http://www.mlsnet.com/content/03/wwc0612venues.html -The Home Depot Center - Carson, California. -Lincoln Financial Field - Philadelphia, PA. -PGE Park - Portland, OR. -Gillette Stadium - Foxboro, MA . -Columbus Crew Stadium - Columbus, Ohio. -RFK Memorial Stadium - Washington, D.C.
Please change name of thread to WOMEN'S World Cup Venues Announced. C'mon now call it what it is already.
I wonder if the Giants thought they would get something extra for letting them use the field and decided to hold out for. Then the USSF told the NJSA to forget it then. At least that's how I'm going to envision it, so please don't rain on my parade.
Whatever the case was, i am glad Giants Stadium won't host a WWC game...The way the NJSEA has treated soccer over the years makes them undeserving of any extra money they keep sucking out of the sport (especially with the Metros)
I had never heard of this field (-Lincoln Financial Field - Philadelphia, PA) Is it good for soccer to be played there?
Giants Stadium is not regulation size anyway, although didn't bother ussf or fifa in the past 2 WCs here. Besides the NFL conflict with Giants practicing, there was also a question about the grass that would have to be laid down.
They all appear to be favorable MLS venues. They're either investor owned spots (HDC, Crew Stadium, Gillette), or potential expansion cities (Philadelphia, Portland), or sites where a new stadium is sought (DC). I listed Portland because I think it is another test for the Pacific Northwest soccer market. If we keep giving games to Seahawk Stadium in Seattle, it may somewhat quell their thirst for a pro team, but being usurped by Portland cannot sit well for the pro-soccer crowd in Seattle. Hopefully this will mobilize and vocalize that dissatisfaction and Paul Allen will revisit the idea of an MLS team. -Digital
Too bad they couldn't have had a more midwest venue like Soldier Field. Now i gotta do some greater traveling :/
Can't say that I am all that surprised with the mid-west getting snubbed. I would have went to the games if they were within a 8-hour drive. Ahh, but here in KC we are used to not seeing our national seeing our national team play. 1 women's game and 1 men's in 8 years.
From Matthew Futterman's story in the Star-Ledger: "Even though the Giants' lease gives them control of their home field during September, Zoffinger did not ask the Giants for permission to stage the soccer games in the stadium until after he signed a deal with USSF officials last Thursday. Zoffinger then challenged the Giants to try to "take their best shot" at trying to stop the games. The Giants did. Mara and National Football League spokesman Greg Aiello declined to comment on just what they did to squash the Sports Authority's deal. But according to officials with knowledge of developments during the past week, top executives with both the Giants and the NFL sent a stern message to the USSF through Don Garber, commissioner of Major League Soccer and former chief executive of the NFL's European league. They told Garber if the USSF wanted to use Giants Stadium for the World Cup, they would have to go to court and fight for it. With just three months before the beginning of the tournament, that was a risk soccer officials could not afford to take. "We had a deadline this week that we had to get everything locked down," said Dan Flynn, general secretary of the USSF. "We needed to meet the deadlines based on our requirements. The clock ran out."" Help me out here. Why is Don Garber helping carry the NFL's water for them AGAINST the USSF? I just keep thinking there are soccer people and there are sports marketing people, and the latter group doesn't care too much about the game - but please someone tell me why Garber would do this?
garber use to be in charge of nfl europe....so maybe he was the guy ussf had sent, or the nfl used. he probably still has friends there and it was more of a "hey, don's in charge of the league, call him" thing... i doubt for any other reason than that.....
Can't say I'm at all surprised to hear you whining about it. Didn't they say that regional groupings were a factor? Sure, the US women would be a draw, but how many KC-ers would go see Ghana v Norway?
It is more the fact that the same venues get the national team games. How many have been in California? How many have been on the eastern seaboard? How many have been in Columbus. All I am saying is share the love.
Does PGE Park have real grass or is it field turf? And if it is field turf, anybody know if they are going to play on that or are they going to sod the field?
Used to have turf. If it still does, they will have to lay down sod. For the Costa Rica game up there several years ago, the sod they laid down was a real mess.
PGE Park has NeXTurf, like Veterans Stadium. We're talking about, what, four matches? They can lay down grass trays and it shouldn't be such a bother.
Hey, you're one match up on us! Actually, this may work out rather well - we had vacation scheduled during the WWC but weren't quite sure what to do with it...