ADVERTISEMENT

US Soccer Stadiums

Fk_Pitt

Lair Hall of Famer
Gold Member
Dec 3, 2007
50,899
38,298
113
Holy cow. How many new state of the art soccer only stadiums are there now? Here’s another in St Louis.

 
Holy cow. How many new state of the art soccer only stadiums are there now? Here’s another in St Louis.

How many new? Like every MLS city. Well almost. Seattle, Atl, NE, NYCFC, maybe 1 or 2 others I'm forgetting. I've been at FC Cincinnati, Columbus, and LAFC and they're magnificent......BUT at a size level of like the Championship. When I'm there I think this is what games in the Championship must be like.
 
But how many are being built with real grass and not turf. Grass requires a commitment to really maintain and baby it, turf takes nothing but tossing out a few more bags of rubber pellets and brush in.
 
FC Charlotte is just playing in the Carolina Panthers stadium and only utilize the lower bowl. No plans for asoccer only stadium for this franchise
 
FC Charlotte is just playing in the Carolina Panthers stadium and only utilize the lower bowl. No plans for asoccer only stadium for this franchise
They did announce a new training facility and headquarters that is under construction a little south of downtown. I’m sure that’s the focus now and they are content in BoA Stadium for the time being.
 
But how many are being built with real grass and not turf. Grass requires a commitment to really maintain and baby it, turf takes nothing but tossing out a few more bags of rubber pellets and brush in.
All of them. You think they are building soccer-specific stadiums with turf?
 
I'm not talking about minor leagues. And the MLS teams playing on turf is because they're in NFL stadiums.
USL championship isn’t exactly minor league. They still have heavy funding, all I am saying is that a clear focus on top quality grass means a commitment. That was my point. The shit Riverhounds put down is exactly that. What St Louis has going on there is awesome.
 
USL championship isn’t exactly minor league. They still have heavy funding, all I am saying is that a clear focus on top quality grass means a commitment. That was my point. The shit Riverhounds put down is exactly that. What St Louis has going on there is awesome.
The USL is very much minor league. And calling it minor league, may be being too nice. This article details the discrepancy. There's close to 0 USL players who sign MLS contacts (not counting loans). Its really a great article which details the uniquely American professional pathway. Where players in Europe often start in the lower leagues, future MLS Americans do not. They may go out on loan to USL but they're on the books at an MLS side from a young age.

The other thing, there is a silent internal battle between MLS and USL. MLS wants to control the "2nd Division" so it created MLS Next Pro. Currently, MLSNP only has MLS B teams plus an independent Rochester franchise but in the coming years, I believe you are going to see many USL sides moving to MLSNP and it becoming the true second division. You can even see this at the U13 and up level as MLS created MLS Next, which includes all of the MLS Youth academies plus about 100 other youth clubs. This is a direct competitor to ECNL, which is affiliated with USL

 
The USL is very much minor league. And calling it minor league, may be being too nice. This article details the discrepancy. There's close to 0 USL players who sign MLS contacts (not counting loans). Its really a great article which details the uniquely American professional pathway. Where players in Europe often start in the lower leagues, future MLS Americans do not. They may go out on loan to USL but they're on the books at an MLS side from a young age.

The other thing, there is a silent internal battle between MLS and USL. MLS wants to control the "2nd Division" so it created MLS Next Pro. Currently, MLSNP only has MLS B teams plus an independent Rochester franchise but in the coming years, I believe you are going to see many USL sides moving to MLSNP and it becoming the true second division. You can even see this at the U13 and up level as MLS created MLS Next, which includes all of the MLS Youth academies plus about 100 other youth clubs. This is a direct competitor to ECNL, which is affiliated with USL

Again, my point is commitment. The US is finally committed to building stadiums with grass at the quality like you see in Europe. Turf is a very American thing, you see it everywhere, but with new stadiums you are seeing a true interest in having top quality grass that takes an actual team if experts to maintain.
 
If the USL is minor league than so is every other league for every sport when it’s not NFL, NBA or whatever sport. Doesn’t mean there isn’t an investment and doesn’t mean players are shit.
 
Last edited:
ADVERTISEMENT