The newest soccer-specific stadium in MLS is set to open on May 12, and it will be packed to
capacity for its unveiling.
The Houston Dynamo announced that BBVA Compass Stadium is already sold out for the club's home
opener against D.C. United, which will mark the opening of 13th soccer-specific venue in the
league.
Y'all seen the latest rendering of the under-construction SSS in Houston? So rad. Kinda looks like
a biodome with a sunroof in a way but that's not a knock on it. How could you bag on something this
baller that's right downtown. You can't. Unless you are an ass.
The dream is finally becoming a reality in Houston. Shovels will go into the ground this weekend
on a brand new stadium that will become the new home of the Houston Dynamo. The Dynamo have been
working long and hard on getting this project to become a reality after leaving San Jose for the
reasons of not being able to land a stadium.
Houston, are you ready to holla & pop bottles on Saturday? Hope so but even if you aren't a whole
lot of us around the "New Soccer Nation" will be doing it on your behalf when the Dynamo break
ground on your new downtown stadium. The place looks like it'll be pretty hot (both temperature &
design-wise) and I honestly couldn't be happier for you.
I don't have to tell you how far the MLS has come in its short existence (relative to most other
soccer league around the world, age-wise). In just 16 years, the sport of soccer itself along with
MLS has really taken off. Popularity is growing. Quality of play has vastly increased from the
early days.
I wish someone would do a documentary on the rise & fall of the Rochester Rhinos. 7 or 8 years ago
they were the darlings of the U.S. second division with a U.S. Open Cup title to their name,
outdrawing a few MLS teams at the gate and getting a SSS at a time when few big-league clubs had
one.
So now every American soccer site is bordered in black, because two of the league's more unpopular
teams will compete for MLS Cup.
It would be unfair to compare the attendances of FC Dallas and the Rapids with attendances of your
basic run-of-the-mill 1970's NASL team - for two reasons, really.
I apologize for the lack of posts yesterday, some sickness is creeping through the office and
I've been hit dead on by the bug. Still trying to fight it off, but here are some business
thoughts for the weekend. We will start in Seattle and Toronto where the fans of both MLS clubs
have made their feelings about their respective front offices known.
Could the Citrus Bowl work for MLS? (Photo via Orlando Weekly)
I think it is fair to say by now that Orlando is in the mix for the MLS expansion race. Maybe
not club number 20 but certainly number 21, whenever that may be. Major League Soccer is likely
hoping to use other cities like Orlando  - to help push the bid for a second New York club in the
league.
Y'all seen then stadium proposal in Detroit? Looks crazy but if they can pull it off more power to
them because I actually think The Mitten would be a better spot for an MLS club than The Wang. Not
nearly as fun of a roadtrip -mojitos and beaches top all- but a better home for a soccer team.
For those of you not yet in the know, the league's next SSS will be planted in downtown Houston,
across the street from the Toyota Center and Minute Maid Park to create a nice little walking
Stadium District. The only outlier is, ahem, Reliant, a millennial stadium with very little
personality that is inexplicably located on the outskirts of downtown.
There isn't much to see yet, but here's what's poppin' at the Houston stadium construction site by
way of what appears to be a camera attached to balloon. It might not be nestled amongst the
skyscrapers like Seattle's multi-use building but this is definitely in the downtown core even if
it is a little on the edge.
You know you are a baller if you give interviews on a golf course and you are not a player in the
PGA. Check out The Don getting all Big Willy and talking expansion, the D.C. stadium saga and
various other messageboardy topics in between working on his short game. Play on boss.
Sporting KC striker Teal Bunbury toured the nearly complete LIVESTRONG Sporting Park with
MLSSoccer.com.
The stadium will open on June 9th when Sporting hosts rivals, Chicago Fire, and then Kansas City
will open its doors to the U.S. National Team for the first time in ten years for their Gold Cup
first-round match against Guadeloupe.
Sporting KC striker Teal Bunbury toured the nearly complete LIVESTRONG Sporting Park with
MLSSoccer.com.
The stadium will open on June 9th when Sporting hosts rivals, Chicago Fire, and then Kansas City
will open its doors to the U.S. National Team for the first time in ten years for their Gold Cup
first-round match against Guadeloupe.
When I grow up I want a voiceover voice. Those things rule. Except for when you're trying to talk
dirty I imagine, then it would just be weird. But when you are selling the virtues of a
soccer-specific stadium to interwebs it's just down-right awesome. Almost as awesome as this
stadium is going to be.
Should the Rev's local Fox affiliate be known as "Boston FOX25: our source for
not-quite-breaking-but-still-quite-interesting New England Revolution news"? I think so but I'm
kinda random like that. It also seems random that the Revs are on TV at this point in the
off-season but hey, we take what we can get.
Here's a little something for the stadium porn addict in you. The Backpost caught up with David
Ficklin, OnGoal Vice President of Development and lead honcho in charge of making the Wizards
Stadium rise from the Kansas earth and came back with nearly 10 minutes of hot stadium talk from
atop the under-construction supporters section.
Teal Bun B and Double K botch it & scarper at the site of the new Wizards stadium. Can't believe
how quickly that place is getting built; hopefully a good portion of the 52K that went to Arrowhead
yesterday will want to come out to it.
Damn these virtual seat selector's have come really far, really fast. The Red Bull Arena looks like
Atari next to this one and it was only out a year ago. Portland = digital ballers.
Can y'all believe that when PPL Park opens at the end of the month we'll only have 3.5 out of the
current 16 teams playing in big-assed American football stadiums (DCU in RFK only halfway counts as
no one plays football in it currently)? Crazy, right? As recently as 2005 --just 5 years ago!
Most teams with one win, six losses, and three ties since the season began would probably feel
like they have nothing to look forward to. But while Sporting Kansas City may have such a record,
they sure do have a lot to play for, as tonight the true test of their rebranding will begin with
the opening of LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.
So this is what the Wizards new park is actually going to look like. No more artist renderings, no
more architects blueprints...this is what they are getting and it's pretty damn special. Where
would you place it in the pantheon of MLS stadia? Having only seen this, my premature evaluation
places it in a tie for third with Rio Tinto Stadium behind Red Bull Arena and the HDC.
So I spent a good part of yesterday at the new park in Kansas City and the place is a palace. So in
the interest of sacking up and stating that I was wrong, wrong, wrong I hereby rescind my previous
statement re: LIVESTRONG's place in my personal SSS pecking order. For me this place is in a dead
heat with RBA for the number one spot.
Just booked my flight to KCK for a double-dip at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park: the Sporting KC v.
Chicago Fire match to open the building on June 9th and the USMNT's Gold Cup match v. Guadalupe on
June 14th. If you are going to be in the area shout me a holler because I need some proper BBQ.
Can't.
I'm certainly not the first one to look at possible replacements for Steve Nicol since his
departure two days ago. Several of our fellow Revs outlets (most of which are listed on our
blogroll to the left) have already put some names out there, some good, some bad, and some
baffling.
I must admit I have not been giving much attention to COE football until this afternoon at the Old
Police Academy.
Alerted by "Liga Singapura" that the title decider was going to be staged at the once Police
training facilities, I decided to head down with my camera to snap some shots between Home United
and Tanjong Pagar United.
Although I'm personally not on board with the idea of a MLS redux in Miami, I have to give credit
to those South Floridians who are trying to keep the flame of hope alive because those guys will
not give it up. But judging by the one of the latest ideas to surface they have reached the
creatively-desperate stage of their quest because someone down there is talking about turning the
disused aquatic stadium pictured above into this.
It was championship weekend in WPS, so we'll start in the Bay Area, where 5300 showed up to see
the home side win the second WPS championship.  The game was an important milestone for WPS and
from a business perspective, it was a success. The match was covered by FSC, and was presented by
Citi.
Chantico's Army - "In the Mixer" Episode 1 Interview with Adrian Heath
On this, the inaugural release of the "In the Mixer" podcast, we are pleased to be joined by
special guest, Adrian Heath, who discusses a variety of topics related to the Aztex 2010 season,
the facilities (House Park & a future SSS), as well as his own position, including the important
news on his contract with the Aztex.
I know I made the joke months ago but seriously, if the Whitecaps could just box their
already-complete temporary stadium up and send it to D.C. or New England when they are done with it
that would be just swell. After flipping through this photo album and realizing that this was built
in less than 3 months I'm convinced that those two would better off in a small "erector set" place
than an over-sized football stadium.
