Stan Collins

I'm pretty sure it will be expandable. That seems to be the 'plan' for MLS stadiums these days--build relatively small to build up a season ticket base (going by attendance at past Dynamo playoff games, you won't be able to get playoff tickets unless you either have a season or are willing to scalp), then when they have a waiting list for seasons they expand the stadium. This seems to be what's being done in Toronto and Philadelphia.

Unfortunately it looks like it would be a problem, because the stadium would probably try to compete to host music concerts (the Dynamo are part owned by Philip Anschutz, who owns the promotion company AEG Live) and boxing matches (they are also part owned by Oscar de la Hoya, who owns Golden Boy Productions).

Furthermore, look at the article again. Beyond the fear-mongering, most of it either didn't happen in Western Europe, doesn't rise above the kind of vandalism that might happen at a sports event here in the US (or in a nightclub district for that matter), or describes events officials took proper precautions against and therefore largely didn't materialize. His post would be confirmation by faint dispute, in my book.

In-game violence is almost completely a thing of the past in Western European countries. Better policing, stadium architecture, limits on alcohol, and more expensive tickets have driven it away. Nowadays what's left of the hooligan element in Western Europe gets in fights outside the stadiums. They have to pre-arrange these fights on some street corner, the game itself is almost unconnected. But you go to a game today in the richer countries of Europe (let alone the US), you'd be surprised how family-friendly the atmosphere is.

AEG is not likely to own the stadium, and will certainly not own the land. Most likely, they'll have an operating license on a city-owned facility.The one thing this type of discussion does show, though, is that the devil is in the details.

Now is the time when we all gawk at the oblivious jerk who would ask this after ONE THOUSAND POSTS in the thread!Good work Captain Oblivious!

Yeah, renovating the Astrodome would be expensive and would STILL probably produce a pretty poor soccer venue. It's just a fool's errand. Devil's in the details, but you gotta admit this deal doesn't look much like some of the lock, stock and barrel deals of the past.

Good question. The Mexican (and by that I mean in Mexico) audience will need to be persuaded to care. They've not thought much about MLS because there's never been any reason to think our league was as good as theirs. (In contrast to our National Team, which has dealt Mexico some all-too-painful defeats in the last decade.)Beckham will inspire some curiosity (remember, Madrid is a very popular club in the entire Spanish speaking world). Even if he's not there in time for the tournament (which he isn't currently scheduled to be, unless LA makes the elimination rounds), there will be extra eyes on MLS. MLS will have the advantage this first time of playing at home, in midseason (preseason in Mexico). If MLS gets off to a flying start with these initial watchers, this tourney may get traction. If Mexico waltzes through, it might not, since Mexico's schedule is very crowded.

Let's--Football is more complicated than soccer on exactly *one* level--the coaching level. Football's a war simulation, where the generals devise all the strategy. The quarterback might have the authority of, say, a captain, but each action and its possibilities are scripted for him. In contrast, soccer the players create the 'plays' from the situation, and the central ones devise the campaigns, leaving only the grand strategy to the coaches, which would make them all roughly major through colonel level.

Wow, you can't stay awake reading. Impressive credentials. Or blowing the whole question to hell. "Major Sport" is a BS dichotomy you're foisting on soccer fans because you know they'll try and come back at you--and the comebacks will look weak because there's no Excel spreadsheet that will predict the future.But the NHL carries on, much stronger than pre-Gretzky. Some may consider it "major league" and some may not, but it doesn't make a damn bit of difference to a league with payrolls in the tens of millions, franchise values in the hundreds of millions, and an overall valuation in the billions. A league that survived a nearly two-year nuclear winter with all its franchises intact. No Gretzky, and this Does----Not----Happen. The most delicious irony here is that the guy who would be able to tell you the most about Gretzky's long term impact for the Kings--the guy who owns them now--is Philip Frederick Anschutz, coincidentally the same guy who owns the Galaxy and is paying Beckham all that money now. ! And he's got about $8 Billion that says he knows more about business than you.

It may seem like it's in a hurry, but it's really derived from 11 valuable years of the league's history.I'd say it boils down to two reasons--control of luxury suites, and cost of rent. In the short term, Reliant costs so much to open up that you might make more money (remember, you can also charge a bit more for tickets if they are more scarce) in "Dynamo Stadium" for, say, a match between two mid-tier Mexican teams in an Interliga match than at Reliant, even if it would have drawn 10-15k more fans at Reliant. The only kind match that would clearly do better at Reliant is the type of "mega-vent" that would come close to selling it out--eg the Club America vs Barcelona game, or a Mexico vs USA national team match. Those might well stay. Luxury suites are the long term concern, but it's the presence of big games that helps drive rich people to pay for the suites. Red Bull Arena in New York will be attempting to rent out 60+ of them or 65K apiece (that's $4 Million a year if they pull it off). Houston obviously won't be able to match that (in NY, you're benefitting from the fact that Giants Stadium charges four times even that amount). But hosting a stream of extra events could be worth a good $1 Million a year to the Dynamo, even if you only broke even on the events themselves. Well, it would be overdoing it to suggest they'll be going after top players at their peak. The rumors have been circling around guys like Beckham, Figo or Ronaldo, guys who are all at least a little past top form.More importantly, I think MLS is going after something more like an NBA model, whereby they charge a fortune for the suites and the front row--originally, they were thinking like they were NFL owners from 50-60 years ago, drawing ever-increasing crowds in large, rented stadiums, but that business model proved not to work, and these days, you can increase your bottom line almost as well by charging a few very rich people an amazing amount of money as you can by converting the masses (and the former's a lot easier, to boot). If they designed it right, they could also build a 25k seater that you could squeeze 35k in for important matches (they were looking at that kind of design in Cleveland), or they could add a second deck if and when that's necessary (I suspect that could be done in Toronto, for instance, if the team becomes popular enough to justify it).

I think you're missing the boat as soon as you compare to the giant football stadium across town. Any soccer stadium's not proposing to provide value in spite of its humble ambition--but because of it.The soccer stadium will cost 1/10th-1/8th as much, the public may well pay 1/25th as much (if the city negotiates well), and it'll host more events. Yeah, I don't get that either. 23,107 essentially would be a sellout in the type of venue they'd like to build.Also, the Dynamo host 4 times as many games as the Cougars do. -- And you add in youth soccer tournaments, Mexican friendlies, National Team matches, high school football, concerts, etc. These things can work in a Dynamo stadium more than in a Reliant, because Reliant costs $250k just to open the doors. They often can't work at Robertson because of all the restrictions the U of H puts on the place. (They had to get special permission to host a 21st game last year, and they're running into trouble scheduling the MLS versus Mexican League and North American championship tournaments they've been invited to because they won the championship last year, because of University restrictions.) There's plenty good reason to build a Dynamo stadium, and plenty of value for the dollar it can provide to Houston as long as you work out a partnership whereby the team has to kick in for the cost, and the city has access to a certain number of game days. When it comes to building stadiums, the regular tenant is almost irrelevant. Think of this not as a "soccer stadium" but as "a ~20k outdoor venue" that happens to host a soccer team.

I'll take that bet--I'll lay you 10 to 1 on it. When the NASL folded in 1984, there were still hardly any US players who could play the game at any reasonable level--and needless to say the NASL's demise dealt a big blow to any progress on that front. Even in 1996, when half the league was plucked from the semipro leagues that were rattling around at the time, the standard was a pale shadow of what you've got today.As to the financial side, league finances have measurably improved every year since about 2001. An MLS franchise has never been worth more than it is today, and MLS gets its first national TV rights fees starting next season, at $20 Million a year. To feed off the last post, the NFL would laugh at that money, but that's not an excuse for you and I. If one was to assert that MLS would someday be as popular as Major League Baseball or the NFL, there'd be no tangible evidence to back that claim up. But there's even less grounds for claiming that MLS has already peaked, in that there's actually pretty weighty evidence against it.

17 Million Americans wathced the World Cup Final. I got a stadium it owned, that's the key. They've drawn many more than that for other MLS Cup Finals. The record attendance is 61,000.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLS_Cup There's a wide gulf between the NFL and underwater basket weaving. Just ebcause a sport's not as popular as the NFL and won't be anytime soon does not mean it's not a viable pro sport. And for that metter, it took the NFL a long danged time to get to that point, too. Their first championship game that anyone outside of the cities involved cared about was 1958, and the league had been founded in 1919. The NFL was an overnight sensation. . . after a generation of hard work.

Chivas USA play in the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. It's the same stadium the LA Galaxy play in.

Hi, I thought I'd share a few bits so you know what the Dynamo's angle is and have some of the questions posed in this thread answered. And yes, that's Houston's soccer team. Houston is seeking a stadium for the following reasons, and roughly in order from least important to most: 5) Permanent football lines are distracting and a little irritating at a soccer game. 4) 30k seats is a little larger than what the Dynamo want. They'll try to buld 20-25k. 3) They're currently paying U of H $1.8 Million for their three year lease 2) They're not getting all the revenue they could from parking and concessions 1) They don't have access to luxury suites, stadium naming rights, etc to sell 1a) They can't control other events (the company that owns them, AEG, also owns a concert promotion company) in the stadium So, the Dynamo are looking to build something fitted a little smaller, one where they keep all the revenues they generate, and one that can double as a outdoor concert arena (judging by how this has been done lately, a permanent stage at one end is not unlikely). I'm not surprised they are teaming up with the schools to provide a high school football venue as well. The new stadium for FC Dallas, PIzza Hut Park in Frisco (where the Dynamo will be playing the MLS Cup Final) is a model in that regard: http://pizzahutpark.com/ http://pizzahutpark.com/Home/TheStadium/Se...05/Default.aspx In last night's playoff game (the Western Conference finals, which the Dynamo won 3-1 in front of 23,000), team GM (and former Sports Authority exec) Oliver Luck said they were considering 6 or 7 potential sites. I would assume both downtown and Delmar are on that list. (The football lines in that case wouldn't be a problem because they'd be washable).