There is a Post piece about the Expos/Nats/Grays' tentative 2005 schedule having been set. That raises a question about whether any consideration is being given to the United's 2005 schedule. My guess is that MLS doesn't yet have that one figured out. The reason that it's tentative is that it ..."is subject to change because baseball officials are trying to make sure the Expos minimize the number of times they play at home on the same day the Orioles play in Baltimore." That's nice. I assume that MLS will just have to fit it's United home schedule around the dates that baseball has left open. Of course, it could be that MLS, or at least United, have been part of the discussion and that The Post reporter didn't have soccer on his radar enough to mention any involvement...or even ask the question. Here's the tentative schedule. Of course, what frosts me about the schedule is that the Dodgers only visit once...midweek...which means I miss them.
I believe we should be at home on April 2. Both Stephen Zack and Don Garber wouldn't reschedule simply because it's the day before my wedding. Bastages. Sachin
June and September do not have two Saturdays available for DCU - as was allegedly promised - but they do have one each, and all the other months have two. So that means that, as of now, there are 10 weekends available during the baseball season, plus we would assume 2 during October after the 'Spos have limped to their customary last-place finish, for a total of 12 Saturday home game dates. We need to squeeze 3 more game dates in there somewhere during the summer. Depending on whether the DCSEC satisfies its promises, this might actually be doable.
Plus, if we start on the 2nd of April, there are 3 Saturday available that month: 4/2, 4/9, and 4/23, so I think we'd only need two weeknight games.
Yeah, but some of the other months, like May, have 3. The Expos will only be home 50% of the weekends during the sesaon. DCU is only home 50% of the time during its season. I see no issue.
I thought the promise was for two home games per month, not necessarily Saturdays, which would make one of them a Wednesday game. In the case of June, we'd have the games on the 15th and 18th.
Here are the weekends that the so called baseball team is away during 2005 season. 4/2 4/9 4/23 5/7 5/21 5/28 6/18 7/9 7/16 7/30 8/13 8/20 9/17 10/2 Off course this is assuming the schedule does not get adjusted between now and April.
So that means that if we want to have all of our home games on weekends, we might have to front-load the schedule a bit (which might be fine with teams like Chicago, Salt Lake, and Dallas, if the satdium isn't finished). I could see seven home games (if they throw one in late March, which we might, because we might go to 32 games next year) by the end of May, and then only one more in the next nearly two months. I could live with that. Trouble is, we don't know what the NT schedule is, the schedule of any other events at RFK, or other teams' scheduling difficulties yet.
I just got off the phone with my ticket rep (reminder: last day to lock in your tickets at this year's prices) and he said that DCU was supposed to get the schedule before it was released to the public, but they first saw it today in the paper. Could be a long three years. He also said there are plenty of tickets left for tomorrow. Hard to sell tickets the day before Halloween, short notice, etc. I'm sure the BB and SE sections will be bouncing, though.
Even having a lopsided schedule isn't much of a concern. It's much more important to get weekend home dates than just about anything else. Second to that, I'd say getting Saturday PM times so all the kiddies can finish their league play and come to games (ie, group sales). These two points don't seem like much of a problem so far, even given all the unknowns that remain. I'm still more concerned about resolving the playing surface issues. noble ps. Stan Collins? I knew I recognized that name. You used to post to rec.sport.soccer circa 1997 when I was there. Nice to see a familiar name.
While I'd hate to see us not get at least an even split of home games I guess I'd rather us be playing at RFK then any other venue in the metro area. Yeah it certainly is going to be a long 3 years but hopefully KP and Company get on this stadium and FAST!
They should be called the Washington Wannabe's cause after we win our 4th cup they are gonna wish they were as good as DC United!
I remember because you were the more rational Dallas poster, and um... Dustin Christmann (?) was the more irrational Dallas poster. Anyway, good to see you mixed in here, and I've had a rush of 96-98 memories because of it. Good times... noble
I wonder which of those are International play weekends? I guess it is too much to ask to have baseball schedule around those weekends.
Baseball in DC is going to such theyre going to have play with dirt in field.Now the national team is never going play at RFK. RFK is our Azteca sadium, Its our national stadium DONt go to DC baseball games if you love soccer.
CONCACAF Gold Cup: July 6 - 24 Hexagonal Qualifying dates: Feb 9 March 26/27 March 30 June 4/5 June 8 Aug 17 Sept 3/4 Sept 7 Oct 8/9 Oct 12 It looks like only the August 13 Saturday spot will be the only match affected by World Cup qualifying, though the qualifier for the that week is a mid-week game.. However, it is one of only two stand alone matches (meaning no back to back matches during a 4 day period) and it will probably require at least a week of camp, depending on the severity of our situation at the time.. Additionally, two potential Saturday home dates will conflict with the Gold Cup next summer as well.. July 9 and July 16 fall in the middle of the GC.. You also have to factor in the U-20 WC Championships that Mr. Adu will most definitely be a part of in June next summer as well.. Looks like there will be quite a few mid-week home matches this year, which I'm OK with cause I'm going no matter what day they play..
Dude, Major League Soccer doesn't adjust their schedule for international play. Why shoukl Major League Baseball?
SuperSuper. We meet again. I love DCU and I love our Nats. I also love the fact that baseball in back in our nation's capital. I can't wait to go. I agree with you. Only a dreamer thinks that RFK will be used by the federation for international soccer. There's no way in hell that the dirt think will ever go over. US-Panama was the last time we will see the Nats play at RFK for many years to come if ever. But like Mikey L stated, everyone knew that, so it may be painful, but it's no surpise. Of course, I disagree with you about not supporting the team if you love soccer. The genie is out of the bottle. There's no turning back. Rock beats scissors. Scissors beat paper. Paper beat rock. Baseball beats soccer. At least in the USA as we know it. That's the reality. Looking forward to opening day for both DCU and the baseball team. Looking even more forward to when the both their stadiums will be complete, so sharing it will be a non-issue.
First of all, United won't be playing on dirt either.. Book it.. Secondly, why can't RFK host a WC qualifier in October? It's not like the Expos/team to be named later are going to be in the playoffs.. There is no reason why they couldn't play a qualifier by then (after baseball season is completed)..