Robertson Stadium itself is pretty nice, upgraded a few years ago, and has good sightlines for soccer. A little narrow, but the SJ players will feel at home. The ammenities at the statium are pretty crappy though, but adequate for a few years. Safty concerns are way overblown at UH. The neighboorhood isn't great, but parking and access are perfectly safe. The bigger issue is most people in Houston "think" Robertson isn't safe. This won't effect most hardcore fans though.
Hmm sounds familiar. Didn't seem to bother 14,000 fans at the Cotton Bowl. Don't underestimate the power of ignorance & snobbery though. There were many who never did go to Fair Park.
There was rumor a while back that UofH would demand a new Fieldturf playing surface from AEG to let soccer happen there. Let's hope that isn't the case or we'll have to put up with more hideous games with few through-balls and no slide tackles. In other words, not the way the game is played. Not to mention melted footwear on the players from the Houston summer heat.
At LSU's tiger stadium they lifted the no beer sale ban when the New Orleans Saints came to play for a few games. Shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Hey no problem will run across the street to my truck with a few kegs of Shiner Bock and Miller Lite (for my latino kinfolks)!
Robertson temporary venue It's true that some people may not go to Robertson because they have fears about the neighborhood. OTOH, Robertson has hosted lots of soccer events over the years, so it's a very familiar venue to much of the potential fan base. And as someone else posted above, you can just take the Cullen exit off the Gulf Freeway and you're pretty much right there. I attend several college sports events every year at the UH athletic facilities, almost all of which are located next to Robertson. Most of those events are at night. I often drive through the "hood" along Elgin to get there. We usually park at one of the lots on the corner of Elgin and Cullen. It's always seemed perfectly safe.
I graduated from UH back when . . . well let's just say the Coogs football program was ranked in the top 10 and the campus didn't have all the upgrades and new facilities the students enjoy today (thanks to all my dang alumni money!), and I remember the neighborhoods north of Robertson, heck I use to eat at some of the fast food places along Scott Street. Since moving to Chicago (in the late '90's) I can tell you that Elgin and the "hoods" around there are nothing . . .NOTHING compared to some areas in and around Chicago. I visited my alma mater last August while I was in town for business and thought to myself, "holy cow this place has really cleaned up and the stadium, Alumni Center, baseball and softball fields and nearby bulidings along Cullen are amazing!" I hope UH doesn't do anything nearly as stupid as SJSU did to the quakes while MLS plays there. The stadium is nice and since its upgrade a very nice place to watch a soccer game I'm sure . . . much better then before the renovations, when the FMF played matches there back in the 80's and 90's. On another note, I just noticed the Coogs are actually going to a low-tier Bowl game in Ft. Worth? How did that happen? And that the Coogs basketball team is in the top 25!? What in the hell is in the water down there? Whatever it is, keep drinking it!!!! oh yeah ., . . GO FIRE!!!!
Robertson Here's a satellite image that shows where Robertson is located on the UH campus (stadium in the lower left next to the new lot marked "1"). The thing a few hundred yards away in the upper right that looks like a freeway is indeed I-45. The street that runs on the eastern side of Robertson is Cullen and the street that runs along the northern end of the baseball stadium (Cougar Field) is Elgin (Westheimer). There are some large parking lots located across Cullen from Cougar Field. That's where I usually park and it's always been convenient, even when Robertson was at or near capacity.
Also remember that any Wed. night games will have to contend with student parking at the stadium. But who cares, those are usually freshman or liberal arts majors (just kidding, I don't need all the lefties to neg rep me or tear me a new one in rebuttles, it's a joke people). I may actually be able to use the alumni parking pass I get with my membership every year when I go down there. Heck, if someone needs it, and I can find it, I may just mail it to one of you guys . . . on one condition. I get to use it when I travel down there to see the FIRE play . . er . . I mean when I'm down there on business. Again, that's "IF" I can find my parking pass.
well MLS expects Robertson: http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/hou/index.jsp http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/hou/stadium/
"Grass at John O' Quinn Field will be replaced with FieldTurf. AEG is likely to pick up the tab for the installation as well as other improvements to the stadium." Other improvements?? How is FieldTurf considered an improvement to begin with?? Why would they want FieldTurf over grass? Lee
No kidding. I assume it's because UofH prefers it for the football team and just got AEG to foot the bill as part of the negotiation. I can't image MLS would prefer it.
So I wonder if Robertson will have permanent pointy ball markings while MLS is there? If it's field turf I would guess the answer is yes..
There would likely be no choice. On Fieldturf the game-specific markings have to be permanent, AFAIR.
IIRC from the discussions from when everyone figured out that RSL would play on FieldTurf at Rice-Eccles, you can use some sort of turf paint to dim the football lines so that they're barely visible. But I think it's really expensive. Anyway, it's a temporary venue.
You can install FieldTurf without permanent lines. Watch an early-season MetroStars game. It was a plain green carpet, and then they paint removeable lines on it (though they don't bother with removal once the football season starts). In Salt Lake, the installation was with permanent markings--the blades of fake grass are white, red, etc.
There are also different versions of Fieldturf, correct? Football Fieldturf. Soccer Fieldturf. A hybrid? Soccer "blades" a bit longer/wider so the ball doesn't run quite as much? The Fieldturf at Giants Stadium is the football version, IIRC. Making it less attractive to play soccer on than "soccer Fieldturf."
Jaysus! I hope there are no Saturday afternoon games in Houston. Field Turf?!? Ugh. Hopefully it will at least be similar to Metros in that there are limited/no lines on the field.
Yeah, and since AEG is reportedly paying for the FieldTurf maybe they're able to call more of the shots about having a more soccer-friendly installation. I think the soccer installation also has more padding. I also understand that most venues in the South that use FieldTurf water down the surface before games and that seems to help with the heat issue.
You are correct. I am pretty disappointed in the Field Turf situation. How can this be a good thing. I thought Robertson was great with grass. Why does Maggert insist on getting FieldTurf?