Amazingly enough, Footiebusiness is about to start its 4th year of covering the business of American soccer. It has been a great ride and one that I hope to continue to enjoy and improve. When I started the site, I had no idea how long it would last, whether there was any interest in the business aspects of American soccer or whether anyone would read what I wrote.

So let's change the subject.

That's right. Today, we're not going to talk about how secretive the Philadelphia Union regime is, what the real numbers are on the books against the salary budget, how the club is going to score goals without Sebastien Le Toux, or the various things in life that the ever nebulous allocation money cannot buy you.

San Jose city officials have approved a Planned Development permit for the construction of the proposed Earthquakes stadium. However, neighbors have until January 3 to appeal the granting of the permit. The team hopes to have the stadium complete by 2013. If there is no appeal, the team will move to the next step in next month, however an appeal could delay the process by weeks or months.

Time to start the annual end of the year process of lists. Over the next couple of weeks we'll review end of the year of posts and some of the top business stories of the year. We thought it makes sense to start by looking back a year to the end of 2010 at some of the top business stories from that year.

World Cup season has officially started with teams throwing in their hats to get a chance at a series of qualifying rounds for the mundial in Brazil. However, as footballers fight for a chance to compete and fans slowly build their savings accounts for the trip in 2014, many of Brazil's host cities have yet to prepare for the incredible horde preparing to descend on them.

Been a while since we've last taken a look at soccer stadium construction around Major League Soccer. It makes sense to start in Houston where the league announced that the new 22,000 seat stadium will host its first Dynamo match on May 12, 2012. The project is quickly progressing in downtown Houston and is being touted as the first MLS stadium to open in a city's downtown district.

Women's Professional Soccer has announced appointment of Jennifer Pogorelec O'Sullivan as the League's new Chief Executive Officer. O'Sullivan formerly served as the Vice President of Labor and Legal Affairs for the Arena Football League. She is a law school graduate and sports industry veteran.

We were going to devote this post to one of our semi-regular looks at stadium construction and development around Major League Soccer. However, with Hurricane Irene churning up the coast, it makes sense to put off the stadium discussion until next week. Games in New York and Philly have already been postponed and other games have had their start times modfied.

If you follow the Pitch Invasion twitter account, you might have seen mention of a new side-project: Stadium Porn, a site all about stadiums, not porn. So far, we have lasciviously looked at the Amex in Brighton, England; Estadio de Fútbol Monterrey in Mexico; Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil; and Stadio di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.

It's been a while since our last look at stadium construction around MLS. We'll start in Houston, where the Dynamo's efforts to build in downtown Houston has progressed far enough to warrant a webcam. The Dynamo are expected to contribute $60 million to the project. The proposed stadium will be shared with Texas Southern Football and other local events.

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.

Slowy but surely we're learning more about the new Dynamo Stadium. The most recent bit of information comes in the form of a stadium drawing that identifies seating sections and where the supporters group will be placed. It gives you a good idea of the seating layout and lets you starting thinking about where to get your season tickets if you are so inclined.

It's been a while since our last look at stadium construction around MLS. We'll start in Houston, where the Dynamo's efforts to build in downtown Houston has progressed far enough to warrant a webcam. The Dynamo are expected to contribute $60 million to the project. The proposed stadium will be shared with Texas Southern Football and other local events.

Big news from the site of the new Dynamo Stadium, tomorrow afternoon Manhattan Construction will begin pouring the concrete foundations for the new building. It may not sound super exciting, but it's a huge step towards the new home of the Dynamo opening next spring.

There should be plenty of photos from the event as the team has invited the media, so I'll be sure to post whatever I can find so we can all ogle at what will become the backbone of our favorite team's new home for years to come.

Official Stadium Construction Webcam is Live!

The official Houston Dynamo webcam giving us a great view of the construction site for the new stadium is online! Check it out!

We waited. And waited. Then waited some more for the 2011 MLS regular season schedule to be revealed. With part of its TV deal still in doubt and factors such as the Gold Cup and stadium construction complicating matters, MLS tested supporters' patience, so much so that Twitter was flooded this morning by cheeky #MLSScheduleIsLateBecause hashtag posts, as fans tried to pass the time before the big unveiling at 2pm ET.

- Jason Davis
Houston is getting a stadium, for real and for true. This is big news, since we still don't have a league where everyone plays in their own building (those left standing on the wall without SSS dance partners are DC, New England, and San Jose). A tax zone vote of some type, the last hurdle before the Dynamo could break ground on the project, passed this week.

The second Portand Timbers community tour, sponsored in conjunction with founding partner Papa Murphy's, gave fans another look at the progress of stadium construction. Unlike the last tour, there was a walking portion to the new locker room that allowed everyone the chance to see where the players will gather game day to prepare for battle.