Last night I went with Ed Kanitra to the Rutgers-St Johns match at Yurcak Stadium at Rutgers. It's a very simple stadium, a single aluminum stand along one side of the field, bleacher-style seats, ten rows with long unitary backs (no individual seats, in other words); very nice grass field; rather crude scoreboard. And I was thinking: WHY THE HECK CAN'T METRO BUILD SOMETHING LIKE THIS???? Simple but serviceable. They could build it for probably just a few million bucks in maybe 10 months. Yes, it wouldn't be fancy-schmancy - but it would be OURS!!! Sure, you'd need stands along both sidelines and probably along both back-lines, too. And a much better scoreboard. So this would raise the price to - what? Maybe $5 million. With land, maybe $10 million. Maybe $15 or $20 million with all the bribes and corruption. But it would cost nowhere near what they're talking about for that luxurious palace that they are simply never goingto build! And they could have it ready for 2004 instead of keeping us in GS - with the artificial surface that you just KNOW is coming next season - forever. Actually, they could have built something on the lines of Yurcak years ago. They're just so petrified of anyone accusing them of being minor league that they hold out for the impossible dream instead of doing something less than their ideal but at least possible. A ground like Yurcak would not be perfect, but it would be serviceable - and, more important, doable. And they could replace the simple stands with better ones as that became possible. C'mon, Metro - forget the Harrison chimera! It ain't never gonna happen! Just build us something simple now!
Not grandiose enough for the NY market. Why be simple when it is more fun to be complicated? That Stillitano/Subotnick mindset still infects this Club at a lot of levels (i.e. near pathological need for aging marquis "name" players -- can you imagine that Nick and OZ are still blaming this year's debacle on their failure to sign Des Walker from England?). You know, I was amazed at watching the few MLS playoff games that were televised to see MLS playoff teams with defenses anchored by American players -- only in Metroland, do we HAVE to have a veteran international for that position. As to Yurchak Field, back in 1994 we went to most of the Rutgers home games (had to get my post WC'94 soccer fix) and watched their drive to the Final Four. At one of the games leading to Richmond the seats were filled and there were at least two thousand fans standing 8 to 10 deep along the fence on the side without the bleachers. The place was rocking and it was a lot of fun. It didn't have to be fancy to be enjoyed. The pitch itself was big and beautiful and soccer only. Before the game people were tailgating in the grass parking lot across from the field. It's now been a few years since I've been there but it sounds like it is pretty much the same. The Metro could probably build something like that (only with four sides of seating) with what they lose on their lease in Giants Stadium. I recall seeing a sports documentary about the early years of the NFL. Some of their teams played in real horrible stadia, but they started small, ran their business within their limits and grew. I don't understand why the Metro are so adverse to doing that. I would be delighted to see the Metro in a Yurchak Field type of environment. It would be more enjoyable than rattling around in the Tora Bora like cavern known as Giants Stadium.
You are assuming that it is the scope of the Harrison project which has thus far prevented the stadium from being built, and I'm not sure that is the case. As I see it, there is a chance that the state/county/city will pay for (or subsidize through a tax break) most of the Metros' new stadium. AEG would be foolish to build a stadium with its own money when the chance of public funding still exists. So we're just going to have to wait for the legislative process to run its course before the stadium gets built. I think the situation would be the same regardless of whether the stadium cost $15 million or $150 million; if AEG can get the public to pay for part of it, nothing will happen until the legislature either passes or votes down the funding bill. Now, whether AEG could build a small, cheap stadium as a temporary home until Harrison gets built is a different question; it might be worth pursuing, but where would you put it and could the Metros' afford to limit attendance to 10 or 15K for the next year or two?
I would think it would have to be more like $15K. Then, the challenge would be to fill it (with real cash paying fans) every match. I think they could do it. Of course, Harrison would be a fine spot for it. I admit to wishful thinking though since the Harrison project is considerably larger in concept than just a stadium and a "think small" stadium won't be considered. The good news I suppose is that this project is not chained to the Yankee/Nets mess (as it never should have been) and may get an honest look on its own merits with far less politics to navigate. We shall see.
I agree with all that has been said on this thread, the trouble in Metropolitan NYC is the lack of available, accessable and usable land to build a soccer field, place bleachers, have a parking lot, etc to handle 20,000 spectators
Except - as I see it, there's NO ***************ING CHANCE that any public entity is EVER going to pay for it! They've been waiting for years and we're still playing in GS. They could have built a Yurcak-type stadium 5 years ago and upgraded it one side at a time and had something pretty decent by now. Instead, they keep waiting and waiting and waiting. Whoever said that Yurcak isn't "grand enough" for MLS is right on the money. Yes they want public money; but they also want something that is not, in their minds, "minor league." Which is nonsensical, considering the indignities we all suffer at the Meadowlands. If we'd made the playoffs, we would not have been able to play at GS - what's more "minor league" than that? Wake up, Metrostars! Tom Beck
As long as that bill is still pending in the NJ Senate, there is a chance that the State of NJ will provide the funding for the Harrison stadium. TomFODW -- you're talking about the probability that the bill will be passed. I'm not going to argue that point with you (although I am a little more optimistic than you). All I'll say is that, whether the bill is likely to be passed or unlikely to be passed doesn't matter, as long as there is still the mere possibility of state funding, AEG will not build a stadium (large or small) on its own. Regarding the Metros not wanting a minor league facility, well, I guess I agree with you in that I would rather see them play at a modest soccer-only facility with a good grass field. I have no love for Giants Stadium and I don't need the 'amenities' of a place like GS. In retrospect, maybe the Metros should have built such a facility 5 years ago. But that still begs the question of where to build it and whether it would be worth it financially to play in a much smaller facility. And, anyway, I think Harrison will become a reality, and I would rather see the Metros play there than in a glorified college stadium, even if I have to wait a few more years.
Tom, since you seem to know the answer, can you specify where you would like this built and give us an idea how much the land will cost, what the public transportation system is around it is, what the road situation is like, etc.
i think the metros should do something similar to this: and just put about 4000 stands on each endline and we are set. put the two big stands on each side. we would have 40,000 seating stadium like that.
or we could just think small and when they think the stadium is filling more people that it capacity they expand during the offseason. just look at stadiums like Ohio stadium which only started out with 50,000 seats and now it is a 106,000 seater.
I don't know the answers to any of these questions, and it's not my job to answer them anyway. All I'm saying is, what's better - holding out for something "perfect" that will never ever happen or building something less than ideal that at least could get done? Sure, you'd have to find a location and figure the rest out. I'm not saying it would be easy, but that's their job not mine. If you polled 1000 Metros fans and asked them what they'd rather have - a glorified college stadium that was 100% Metro, or sharing GS with all that entails - what do you think would win? I think the glorified college stadium would win. At least, I hope it would. Not that any of this matters. As someone wiser than me wrote, as long as there is even the tiniest chance that the Harrison bill will pass the state legislature, Metro will never spend their own money on anything. I can't disagree in the tiniest. Tom Beck
I think Eric D's point was that buying the land, getting roads built, etc. may be bigger reasons for the delay than "holding out" for an ideal stadium. Your assumption that building the small cheap stand-alone stadium is a quicker solution may be wrong. This isn't the middle of Ohio. In northern NJ, you may need a big project (i.e., fancy stadium, shopping center, condos etc) in order to (A) afford the purchase of the land (especially if it's going to be convenient to mass transit), and (B) get the highway access built.
Freakin' hilarious! Although god only knows why petkedude's trupeting that fact. By the way, what club you be representin', p-doodie?
Out of boredom.... ....so, which are you...... http://www.middlebury.edu/~sports/fall_sports/mens_soccer/roster.html You took it out.....now its time to pay the piper...
My money is on Craig Hirsh. And he is a goalie. Figures. Unfortunatley or fortunately no pics are available.