By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Dec 9, 2011) US Soccer Players -- An atmosphere counts. If you’ve ever seen, let alone been at a soccer match at Old Trafford or San Siro, you would understand the effect on atmosphere that such venues create. Fans chanting, arms outstretched in unison, the bickering and bantering of fans at opposing players, the clapping of appreciation of a well placed tackle. The little things that coagulate to a flood, a mass of supporter behavior that creates the sort of ambiance only seen, experienced, and understood in places across the pond in Europe, South America, and around the world. That’s what it is over there.
It’s what MLS is trying to build over here. And build they must if they want to raise the appeal of the game in North America.
Give Europe the benefit of decades. It’s obvious that such devotion was created under the constant grooming of time. Such venues increased over time because the sport itself matured to its world-leading status. The US and Canada are playing catch-up.
Yet, as behind as we are, the construction of multiple soccer-specific stadiums in recent years has started that process of terraforming our soccer landscape. The more recent stadiums built in Harrison, NJ, Kansas City, KS, and now Houston showcase a level of maturity and technical ingenuity that has propelled those venues into top-tier status.
It’s good to see that, yet we can all agree that the opposite can be said about some stadiums that are inhabited by MLS teams. The cavernous, empty locations still used by DC United and New England are stark reminders of where the League’s non-specific beginnings are based. In contrast, San Jose plays in a diminutive Buck Shaw Stadium, a location that only holds 10,800 fans.
Here then is an impressive effort by the San Jose Earthquakes ownership to rectify this problem of capacity. It’s also a possible model that could be employed by other teams in the future looking to relocate to a new stadium.
Of course, what San Jose is trying to do is also due in part to financials. The economics, so to speak, have created the ingenuity of their situation. With a clear advantage of soccer-specificity, Earthquake Soccer LLC is constructing its stadium as a mercurial structure, able to expand and adapt should that prove necessary. All for a $60 million price tag.
The plans include an 18,000 capacity seat stadium, with an “open” end at one side of the structure. This open side allows for an expandable area to increase capacity in the future. It also allows the organization to keep current building costs down, while giving the team a sizable boost in revenue through higher attendance. It may look incomplete, but compared to their current home… well, there really isn't much of a comparison.
At $60 million dollars, such a plan keeps things relatively low for teams on the wrong side of the soccer-specific building boom. It gives them a potential solution that can’t be done through political means, or just plain lack of funds available to produce results like the $200 million Red Bull Arena. Not every team is owned by a sports drink conglomerate with access to open areas created by urban blight.
Consider DC United, hamstrung by a stadium deal that doesn't seem to address the condition of the stadium in question and further constrained by local and regional politics. Maybe going it alone would be much more productive, and insure a faster result. A result, admittedly, that might not replicate the grandiose development that occurred in Kansas City, Kansas.
State of the art might not be thrown at a $60 million stadium, but a stream of revenue that could improve the initial foundation down the line isn’t a bad idea either. For teams just looking for an adequate place to play and give its fans a proper atmosphere to cheer their local team, this method might be the ideal solution.
We have to wait to see how the San Jose approach actually pans out. They still haven’t received approval from the county to start building on site. However, if it proves to be worthwhile and successful, the days where existing teams are locked into a bad situation might be numbered. It's not just MLS demanding soccer-specificity from their clubs. It's a feasible way to get a team into their own stadium. With that in mind, the San Jose approach could be the answer.
Dario Camacho made the move from regular commentator as Pesmerga7 to columnist. He writes weekly for US Soccer Players. Follow him on twitter at DarCam7.
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