Futbol Stadiums

[89Hen]

Warning, this gets a little soapboxy, but bear with me...

I was thinking (yeah, a dangerous thing to do)... why do they design football stadiums the way they do? I'm talking about the open ends, some seats quite a distance from the field, no cover for the stands unless the whole thing is domed.... I imagine it has something to do with the fact that most of the stadiums in the 50's - 70's were built so they could be shared with baseball and the design was limited.

Now that cities are building two separate ones, the baseball stadiums have become palaces to the game, while it seems that football stadiums have become palaces to making a buck. The new Redskins stadiums sucks. It's all about how many seats and luxury boxes they can squeez in. It has all the charm and subtlety of an 18 wheeler hauling a mobile home.

That's the NFL and this wouldn't work, but as this relates to I-AA, I was looking at some of the designs of football (soccer) stadiums that IMO would be phenomenal for 20-30k seaters for I-AA football. Some of these are even planned to be built in the US (Chicago, Rochester). Check out some of the 15-30k ones...
World Stadiums (http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_menu/past_future/future_stadiums.shtml)

http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_menu/past_future/pictures/future_stadiums/chicago_bridgeview.jpg
http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_menu/past_future/pictures/future_stadiums/joinville_centro.jpg

[Sly Fox]

Take a look at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA and the new stadium under construction in Frisco, Texas. Yeah, they are very cool designs that would be perfect for I-AA football. But they don't come cheap.

[Fordham]

Pretty cool. Any idea on how much they cost?

[rokamortis]

Where do you put the lights?

[ISUMatt]

Here is the Chicago Fire's (MSL) new stadium being built in lovely Bridgeview, Illinois...

http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/3620/cf4eb.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
...the Village of Bridgeview today held the ceremonial groundbreaking for Bridgeview's new $70 million, 20,000-seat sports and entertainment stadium.

[MR. CHICKEN]

HEY...DAT THING LOOKS LIKE........UH SPACE STATION!.........ROLLERBALL...IN DUH YEAR 2525!........:eek:............BRAWK!

[DFW HOYA]

Pretty cool. Any idea on how much they cost?

Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, TX was built for $85 million and seats 21,193.

The park is very nice but its location is a major gamble for the club, owing to the fact that a large percentage of its present fan base is a working class base who live 30 miles south in Dallas. The club is now aiming for the suburban youth soccer market to make up any gaps if those fans who went to the Cotton Bowl decide not to travel to Frisco. The club has also surrounded the park with 17 regulation sized soccer fields for year round use.

http://pizzahutpark.birdsallstudios.com/faqs_facts.html

[Sly Fox]

Here's Home Depot Center ... home of two MLS clubs:

http://chivas.usa.mlsnet.com/cdc/imgs/stadium/stadium3.jpg

You've probably seen it in a bunch of commercials.

[Fordham]

Thanks DFW! That is a boatload of dough to spend on a 22K size stadium, huh?

And there was talk of the MetroStars doing something similar a few years back when they explored putting a stadium in a working class section of Queens. There must have been some marketing studies performed by the league that told them that they're fan base was working class immigrants that sparked that exploration by NY and the new stadium in Dallas (I'm basing that on something I read a few years back about mktg by the league).

[Fordham]

89's futbol thread sparked this one - sorry if it's a duplicate to anything that's been posted previously (possibly by me).

Speaking as a fan of a team that desperately needs one, I'm wondering which schools have built one recently (since 2000)?

What did it cost?

How much does it hold?

Was it paid for by alums (e.g. - G-town & Maine) or the school?

Grassy a*s