http://www.foxsportsworld.com/content/view?contentId=1776108 I'm sure that somebody's gonna rip Wheelock's stance that back in 1996, playing at the big local stadiums made sense. However, go back and read Steve Davis' article today in the Dallas Morning News and see if there isn'tsomething to what Wheelock is saying. Sure, Dragon Stadium is an utter piece of crap, but even if it had a grass field, would that make everything OK? No. It would still be a dinky high-school stadium and the Burn would still look dinky for having it as their home field. And this is a team that has seven years' experience under their belts. Imagine if they had played at a stadium like Dragon Stadium from day one, instead of the Cotton Bowl. And I've heard this from non-soccer media types (including local sports talk hosts) and ordinary people alike. The Burn, when they were at the Cotton Bowl, were playing at a big-time venue and that gave the team a little added luster. They were a major league team at a major league stadium. But now that they're playing at a high school stadium, they seem... well, a little more bush league.
Great read. I totally agree. Thats what makes the Dragon Stadium move so much more pathetic. I like what he says about the media's treatment of soccer. Its very precise.
As a fan of MLS, I can't wait to see Dallas get out of that stadium. it hurts me to watch them have to play there. but obviously, it's coming soon and MLS is clearly headed in the right direction.
I agree. But, unfortunately, the Burn will still be sharing a stadium with high school football team(s) when they move to Frisco in 2005. Let's hope the media and public think of the Frisco stadium as the Burn's home, where a couple of Frisco high school football teams also happen to play; rather than as a Frisco high school football stadium where the Burn happen to play.
Re: Re: Wheelock: Sharing stadiums served MLS well I think with "Dallas Burn" imprinted on the main stands people won't have any problem thinking it's the Burn's stadium.
It depends on the color of the lines. If the soccer lines are white and the grid lines are yellow, then the media will treat it as a soccer stadium.
Going on almost 8 years now (since just before MLS launched), I have been hearing MLS officials talk about using a special sort of paint that could be easily removed from the field. Obviously they have not yet found the formula to make this happen. The Burn stadium in Frisco would be the perfect opportunity to get this to work. Andy
I love this quote, and it should be plastered everywhere on BS: The Burn moved to Southlake hoping to save about $1 million by adding revenue from parking and concessions, revenue previously lost to the City of Dallas under former contracts. But Swift estimates the club saved only about half of what was expected. Plus, corporate sponsors are lamenting the foundering Hispanic interest. "We underestimated the impact the Hispanic market has on our business' bottom line," Swift said.
I wil pay the lease in Cotton Bowl for one year if the Burn front office agrees to move back to CB till the new stadium is bulid.
If the Burn is at Dragon again, I beg the MLS not to show any games from there on espn. It makes it look like the biggest joke of a league.
I had an oppinion that one of the draws to MLS investors is that the current guys know exactly how the process works. They know what the costs and losses would be associated with moving into a big stadium so that they could easily sell this as, 'Hey look this is what the deal is, thisis how we operate, and this is what it's going to take us to get you a yard of your own.' I've said for a while that one of the best things about new investment/owners and expansion is that you can use that money to keep building more SSS. This isn't like the NASL keeping the league afloat with expansion money more just like finding more venture capital. Certainly I'm sure that Hunt and St. Phil don't want to keep losing money or keep themselves as invested in the league as heavily as they are, but it'd be real easy for them to say. Hey you give us the capital and we'll make you the money.
Will the hispanic fans come back to the Burn when they are in their new stadium? If not, Maybe they can put the Chivas team in the Cotton Bowl since the Burn seem to have alienated their Mexican fans.
Re: Re: Re: Wheelock: Sharing stadiums served MLS well The image you posted is a prelimanary drawing. Considering how penny-pinching HSG has shown itself to be so far, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the "Dallas Burn" imprinting on the main stands is dropped in the final rendition. My guess that we'll end up seeing the company that buys the naming rights to the stadium have its logo, rather than the Burn's logo, emblazoned everywhere
Andy, why is it that some MLS stadia are much better than others in terms of painting over the American football lines? Kansas City seems pretty good, and Chicago (Soldier Field) was always great in the past and seems even better now, but the Revs NEVER paint over the lines. I know the Pats are home tomorrow, but Gillette looks horrible. Whether Kraft actually cares about the Revs or not, the ways he prepares the pitch for soccer really doesn't look like he does.
Hi Chris, I agree that the field looks the worst it ever has today. The white lines are almost flouresent. It is not like we need any more evidence that the Kraft's don't give two sh!ts about the Revs but would it really kill them to freshly line the <a onMouseOver="self.status='https://www.bigsoccer.com/football';return true;" onMouseOut="self.status=''; return true;" onClick="window.open('http://truth.addnsservices.com/kwin?cl=I8AVVRK8NZQKH05PYNCMYOQ66DP84PN8&kw=football','_new', 'toolbar=no,menubar=no,location=no,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');" href="#">football</a> gridiron after the Revs game is over? Andy
Re: Re: Wheelock: Sharing stadiums served MLS well If Frisco Stadium is built with all the amenities that "Major League" stadiums of today need, then it should be perceived as a real professional stadium.
Re: Re: Re: Wheelock: Sharing stadiums served MLS well Looks good to me. How about a roof to block out the sun rays. 100+ degree weather in Texas isn't exactly sunbathing weather.
Great points here and in the article. Also, the only MLS team that started from game 1 in MLS's "ideal" stadium setup was shut down four years later. So from the POV of a potential expansion city, the league's request for an SSS looks a bit hypocritical.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Wheelock: Sharing stadiums served MLS well I've been told by several people that that the "Dallas Burn" in differently colored seats is almost certainly going to be in there. The reason why is that those seats are going to be there, one way or another. The only added cost of doing the seats to spell out the name is the cost of (a) figuring out which seats you need to make which color and (b) ordering those seats in white or black or whatever, instead of red. In other words, it's a very marginal cost. Beyond that, the bottom line is that there's going to be no doubt whose stadium it's going to be, even when the Frisco high schools are playing their games there. They'll have probably one of the best home stadiums in the state, but it'll still be somebody else's house.
Re: Re: Wheelock: Sharing stadiums served MLS well You know what the difference is between the Metros fans and the Fire fans is? The Metros fans learned a long time ago to stop believing the "60-90 days" jazz. Fire fans still believe in a Firehouse in their future with all the faith that five-year-olds believe in Santa Claus.
Interestingly, with very few changes, the article could be rewritten to be about the Revs. Especially this quote: "Plus, loyalists of all ethnicities consider the stadium overly antiseptic and supremely unsuitable for professional soccer. ". Gillette Stadium has nicknames like the morgue and the tomb and the library, but the best description I heard was someone comparing it to going to a soccer game at a mall. Wish Wheelock would expound on this point: "Not only does the league still exist, despite the apocalyptic prophecies of the general sports media, it is financially healthy".
I've said it before and I'll say it again...MLS made a major blunder of not having stadiums built for the 1994 World Cup AND not getting the league up and running until 1996...that's two years after the tournament, losing some of the momentum generated, and when the baseball strike would have easily converted some of these fans into MLS spectators. The sad thing is that when the U.S. hosts the World Cup again, the NFL stadiums WILL BE the ones used since U.S. Soccer realizes more seats = more profit. Hell, even Fifa would want 70-100K seats being used than the 20-30K since that would go into their coffers too. Wheelock is a sock puppet for MLS bigwigs...and since those guys have no clue, I won't give any props for a guy that pats them on the back.