SSS Design ideas. Why are teh fans still so far from the action?

I think the recessed playing field looks just fine on TV. They could have built the sidelines a little narrower at HDC, but they thought they wanted an 80 yard wide field. Turns out, they didn't.

If I were to improve something about the HDC, it would be to find a way to make it look full when it is full. Sell SRO tickets. Tuck the club seats under a balcony, so that when the rich folks don't show up to their game, their empty seats are not 'center stage', in terms of crowd appearance.

 

SSS Design ideas. Why are the fans still so far from the action?

AEG got really greedy and overestimated demand for tix. There are just too many $45 seats and far too little demand for them. Put it this way: you can be right on the goal line, pay $45, or go over 3 feet and pay $30 bucks, or go over 15 feet and pay $22 bucks and getter a better view then $45. WWC final tix were $400 EACH!!

Word out on the calle is that prices will go down next year.

AS far as the field width, Sigi has requested the field be more narrow then originally planned. I wouldn't be surprised to see it at maximum width for the 1st playoff game vs. SJ, who is vulnerable to the counterattack and is used to playing at cramped Spartan.

 

My kind of post,a subject near and dear to my heart. I am a big proponent of building our stadiums with the seats "on top of the action". I believe that the English style stadium is the kind to model our stadiums after. I don't necessarily think that the first row of seats should be below the field like at Old Trafford. But,if the first row of seats is 2-3 feet off the ground that would allow fans to feel like they're part of the game. Having been to stadiums in Europe(Anfield,Sclessin,Bernebau) and also to Crew,RFK and Blackbaud stadiums i can tell you that the sight lines a great.

 

L.A. didn't overestimate by much, as they have sold over 20,000 for almost every game there, and without having the exact numbers in front of me, the season average would probably be close to 23,000 or 24,000 for HDC.

Cheaper tix won't hurt though.

And I'm a big fan of the English style stands rather then the full bowl of our stadiums. Would love to see a Firehouse or United Park made with a stand on each side and no corner seating. At least one of our stadiums should be like this, IMO.

 

Any of you ever go to one of those great old English stadiums, buy a ticket down right at field level, and actually try to watch the game from there??


Thought so.

 

true, notice some of the new english stadiums being built, seats are farther away and placed higher from the ground.

 

3 dates made 'em realize their error:

June 7: they were giving tix away by the truckload b/c ppl were turned off by the prices

The following 2 games: 18,000 and 13,000 (Wed. night).

From there, the FO suddenly started having 2x1 promos, 2 kids for 1 adult in free, AYSO night, Faith Night, etc., all w/ significantly reduced prices.

So, the average will be inflated by the ridiculous amount of deals thrown the fans way.

 

The "eye level - right on top of the action" seating I see called for so much acutally SUCKS. You can't see what the hell is going on down there!
HDC as well as other newer stadiums put a lot of time into sight lines and if you have sat in all different kinds of stadiums and locations in those stadiums you would soon not be such a fan of the "Highbury" seating arrangements.

 

I sat in the first row of an NBA game once. It was horrible. I couldn't see anything. And what I could see was skewed and distorted. I can't imagine those fans in England that are "right on top of the action" have a very good view. I wouldn't want to sit there.

That said, HDC seems to have a ridiculous amount of space between touch and the start of the seating. I still don't understand how that happened. Did Sigi really ask that the field dimensions be changed?

 

Yep. I went to Selhurst Park (o.k., I admit I don't know how very old it is, but it does have ground view, which is the issue). Front row. I could just see over the seated security guard's head. I was spitting distance from the players on throw ins. It was one of my all time greatest soccer experiences ever.

Thing is, a lot of people like being that close to the action. I've heard that in some places the price of those seats is lower because the demand is lower, than the prices of the seats 10 rows or so up. Great for me and great for those up a bit--we're both happy. Plus you can get more seating into the stadium without going up as high.

As a practical consideration, and somewhat aethetic considerations as well, I agree with JCUnited that having 4 stands would be good, and could be done with sightlines and cost in mind. The idea here is that the stadiums may eventually need to be increased in size. Leaving the corners open would allow for this. Plus, modules could be put in for those games--e.g. All-Star game, MLS Cup, big int'l matches--to fill in the corners. The technology is there for this to be a reality in a good way. There would be 20,000 seats on a regular basis, creating demand for season tickets. When the big matches roll around, those season ticket holders would be rewarded by getting the best seats, while the more occasional fan would be sitting in the corners or paying a premium for the better seats.

BTW, didn't Columbus do something like this it's first year? I seem to remember them adding seats somewhere for the big events, increasing capacity from 22,500 to 25,000.

 

Ibrox.....

MLS needs Ibrox........

 

Yes...and the field was narrowed. I preferred the field at its widest, but players and coach felt differently. And I wouldn't say there is a "ridiculous" amount of space between field of play and fans. In the corners especially, the players get quite close.

The biggest thing you lose when at eye level with the players is the spacing between players. It's hard to determine how open a player is, how effective their off the ball runs are, and how plays are developing. It can be quite frustrating, and often times you find yourself watching the overhead jumbo tron to see the action, instead of the live game taking place right before you.

 

Yep the distance between the sideline seatings and the actual soccer playing field is too much
at the HDC.

What do you expect from the architect/
designer of Football Stadiums?
What do they know about building a soccer stadium?

Only American Company which builds soccer stadiums in Europe is HOK Sports and they understand the needs of soccer fans.

HOK wasn't hired by AEG for Galaxy, and the final product shows the inexperience of the architect
in relation to soccer field.

Also, what's with the UGLY green paint on the 6+ foot walls at the HDC and the burnt out grass field?
I think 3rd world countries have better soccer fields than HDC.

HDC is o.k, not great.

 

I think one of the things I love about the eye-level seating is that I feel I can appreciate the game more on the level of the players. As a player myself, I'm looking for what they see, to try to get better myself.

 

So if you've got raised stands set close to the sideline, you've got....Spartan Stadium, where play along the near sideline disappears from view.

I know there's a happy medium in there somewhere, but all in all I don't think the HDC is that bad. That green paint has got to go, though - I think it's the same shade of Hideously Awful Algae that the guys who designed the Seattle Seahawks uniforms chose.

 

MLS is run by an EX-NFL dude, what do expect, real soccer stadiums in the MLS?

I doubt the people at AEG are that soccer savvy, they seem more to be sports and business savvy.
( why else would the actual soccer field be build so far from the sideline seatings at HDC, this would never happened if AEG or the designers had a clue, what a real soccer stadium should have.)

 

Damn right! A real stadium, run by real soccer people.

Like the Stadio Olimpico - now that's what I call close to the field!



Or maybe the Artemio Franchi - from the curva, it's like you're right on top of the field!*



*Compared to if you were in, say, Spain.

 

Well, the one and only point you've made abundantly clear is that you haven't read many of my posts, if you think that.

Your example of world class stadiums....Old Trafford and the Nou Camp? Well holy shit, why don't we order a few of those up right away? How's about 10 for next season??

There are plenty of examples of 'world-class' stadiums that don't hold 60-100,000 people, you know - though to see that, you'll have to get around to watching more than just the Champions League. Of course MLS should look at some of these new stadiums (the Madjeski, the ones in Huddersfield and Wigan I can't remember the names of, not to mention St. Jakob in Basel (one of my favorites), plus a whole load of others in Germany, Scandinavia and Asia) for some ideas. I imagine they've done so. Your comments that Garber is some sort of soccer heathen because he came from the NFL (a league that actually makes money in this country, and besides, the league has come back towards international conventions on his watch), and that's why the HDC and everything else here sucks, places you squarely out on the lunatic fringe.

 

The example you gave are of stadiums either build for Olympics or back in the 30's. most of the stadiums in Italy were build in the 20's and 30's and
most of them were for multi use with tracks.

Studio Olimpico was build with the 1960 Olympics in mind.

Your are a typical MLS fan who thinks that MLS is a
prefect league, and can do no wrong.

Someone screwed up with the HDC, the
sideline seats are too far away from the actual soccer playing field,

Here are example of world class soccer stadiums.


Here are example of world class soccer stadiums.
1) Old Trafford.
Field Size 116x76 yards or 106x69 meters
Pic is from Stadiumguide.com
http://stadiumguide.com


2) Nou Camp.
Pic is from Stadiumguide.com
http://stadiumguide.com
//stadiumguide.com/noucamp1.jpg

 

I agree with all your basic points.

I've thought about this one in particular, and have come to the conclusion that people who say that are just reinforcing their own preconceptions, actually. Sure, you can say that while watching an MLS game, but I've watched a lot of Italian, German and South American games that - due to the way the crowd was shot and miked - seemed like it was being played in a 2/3rds empty stadium (ok, so in a gigantic place like the Maracana or Morumbi it's possible that it was actually 2/3rds empty). The way the crowds in the EPL games on FSW are miked up, compared to those on the Bundesliga games right after, can be pretty apparent to me on a Saturday morning (and of course, the general proximity of the crowd to the field in the EPL enhances that feeling of excitement).
For that matter, I've seen plenty of NFL games that seemed 'quiet' and dull, crowd-wise - but no one would say 'wow, they must be struggling', because no one comes with that preconception.