Re: [nas] Should I curb my enthusiasm?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Fetty" <fcfetty@yahoo.com>


> Should you curb your enthusiasm? IMO Just a little.
> See below for comments:
>
> --- Evan Whitney <Evan_Whitney@harvard.edu> wrote:
> > Let me see...

> > * On Friday, September 19th, The N.Y. State
> > Legislature approved a
> > $15 million dollar grant to build the Rochester
> > Rhinos their own, soccer-
> > specific stadium at a total estimated cost of $22
> > million dollars. The stadium
> > will have an initial capacity of 17,500, expandable
> > to 20,000 should the
> > city be bumped up a division to Major League Soccer.
> > There's been talk of
> > ground-breaking in the next few weeks. A stadium
> > rendering may be seen
> > here:
> >
> http://www.rhinossoccer.com/images/thumbs/PaeTec%20Park1.JPG
>
> Just to nitpick, from what I've been told initial
> capacity will "only" be around 12,500-14,000 at
> PaeTec.

Okay, I am going to be silly for a moment - Bill, are you sure you're not
just jealous that their stadium will be bigger than the Battery stadium?
;-)  (BTW, is Charlotte expandible?  I'd love to see the Battery in MLS....)

> > * Peter Wilt and the Chicago Fire have received
> > financial proposals from the
> > communities of Bridgeview, Hanover Park, Hoffman
> > Estate and the City of Chicago
> > to build a soccer-specific stadium. The Fire will
> > reportedly announce the
> > winning proposal
> > in the next one to two months. The stadium would
> > possibly be built in time
> > for the 2006
> > season at a proposed cost of close to $70 million,
> > capacity being in the
> > neighborhood
> > of 20,000-plus.
>
> The Chicago folks probably know a hell of a lot more
> on this than I do but I will say I could swear I've
> read in some places comments from Wilt that seem to
> point to them really strongly considering the idea of
> a much better deal at Soldier Field than putting up a
> tremendous amount more of AEG's own money to build in
> the 'burbs. Anyone from Chi-town get this feeling?

Obviously, word from Chicago is probably a more direct source, but the tea
leaves I skimmed through had Chicago as one of the people trying to offer a
SSS site, and more to the point, it may be a bit cheaper to stay at Soldier
Field (partially because they were able to get a better deal, which in and
of itself is saving the league money...) but it seems that the MLS owners
are getting the fact that the game is better in a SSS - mostly because of
the atmosphere, but also because you can offer a newer facility, probably
cheaper than the gigantic NFL stadiums that high schools could more easily
afford (part of what is making the Frisco deal work, btw).

Either way - whether it is because they are trying to get a SSS or because
they got a better deal out of Soldier Field, Chicago is in better financial
shape than they were in 1998.


>
> >
> > * New renderings of the 20,000-seat Frisco Stadium
> > have recently been
> > circulated
> > by Dallas Burn supporters as they look to make a
> > move to their own
> > soccer-specific
> > stadium for purposes of the 2005 season. Images can
> > be seen through those
> > links below:
> >
> >
> http://home.earthlink.net/~dchristmann/data/FriscoStadiumSE.jpg
> >
> http://home.earthlink.net/~dchristmann/data/FriscoStadiumSECloseup.jpg
> >
> http://home.earthlink.net/~dchristmann/data/FriscoStadiumNW.jpg
> >
> http://home.earthlink.net/~dchristmann/data/FriscoStadiumNWCloseup.jpg
> >
> > It's been suggested that some preliminary work on
> > the stadium site may already
> > be underway and that an "official ground-breaking
> > may occur within the
> > month." Total
> > estimated cost of the project is $65 million
> > dollars. Nice touch that seems
> > to be part
> > of (this particular) design proposal:
> > different-colored seats that spell
> > out "DALLAS" and
> > "BURN" much like what's common in European stadia.

BTW, some digging around has resulted in word that this rendering is 70% of
what is finalized....  It isn't THDC exactly, but it is a top-end facility.
:-)


> > * The Seattle Sounders as of August, were looking to
> > bring an MLS expansion
> > franchise
> > to Kent, WA. A soccer-specific stadium with a
> > capacity of 18 - 20,000 would
> > be built
> > as part of a complex featuring eight to ten
> > additional soccer fields, this
> > at an estimated
> > cost of around $35 million according to published
> > reports. MLS is also
> > lending assistance
> > with proposal planning, this also according to a
> > published report. If
> > everything works out,
> > Sounders general manager Adrian Hanauer would like
> > to have things in order
> > for an MLS
> > team to being play in 2005 or 2006.
>
> I'd love to see something like this happen and it
> still could but it seems a lot further away than
> '05-'06. Wonder what the Sounders fans think about
> this supposed sequence of events especially since the
> Sounders turned down moving to a more
> A-League-friendly sized venue at Ft. Dent for the time
> being?

As some of you know, I have a website designed around the expansion
situation and I try to stay on top of these issues as much as possible.
That being said, Seattle's roadblock is ownership.  They are having trouble
finding a big $ guy to be the I/O.  Without that, there is no reason to
build a stadium, unfortunately.

That doesn't preclude the work being done, and MLS is helping because maybe
they come across someone who wants to invest in the league but isn't tied to
a specific location (or Anschutz sells more of his teams but wants to
reinvest in the league - something that was considered some for Philly).

But a SSS in and of itself isn't a solution.  (Houston, BTW, has the
opposite problem - they have a stadium that would be a great addition to MLS
in Reliant even though it is a Gillette size stadium, but the prospective
owner wants to do due dilligence.  Good news here is the longer things go,
the better the league will look, and they have a guy high up in the Texans
organization [yes, the NFL team] that used to work for the Crew.  But that
probably isn't going to happen right around the corner.)

Now, to balance out all that negative info, I think something that should be
added to the whole 'let's feel good about MLS' vibe is the interest from the
Chivas owner and the Club America people.  I said the interest because
interest draws interest.  Hopefully, both those prospective owners and MLS
do their due dilligence to make sure that it is a good fit.  We saw with
Horowitz that money in and of itself is not necessarily a good thing.  It
has to be stable and long-term money.

So Sez Drummer Boy
http://flashpages.prodigy.net/klindstr/home.html




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