Soccer Specific Stadia (Part 2)--------by Section 112 Blizzard
Jan 4th 2007
As I explained a few weeks ago in the first installment of this article, Soccer
Specific Stadia (part 1), the soccer specific stadium has provided a new
economic model for Major League Soccer, which coupled with recent progress with
broadcast rights and sponsorship deals offers the hope that the league will soon
become profitable.
At present 8 out of 13 MLS franchises either play in an SSS or have an SSS under
construction. The remaining five franchises all have plans to follow suit.
DC United - DC United have plans for a new 27,000 seat SSS called Poplar Point Stadium
but it is not expected to be ready before 2009
at the earliest due to delays in securing the land involved from the federal
government.
Real Salt Lake - RSL has a ground breaking ceremony on a new stadium
complete with David Beckham
and Real Madrid but it is still far from clear whether the required
government funding will be forthcoming after the franchise had to publically open
their books as part of a due diligence process.
Kansas City Wizards - The Wizards plans for a new stadium faced a major
set back late last year when voters in the suburban community of Oakland Park
voted down a plan for a soccer field complex and the mayor then backed off on
plans to seek special
tax incentives to help build the Wizards new SSS. The focus is now shifting
to other Kansas City area municipalities.
Houston Dynamo - The San Jos� Earthquakes were relocated to Houston for
the 2006 season by their I/O (Anschutz Entertainment Group) after the failure of
San Jos� politicians to support a suitable stadium solution. A better rental
deal was reached with the University of Houston for Robertson Stadium for
a three year lease than had been in place at Spartan Stadium in San Jos�. The
plan is to move into a new SSS after that with the hope being that it will be
relatively straightforward to partner up with a school district to obtain
funding due to the popularity level of high school football in Texas.
New England Revolution - The Revolution's plans
for a new stadium are least pressing as the I/O (the Krafts) own the New
England Patriots and Gillette Stadium.
Don Garber has described the availability of an SSS, a suitable I/O and a large
metropolitan market as the three pillars that have to be in place before future
MLS expansion franchises will be awarded. The stadium deal requirement is
usually the major hurdle and at the moment the San
Francisco Bay area and St. Louis
appear to be closest to making progress on this.
Plans for an SSS in the Philadelphia
area as part of a new campus for Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ received
a major setback this summer when state funding could not be obtained, while the
failure of the Ohio legislature to back a special local taxation plan to help
fund an SSS has jeopardized progress in Cleveland.
Given the many difficulties involved with putting viable stadium plans together,
the fact MLS wants to expand to 16 teams by 2010 and the possibility that
franchises like Real Salt Lake and the Kansas City Wizards will relocate if they
are unable to find stadium solutions locally, Vancouver and Montr�al
may be well placed for future expansion if the stadium plans of the Whitecaps
and Impact come to fruition.
The bottom line is that the example provided by the late Lamar Hunt's Columbus
Crew Stadium has inspired a massive wave of investment across North America to
provide the facilities, which will allow our sport to not just survive but
thrive in the decades ahead.
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