http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/park/yfh45/leicest.htm Leicester City has just built a new stadium that looks great to me.
With all the news recently of Chicago's stadium, Dallas's groundbreaking, Colorado announcement coming soon, the Scum getting their stadium (sigh) all I have are my dreams and this thread. I found a sweet stadium though. Reading in the English First Division. I imagine this place could get really loud. It looks bigger than 24K doesn't it?
Agreed, the Madjewski Stadium (Reading) and the Walker Stadium (Liecester) are wonderful finished articles, probably my favorite designs, and either would be absolutely awesome. But neither is very expandable, and to me, this is key. I'd prefer a quite lopsided stadium with the proviso that it have multiple stage expandability, something like this ... I'll use RFK as a point of reference. The SOUTH end is open, and the NORTH end (La Norte!) is enclosed. I'd suggest leaving both the NORTH and SOUTH ends undeveloped grassy hills, like the one side in the Home Depot Center. Then, I'd make either the EAST and make it a quite large two-tiered stand with a canopy roof like at the Home Depot Center. The WEST side would be a single tier. It would be lopsided, and it would move La Norte sadly, but it would allow for stages of expansion down the road. Obviously, the NORTH could be developed first, adding another 4,000-5,000 when demand is great enough. They would also fill in the corners when they do that one. After that, another 4-5k could be added for the SOUTH end, including the corners. Ultimately (very long term, probably 15+ years), the WEST stand could be expanded. I'd see it as something like this: INITIALLY: EAST: 13,000 WEST: 7,000 LATER STAGES: NORTH: 5,000 SOUTH: 5,000 WEST SECOND TIER: 6,000 TOTAL ULTIMATE CAPACITY: 36,000 -Digital
Is "expandability" the reason none of the new stadiums have roofs? Then I guess it might be ok, but they look weird and unfriendly without some sort of covering over some of the stands. The "roof" in Dallas just seems silly, it covers like 2k people out of 20k. I do agree it is key to make these things expandable for the football-like crowds in 2012, but you have to at least stick some bleachers behind one goal (GA, the seats sold in another part of the stadium) to let people heckle the opposing goalie when he's at that end, dring the other half of the game it would be closed and the people sent back to their regular seats
A soccer stadium for DC United without bouncing stands will lose the most distinctive media image of any US futbol team. If you see bouncing stands in the US, you know it's RFK. C'mon, KP, keep insisting for a fan section that bounces. GM
How about the Stadium of Light? http://ds.dial.pipex.com/town/park/yfh45/sunderla.htm It's a little bigger than Crewstadt and the Toolshed, and it's big enough for US matches.
Wish List A better dressing room for Talon. No more "Back in Black" on the PA. Ever. Foggy Bottom or other decent beer vendors in the stands. And a stadium pre-sold with season ticket holders who buy up US games so real WC qualifiers can be held there, not crap games like Panama.
One thing I do NOT want in any new DCU stadium is any open hill-type area like the Home Depot Center and what they're planning in Dallas. I hate that; it looks like a Division II NCAA pointyball stadium.
Two year's ago I attended the Newcastle derby at the Stadium of Light. It's a gem of a stadium. The red brick exterior reminds me of stadiums you'd find in the US. I'm quite confident United fans would be extremely happy if we were to end up with a new stadium of similar design. The club store alone would be enough to satisfy even the harshest critics of United's online store.
As long as they have seat backs so I can rest during the 20 minutes or so of halftime. Dude the best place to be is right behind "Fat Tony" and the rest of the keepers in MLS. The North End has to be ready from the get go.
Dallas took out the grass in the newest designs and left it open for concert stages. I personllaly think that it looks like someone stole a quarter of the bleachers.
I'm not feeling that whole open-air thing. The seats are too far from the pitch, plus, there are too many gaps in the stadium. The acoustics in that place will probably suck, I'm sure.
Surely Dallas won't have to play w/ that "stage" construction??? I would assume that's just an example of what/where the stage would be.
if they do maybe they can put a few jacuzzis or spas like that baseball stadium in the mid-west... after all it its DALLAS and in the middle of summer what could be better???... maybe a few waiteresses serving beers.... a few cooks grillin some steaks/hot-dogs? Now that would be 'luxury seats' it would definatly be best seat in the house w/a jazuzzi.... it would also definatly be the joke of the soccer world.... but it would bring in some sweet cash to the Dallas org.
I agree, these small SSS's should all have a roof. You want 25,000 people to sound like 50,000 on TV.
I'm just guessing here, but if the one side with the mini-roof is the WEST side, then it might not be to prevent rain, but rather to provide shade for afternoon games. Just a hunch. -Digital
Lotsa folks on this thread have been talking about having bouncing seats in the SSS. I'd love it, too. Buuuuuuuuut, I don't want to urinate on anyone's parade, but I would think that there would be some rather significant risk management issues with DCU deliberately building bouncing bleachers (equipped with springs, shocks, whatever). If anything should happen (e.g. a collapse), DCU could be liable for all the personal injury. To wit: DCU intentionally designed seats that bounce, ergo it was *encouraging* the bouncing behavior that led to the collapse and resultant loss of life, mangled limbs, cats and dogs living together, yada, yada, yada-- ergo, DCU shells-out the buku Benjamins. Throw-in a flesh-eating tort lawyer or two, and MLS could easily find itself potentially liable as well: (they should have nixed DCU's bouncing-seat idea; they didn't, sooooo, they can belly-up too). One solution would be to have bouncy stands only in The Nest (vice versa, actually) and have a strict policy of only Barra/SE members allowed. This, after all Barra/SE members first signed a 56-page waiver every year upon their membership renewals, yada, yada, yada. Now, how would DCU handle the liability of Barra/SE members' guests-for-the-day, others sneaking into The Nest, etc., etc., etc ? ? ? Yuck. What a legal mess. And for what ? (from DCU's macro-view) All those bouncing Barras have already paid for their seats . . . . . Enjoy the bouncing seats at RFK while you still can, boys and berries, 'cause our SSS will *never* have them. Ever. Book it. And GrillMaster Tom, if KP continues to "keep on" insisting on a bouncing fan section, it's only because the right lawyer hasn't whispered the legal-liability sweet-nothings into his ear yet. Just wait. Luv to be wrong on this one . . . . . but . . . .
RFK's stands have been bouncing for what? 40 years? They haven't had any problems. Rather than making them bounce just so they bounce, they could make them movable stands for concerts, that just happen to bounce due to their mobility.
I love your thinking, Sanguine, but I don't think that anyone would be fooled for very long if DCU just "happened" to have in its future SSS retractable seating sections (that just "happen" to bounce, BTW) along the north touchline near the center stripe. "Oh, gee, why look, those Barras can bounce here at the SSS just like they did at RFK." Forget it. If those bouncing SSS seats collapse, the vulture-lawyers will descend en masse, already laughing in anticipation of the argument that DCU didn't "intend" for the seats to bounce. Face it: any bouncing seats at the new SSS will either not be, or incapable of being argued to be, a "happy accident" of the stadium design. The DCU front office knows all about the bouncing sections and their popularity, and everyone knows that the DCU front office knows. Never underestimate the power and creativity of a tort lawyer seeking a cut of the jury award. (no offense to all you lawyers). The only way out for DCU is to build retracting seats (that bounce) that are real, real, solid or else don't install retracting (bouncable) seats at all. The latter option is the safe and expedient route. I love bouncing in The Nest, and I plan to cherish doing it while I still can.
i really haven't read thru all of this thread... but i hope someone mentioned better beer and more availability. having only one foggy bottom tap doesn't cut it....
I have refrained from posting in this thread until I was CERTAIN that I had my thoughts together on what I wanted in the new stadium. I think that i have FINALLY come up with the answer that all of us United fans can agree on. bouncing seats? terraces? a roof? good beer? lots of bathrooms? strippers? all of those thing may be great, but we're forgetting the NUMBER ONE thing that we ALLLLLLL want in DC Uniteds new stadium ......................... A CUP WINNING TEAM!!! 'nuff said. i'm out.