Interesting that while Wilt discussed the downside of having football lines and a relatively narrow field at Naperville, he neglected to discuss the artificial surface and its associated problems (excessive heat; non-contact injuries; etc).
I think the field thing has been done to death, and, to be honest with you, our time was limited and he talked for like 7 minutes straight on my first question. There were other things I wanted to get to. Oh, and it's not like they can put grass in. And, yes, the interview is the same one as for the article in ECG, but in ECG it's an actual article, this is the Q and A from which the article sprang. I still recommend getting ECG, there's a lot of cool stuff in it (as always). And there is no story on Miss October. It's just one of three things I think deserve a thumbs-up, along with three things I think deserve a thumbs-down.
Q. "Kind of like the situation in New England, where they've managed to create a nice atmosphere in an NFL stadium?" A. "I would like to think we could scale the house in a way that would be even better than what Gilette has been able to accomplish. I would like to scale is so that there are fans, certainly across from each other. We may have to take out the north end zone similar to how we did in the past at Soldier Field, but I believe we can have fans on both sides, the east and the west, and the south, and have it intimate and create the atmosphere that we've succeeded in creating out here in Naperville." Good to see that the Fire are not planning a Revolution-style of seating, which would instantly drive me away from the games.
"We need to get to the point where our fans have an emotional attachment to our teams, our players, and our league. " Yes, like we were attached to the Fusion?
It's too bad we can't clone Wilt and send one of him to each MLS team. I can think of more than a couple who could use him.
ouch...go ahead, kick a man while he's down. On another note, I was suprised he did acknowledge the deficiencies of Naperville. I'm so used to the MLS BS that they spout. The Fire deserve much better than Naperville though.
Regular readers of the Fire boards know that this isn't a new thing for him. He's been upfront that this isn't the best situation for us ("us" being both the league and its fans as well as the Fire and their fans). I mean, you're right, this is refreshing, which is too bad. But this is why it would be great to clone him and pass him around to other franchises.
Q. "Kind of like the situation in New England, where they've managed to create a nice atmosphere in an NFL stadium?" A. "I would like to think we could scale the house in a way that would be even better than what Gilette has been able to accomplish. I would like to scale is so that there are fans, certainly across from each other. We may have to take out the north end zone similar to how we did in the past at Soldier Field, but I believe we can have fans on both sides, the east and the west, and the south, and have it intimate and create the atmosphere that we've succeeded in creating out here in Naperville." I don't remember hearing New England fans saying they have a nice atmosphere at their games. Heck - they're staring at a sea of empty blue seats.