I wouldn't say I like it, but I do enjoy how it gives us character. The small pitch, the ironic baseball chants (mostly from visiting fans, we should totally embrace this more), etc.
Stadium Discussion
- Thread starter Gene
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I wouldn't say I like it, but I do enjoy how it gives us character. The small pitch, the ironic baseball chants (mostly from visiting fans, we should totally embrace this more), etc.
Agreed on all points. Better than I though but still want to move to SSS (subject to it being a good spot). But msot importantly let's embrace the baseball-ness of our current home. As much as I despised Miazga when he scored, I couldn't specifically hate him for the baseball taunt. I mean everyone knows the basic plusses and minuses of each team: They're in NJ with an SSS and a drink brand owner/name with a Supporters Shield, no cups, and 20 years of history half of which is down the memory hole.
We're in NY with a baseball stadium with a soccer team owner/brand, with no history (yet). You can add that up and say our package is better but we shouldn't expect them not to taunt based on the areas where they have an advantege. And in the mean time, we should embrace the weird, largely positive but admittedly with downsides, experience of playing in a baseball stadium.
Is our supporters section singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame? Someone told me we were at some point, but I haven't heard it.
It's been done a number of times at the 70th minute (i.e., the 7th inning stretch). Now we're doing that jumping up and down thing at the 60th minute, which for the moment all I can recall is that the name has something to do with rush hour but I forget exactly what. Not sure if we've done both in a game though.
Playing in Yankee stadium isn't as bad as people made it out to be. My issue is with security rather then the viewing experience
I don't get why people are saying we shouldn't build in jersey. I mean… I GET IT…
But there has literally been no indication that even been a remote possibility. Garber has said they're looking only in NYC, the front office has said they're looking only in NYC.
The only people saying it'll be built in NJ are salty Red Bulls fans. I think we all need to say "not in New Jersey" as much as we say "not in Pennsylvania"
But there has literally been no indication that even been a remote possibility. Garber has said they're looking only in NYC, the front office has said they're looking only in NYC.
The only people saying it'll be built in NJ are salty Red Bulls fans. I think we all need to say "not in New Jersey" as much as we say "not in Pennsylvania"
Andy
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Given that NYCFC have already turned down sites in NYC proper we can forget about NJ I think..
The Yankee Stadium field is nearly symmetrical, but the left field wall is actually further out than right field by a few feet, so I think switching the orientation would make the field a little bit smaller.
Anyone that thinks this team is going to grow to the point where we need an 80k stadium is beyond delusional.
Yeah, we're going to be bigger than the NFL.
Andy
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I would not quite say delusional, but extremely optimistic. The game and league has grown tremendously over my lifetime. Seattle draws 40k+ regularly, and they started off in the 20's their first season. 80k is not as crazy as you think, but it would require pretty much all of the following criteria to be met, and most of these are huge reaches and probably won't happen until the current young hipsters supporting this league are telling the kids to get off their lawn.
- MLS would have to be the top league in the world, and by a good margin.
- MLS would have to grow in popularity to rival the current level of NFL support.
- The club must build a strong history and become the pre-eminent brand in football.
- Probably share an NYC proper stadium with the Jets (who are locked into a long deal I think with MetLife
- A crazy mayor would have to make crazy concessions to get it built.
Obviously, it's nothing but a pipedream. However I could see this club, or some future version of it, playing in 60k stadium when i'm an old man. 80k if we build a joint stadium with one of the NFL teams. I'm not betting on it though, and we will be playing in our own 30k stadium long before we could even imagine playing in a bigger park.
Wouldn't that make the majority of the seating even further away from the pitch than it already is? With the current layout, at least most of the third-base line seating and the seating at both goal ends is relatively close to the pitch, though not as close as it would be in an SSS. With the orientation you suggest, I feel like most seats would be as far away as the seats on the outfield side are now.
I am like a broken record saying that we - and other MLS teams - need bigger stadiums with room to expand. But, even I am not crazy enough to recommend 80K. Assuming we are in a new stadium in about 5 years, my guess is that we would need 33K or so to start and have the ability to get to 50-55K within 10 years after that.
Most expansion teams see a drop in attendance their second year. You are still way overestimating our numbers. 25k is plenty for now. We WANT sellouts. And at 25k, we still won't sellout every game. Expansion to the mid-30k's should be possibly though for the site.
Then again, these projections could all change by the time we actually get a stadium in 10 years.
It's true that many teams have a drop the second year, but growth typically returns. The league overall has been growing, and I put some numbers on that a few pages back. I am confident that our mean attendance of 25,384 will be up around 30K at least in 5 seasons. We don't need to be jammed in like sardines for the place to look full. Putting 30K in a 33K stadium is 90%, and that's just about right.
All that said, I will make two predictions.
First, our attendance will grow higher over the last half of this season, as we get more players and more fan support. By this, I mean that our mean attendance over the last 8 games will be higher than our mean over the first 9, and our average over the last 8 will be higher than our average over the first 9 without the New England and New Jersey games factored in.
Second, our average attendance will decline no more than 1% in Year 2 compared to Year 1 (I actually think be flat or better).
All that said, I will make two predictions.
First, our attendance will grow higher over the last half of this season, as we get more players and more fan support. By this, I mean that our mean attendance over the last 8 games will be higher than our mean over the first 9, and our average over the last 8 will be higher than our average over the first 9 without the New England and New Jersey games factored in.
Second, our average attendance will decline no more than 1% in Year 2 compared to Year 1 (I actually think be flat or better).
Honestly, it's not crazy to see MLS growing very rapidly within the next two to three decades. The NFL is going to have a serious problem concerning head injuries and there are some who believe that the league will not exist at some point because of this problem. The NFL can't get safer despite all the improvements to the equipment, rules, etc. The fans, tv, etc. will want something to replace it. With the growing interest in European football and more so the World Cup as the USMNT improves and goes deeper and hopefully eventually wins, people may gravitate more to the sport. And with a similar schedule of football which is soccer, one a week games, typically on the weekend, it will grab that football audience. Consider also demographic changes in the country with the growing Spanish speaking population and MLS in 2050 may be the biggest sports in league in America. It's not crazy. It's sports.
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