per game before the Beckam game. After the Beckam game it was 20,000, and that is the real numbers. But remember the attendance is going to go up in a new stadium. Especially after picking up big name players. Plus u never know when a ronaldiho would come, then u need every seat possible. its a long term thing
Yup, and we just picked up that new DP spot for Gomez. I loved how the guys on American Soccer said something like only DC could trade away their best player and still come out ahead in the deal. Besides, DC will need the couple of thousand extra seats to compensate for the SoB travelers, right?
What's this "Not Philly Related" stuff? You don't think people are going to be comparing the design, cost, SIZE, etc of the DC stadium to our effort? The competition is going to be fierce about who has the better/best SSS. It DEFINITELY is relative to what we are doing!!
Some folks are working on who the title sponsor might be for Seaport Drive. Synygy is located in the Wharf at Rivertown and depending on their national/international vision might be considered as a legitimate bidder for stadium naming rights The funding of the stadium, especially since the linked article turned out to be only a partial truth, is not neccessarily Philly related. The three nicest stadiums in MLS may open in 2010. Chester, Harrison, and Collinsville. DC may not open until 2012 at which point capacity in Chester may have changed based on the market.
Precisely. I believe that it is ALWAYS a good idea to keep one eye on the competition, especially when we have such a close relationship w/to them and they will be one of our closest rivals. Plus, from a community perspective, it lends credibility to our efforts to construct a 'showplace' stadium if we wish to keep in step w/ the rest of the League and our rivals!
It'll be so sweet to go between the NE, NY, Philly, and DC stadiums for MLS games. It'll make for some sweet rivalries. 27,0-- for a stadium i don't think is that bad, especially for a premier soccer team in the US. DC, LA and maybe another big city like New York would be able to (or should at this point) upgrade their stadiums past the MLS norm.
Right - as time passes and the League establishes legitimacy/quality, I believe that 30-40K will be more than reasonable and might become the norm for the 'major'-market cities. One issue that has been infrequently addressed amongst the euphoria of our NEW venue is the possibility of future expandability. I presume that provisions for such are being built into the design. Dills?