It's a good day to be a soccer fan and a Houstonian. The Dynamo, barring some unlikely shenanigans, will get their stadium deal after the Harris County authorities unanimously approved the plan passed by the City of Houston just last week. This means shovel should hit ground in the fall, and the stadium should be ready for the 2012 season.


As I wrote recently, these stadium deals, and clubs landing in facilities built with them in mind and soccer as the focus, are as much about planting roots in the community as they are about finances. Houston might become profitable in short order thanks to the new venue, but more important is their confirmed status as Houston now, Houston forever (or long enough that we might as well call it forever).


Congratulations to the the Dynamo fans, and all credit to the team's ownership and the local authorities who worked hard to get the deal done. With every new soccer-focused arena (and yes, I know there will be a college football tenant in Houston's new digs), MLS gets just a little better looking; that element should not be understated as the league attempts to sell itself to Euro-minded fans both at the ticket window and on television.


MLS execs breathed a sigh of relief over this news, I'm sure, as they avoid the PR nightmare of a relocated team continuing without a stadium deal when they were moved with that specific goal in mind.


The best part of this, for both fans in Houston and stadium aficionados around the country, is that we'll have more renderings, photos, and webcams to enjoy as the planning and building process moves along. Purveyors of stadium porn must be ecstatic.


And now my mind moves on to the few remaining teams without clear, or any, stadium plans. San Jose is stuck in the funding mud, New England has shown no real interest in moving out of Gillette, and DC United is floundering in the DMV political and economic morass.


So who's next? Which of those three will actually have a stadium built first? My completely ridiculous odds:


San Jose: EVEN

They have the plan in place, Lew Wolff just needs some cash, so they have to be the massive favorites.


DC United: 5-1

No deal in sight, but they are working on it; it's conceivable something materializes (and yes, Baltimore would count) soon and United jumps ahead of the Quakes in line.


New England Revolution: 1000-1

So there's that.
blog comments powered by Disqus
    KKTC Bahis Siteleri, Online Bahis

    Archive

    Legal


    Privacy Policy