Besides a world class, professional soccer team, would the US National team be prone to using a Chester stadium for friendlies? I know they're huge fans of playing at the Home Depot Center, but what about other Soccer Specific Stadiums? Will a shiny new stadium attract the Nats to come to town more often? What about the Women's National Team? Or the World Cup hosting potential?
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia I'd love to see a national team game in chester. Maybe US-Mexico in February? i know how much el tri love the cold. Maybe Philly could host some CONCACAF Gold Cup games as well. I definitely think USSF should consider bringing games here in the future.
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia Chester would probably be a great choice for WCQ games. They tend to prefer East coast locations for ease of travel for Euro based players -- and Philly has many direct flights from European cities that would make that even better. I wouldn't be surprised to see it as a candidate for Gold Cup games at some point as well. There's no way, though, that they'd play Mexico in a friendly there -- those games are gonna be played in huge stadiums to maximize revenues. Same goes for WC games were the US going to host again -- there is a stadium size requirement for WC stadiums and it would mean that none of the SSS's actually fit it; WC games would again be hosted in NFL stadiums given their size with modern amenities.
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia What I meant was the WCQ against Mexico, which have been in Columbus in recent years. With the stage in Columbus, USSF might be less keen on playing there (I have no idea, just a possibility), so why not have the game at another SSS that can get pretty cold during the winter months?
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia Yeah, it's a thought, but I think the big motivation for playing in Columbus is because there is a relative small number of Mexicans living near there who would buy up tickets, so it allows actual HFA for the USMNT. Philly (or anywhere on the densely populated East coast) wouldn't really allow for that given that a good number of Mexicans live within reasonable driving distance (it's not the same as Cali/Texas/Chicago, mind you, but more than enough to fill up a sizable part of a 20K stadium).
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia Its almost a given that the USMNT and USWNT will play plenty of matches at Tastykake Park.
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia the lack of Mexicans in Columbus is actually a bit of a fallacy. Not only does Columbus have a large (and growing) mexican population, but they're so close to Chicago that it almost doesn't matter. As someone who was at the 05 qualifier out there, I can attest to the fact that there were just as many Mexico fans (if not more)in the parking lot of Crew Stadium as USA fans. The Mexico fans simply didn't have tickets to get into the stadium. What made the crowd so pro-USA at the Columbus qualifiers was the secretive pre-sale list ticketing used by the USSF, not the location of the game. You could schedule that game in Philly, Columbus, or even the HDC and it really wouldn't matter. The way the game is sold will determine the crowd.
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia I think that if they played an international game of signifigance in Philly they would play it at the Linc.
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia I hope not. If you add temp seats to Seaport Drive you will end up at around 23,000 - I can imagine a very pro-US crowd in there if the USSF does ticketing right.
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia What about non-US World Cup games? If the US does get the chance to host the World Cup in 2014, there'll be a lot of games besides US games to host. Now, I don't really remember '94... Did they use NFL stadiums for those, too? Did they fill up, or was it like a MetroBulls game? And what about friendlies? It seems like the US National Team only plays on the west coast... Will this attract them back to the real Yankees?
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia I think the WC has minimum seating requirements somewhere in the neighborhood of 45,000.
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia We'll put some benches on the edge of the roof. Make those asshat Romanians sit up there....
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia yeah they used NFL stadiums...I believe they sold out every game and it was the most successful (at least monetarily) world cup in history...more people attended this one than any other World Cup. also it was the first world cup to have an indoor game when the US took on Switzerland at the pontiac silver dome in detroit. and they didnt play in just pro stadiums ... using the Rose Bowl, Stanford Stadium, The Cotton Bowl, and the citrus bowl as well.
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia I remember seeing a picture in the paper of German players trying to hit the roof with a ball after a training session...
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia The thing I remembered was the humidity because no one took the water in the soil in the middle of summer so the place became like a greenhouse. It was great. I was also at the sold out Rose Bowl when the US beat then favorite Columbia and of course at the sold out final where Italy showed its PK prowess. Since those days I have wanted a franchise here in Philadelphia and to be a part of it. Now I can almost taste it and I hope to celebrate it all with you guys tomorrow at the Dark Horse.
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia Are you sure about that? I knew a guy travelling with the German Team during WC '94. Their group games were played in Chicago and Dallas. Round of 16 = Chicago Quarters = Giants Stadium. They never played in Detroit. I don't doubt there were players trying to hit the roof - I just doubt they were Germans - I only know that my buddy never had to go to Detroit.
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia I regularly implore them (by sending email) to bring an MNT game to philly - any game a Friendly, a qualifier , etc. Forget waiting until a new stadium is built, they could fill the Linc. Bet on it. But I agree that a new stadium MIGHT make a decision easier. I encourage all of you to hit the /contact us' link at the bottom of every www.ussoccer.com page and beg!!!!!!
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia Bob -- you know your stuff. US could get around that problem though by only selling tix through their website or to ussoccer.com members. I agree with you though.
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia the 2014 world cup is in brasil..... an 18k stadia could be a training facilty for a world cup, presuming the linc is used for a real match... don't forget usa national matches in 1989....sold out franklin field and in 1991, over 50k for sheffield wednesday at the vet.... as to mexicans...go to any decent restaurant in center city and you'll find the guts of the staff are mexican...mexican cooks, mexican waiters, mexican dishwashers...there are more mexicans in philly than you really could believe
Re: US National Team and Philadelphia I've always thought that a USA-Greece matchup at the Linc would bring in a huge crowd. Aside from the fact that the MNT hasn't been here in a number of years, the Greeks in the Philly area would show up in some significant numbers I'm sure. I think 50k at least would be pulled in by this game. The game would also be a worthwhile friendly, playing a solid European team instead of China or some other weak team.