Anyone seen the "here to stay video", it appears at the end that the car drives up to a site with an ackridge banner and a DC United banner, one on each side of the fence. So there is signage on the property already? I still won't believe anything is happening until I can waste hours watching a stadium construction webcam...and even then ill be skeptical.
The signage was put up for the press conference. It looked like the same stuff that had been around the RFK auxiliary fields.
It would be a great location for the IRB Rugby Sevens tour (currently held on a field too small in Las Vegas) and for the USA College Sevens national championship (currently held at Philly's footie stadium).
Seeing as there is no room for tailgates I was thinking we need another party barge from good ole lot 8. It will keep the good times flowing.
I was waiting for the attacks from the Post to begin. This is attack-ish. Not sure if that closing statement is journalism or opinion. Guess it doesn't matter for the Post. "But how many transportation changes would be justified for the sake of a 20,000-seat stadium with 24 home games and some other events?" http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ises-travel-questions-about-south-capitol-st/
"Attack-ish" an ajective is born. That blog post is a a bit silly and light on facts, but that's what makes it a blog.
Great idea! Lot 8 is easily accessible by car and Metro. Board the barge there and float down the beautiful Anacostia to the Buzzard Point Marina. Question: How much of the Lot 8 parking revenue would go to DCU?
So the really dumb part of that article is this question at the end, because the entire list of transportation "changes" that was itemized above, were already being planned! There are NO changes that the city is doing because of the stadium, except for the infrastructure (which we all know would be done anyway also) and possibly some road widening and re-alignment projects. Even then, the over runs are on United. So none of the "changes" discussed there are for the "sake" of the stadium, making the entire blog post a hack job. And what about parking? Parking is done by United. End of story. I imagine United and the Nationals can come up with a parking sharing plan whenever they don't play at the same time as well. Speaking of parking, we know it will be limited, so I was going to suggest that they set up the parking fee's based on the number of occupants in the vehicle (HOV parking)-- ie, 1 person pays the full rate... 4 or more a lowest discounted rate (exceptions for disabled or whatever). What are the metro stations like on the south end of the blue line? They look pretty small. Do any have reasonable parking? Is there one that could be expanded to have reasonable parking? Is there a plot of land United could buy near one of them that would provide additional parking? I know nothing about this area.
a late congrats on getting your own stadium! i know what it's like to not have a stadium (didn't have to suffer as long but still know the pain) and you deserve it as much as anyone. here's hoping you enjoy opening day in the new house as much as we did with ours!
I actually disagree with that. This is the way DCU has tried to do the negotiations in at least some of the previous negotiations, only the details have gotten leaked, usually to the post, usually in a way that's unfavorable to the team. I think the reasons for that, in general, go back to the previous points. I would say you don't need to build the stadium that you'll want in 25 years right now anyway (especially since most MLS stadiums are built with expansion in mind), which is why 20 or 22 is plenty good enough for me at the moment.
There are 5000 parking spaces at Franconia Springfield which doesn't count the mall parking a short walk away. Van Dorn has only 361, but Huntington has 3600. Eisenhower Ave doesn't list any, but it's built over a parking lot which might be available....
And people can still park near the Orange line in VA, metro to Capitol South or Eastern Market and tailgate at bars there before walking/cabbing/bussing to the stadium. That's usually what I do for Nats games.
Shhh... I don't want anyone to realize that Metro parking garages are free on the weekends and that the Anacostia Station is always empty. Likewise, I don't want people to catch on to using stations like Deanwood to get to RFK.
Well, I think you do need to plan for later. What if we need 25K five to ten years later? They most likely won't want to expand that soon. It's going to come down to how much extra does it cost to say, go from 20-25K seats and what revenue would be generated from those additional seats. Of course figuring out how many suites to have (assuming more suites means less overall capacity) and the revenue those would generate will play into it. Has anybody done an analysis of the attendance changes for MLS teams going into a new stadium, particularly ones in the cities (are there any?), vs suburbs.
I never heard of Deanwood til now You just blew it! I first read it as Deadwood which makes me think of HBO themed Metro stations for their remodelling plans. I'd prefer the Treme station though. Better music.
Sorry for the over-posting but one thing I've missed in the stadium discussions is, has there been any talk of where the practice facilities would be?