Inside the Park Soccer

This weekend was a huge weekend in exhibition soccer! European teams gearing up for the 2012-13 season stormed North America with players trying to earn a spot on the teams they play for. But the thing is, 3 of the games were in some unique places

Toronto FC 1-1 Liverpool FC 

Rogers Centre, Toronto

 The English team came over to play Toronto in the Rogers Centre. Normally, TFC plays at BMO Field. But the team opened up the roof(for most of the game) at the Blue Jays' home park. Over 45,000 people showed up to the game! The Jays went on a New York/Boston Road trip, and will be back Tuesday

AC Roma 4-0 Zagłębie Lubin

Wrigley Field, Chicago

Chicago has large Italian and Polish population, which is why they faced two teams from both countries in the "Friendly at the Confines". AC Roma had American Bobby Bradley in his first game for the Italian club, which whooped the Polish team. They scored in the first minute, too. The broadcast said the attendance was around 22,000. The Cubs are in St. Louis, and will go to Pittsburgh before they come home.

Chelsea FC 1-1 Paris St. Germain

Yankee Stadium, New York

The last match was in the Bronx. 38,000 people saw the European Champions Chelsea play Paris St. Germain that has bought a bunch of players in the offseason. Chelsea scored with less than 10 minutes left. The Yankees are in Oakland and Seattle before they go back.

I watched each of these games, and it was really cool to see in these stadiums. The last two were part of the Herbalife World Football Challenge. Chelsea plays the MLS All-Stars in Philly Wednesday on ESPN 2, right after THIS game at 6:30. Liverpool and Roma will play at Fenway! I'll post pictures after

New Redwings Arena?

The Detroit Red Wings are moving ahead in their hopes of building a new downtown arena and have selected an architect, according to a report by Sports Business Journal.
SBJ's Don Muret cites three sources in saying the Red Wings have hired HKS, an international firm headquartered in Dallas. HKS will work with Chan Krieger NBBJ, a Boston architect specializing in urban developments, according to Sports Business Journal.
HKS officials did not comment and Karen Cullen, a corporate spokeswoman for the Red Wings, told Muret there was nothing new and added "our organization has been on record saying we’d like to have a new arena in downtown Detroit."
HKS was co-designer of American Airlines Arena in Dallas.
According to Sports Business Journal, the Red Wings would like their new arena to seat 18,000 and the team has explored multiple sites downtown.
Joe Louis Arena, owned by the city of Detroit, is 33 years old.

 So finally the Redwings can move into a new shiny arena, on the day I post a Redwings concept on my other blog. I posted about it before, so I'm happy they might move out of their old arena.

I copied the story from here.
http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2012/05/report_red_wings_choose_archit.html

Stadium Report Cards: Marlins Ballpark

It's been far too long since we've had one of these.

Team: Miami Marlins
Location: Miami, Fl
League: Major League Baseball(NL East)
Built: 2012
Capacity: 37,442
My event: Regular Season Game: Tampa Bay Rays

1. Outdoor Design

I was amazed the first time I saw the park and it wasn’t just how big it was, we were still on I-95 when we could see it, but also how beautiful it looks. The exterior is mostly glass going all around with the retractable roof but it is still beautiful looking. The team store located by the box office could have been a little bigger but it was still nice and included memorabilia from the first game. 8/10

2. Indoor Design

It was very nice inside. The concourses were spacy and even included the bobble head museum which was cool to see. There is not a bad seat in the stadium even if you are in the outfield. Then of course the infamous home run centerpiece was cool to see in person, very colorful. From our seats we could also see the Clevelander in left field by the Marlins bullpen. From what we saw it has everything the actual Clevelander has including dancers and a pool. 8/10

3. Prices

Prices were no major issue. Our seats were on the first base line in the upper level for only $20 each. The view was great. Typical ballpark food prices so it wasn’t too bad. 7/10

4. Food

There were a variety of choices from burgers, pizza and even a small section called “Taste of Miami” which is a unique concept of Miami based cuisine. I didn’t get to try it but a friend of mine felt he overpaid for such a small amount of food. 6/10

5. Staff

Staff was very friendly and talkative. I wanted to get a picture of the aquarium tanks behind home plate and the staff there allowed me to do so. I couldn’t get too close but still that was very kind of them. 8/10

6. Cleanliness

Being a new park I did not expect cleanliness to be a problem. 9/10

7. Parking

Parking was expensive if you parked in the ballpark lots. We parked in a lady’s yard for only $10 and we were right across the street from the park. 7/10

8. Atmosphere

The atmosphere was not very good. 60% full and half of the fans were Rays fans. I can’t be too harsh for this particular night was the same night the Miami Heat played the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the East Finals so most of Miami was at that game or outside American Airlines Arena. Those who were there did cheer their team on though so I give them credit 6/10

9. Playing Surface

 

The grounds crew did a good job keeping the surface of the infield neat. Nothing majorly special otherwise. You can see some of it in this picture of the home run sculpture 8/10

10. Scoreboard

Nice scoreboard but kept malfunctioning. It was off for a good four innings before power was restored. Nice and clear when it was working. 7/10

So overall that is a 74, knocked down by atmosphere. I still want to go to a game there, and it will be one of the best in the majors for a long time.

UEFA Euro 2012 Stadiums

Hey guys, sorry for not posting ever, I just haven't had anything good to post in all honesty. I have a few posts lined up so here!

You may or may not know the "second" biggest soccer tournament in the world is going on in Poland and Ukraine. The European championship has 16 of the best teams in Europe the world playing in a tournament to decide the best team on the continent. The games have to be played some where!

National Stadium | Warsaw, Poland

This stadium was built specifically for the tournament, and be the new national stadium in the Polish capital. The stadium can hold 56,070 people. It will host 3 Group A matches(including the opening, a quarterfinal, and semifinal match.

 PGE Arena | Gdansk, Poland

Another stadium built specifically for the tournament, and can hold 31,150 people. 3 Group C matches, and 1 quarterfinal match will be hosted there.

Municipal Stadium | Wroclaw, Poland

Another stadium built specifically for the tournament, and can hold 40k people. 3 matches from Group A will be played here.

Municipal Stadium | Poznan, Poland

This stadium was reconstructed, after being built in 1968, and is the home ground to Lech Poznan in the Ekstraklasa soccer league in Poland. It can hold 39,550 and will host 3 matches from group C.

Olympic Stadium | Kiev, Ukraine

The stadium that will host the final match in the Ukrainian capital was reconstructed  completely, and was originally built in 1923. The capacity is 64,640 and will host 3 matches in group D, 1 quarterfinal match, and the final.

Donbass Arena | Donetsk, Ukraine

Another new stadium for the tournament will host 3 matches in group D, a quarter and semi final. 49,400 people can fit inside the stadium. The Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk will call the ground home, replacing Shakhtar Stadium, which was built in 1936.

Metalist Stadium | Kharkiv, Ukraine

A reconstructed stadium close to the Russian border, that will host 37,750 people and 3 Group B matches. It was recently renovated and first constructed in 1926.  The stadium was  named Dzerzhynets Stadium, after a head of soviet security until being renamed in 1967.

Arena Lviv | Lviv, Ukraine

The smallest arena was built specifically for the tournament. It can hold 32,990 people, and teams playing in group B. FC Karpaty Lviv will call this their home for years to come

Hope you liked this post, and enjoy the soccer!

BBVA Compass Stadium

 After a 2 month road trip, the Dynamo played their first home game at the new BBVA Compass Stadium. Just near the Astros' ballpark, the new downtown stadium seats 22k. Populous designed this stadium, and it cost them 95 million dollars. This is just another soccer specific stadium in the MLS, and the increasing size is worth noting. Off the top of my head, I think only New England, DC, and Seattle play in stadiums not built for soccer usage.

It also looks really cool from the outside!

New Scoreboard for the Bolts

The Lightning signed off on a new arena scoreboard at the Forum. In addition to the 42 million dollar renovations last summer, the Lightning will introduce a Jerry-World esque scoreboard for 5 million dollars. The length of the board will run along the ice, and the ends will have their own.

The system, developed by renowned industry-leader, Daktronics, will feature the largest high definition center-hung video displays in any U.S. or Canadian arena. The 28 foot high/50 foot long board will include a state-of-the-art control room, and allow for a true high definition signal with 1,296 lines of resolution.

The only other arena I know that has this is the Tulsa basketball arena, so this might be the future of scoreboards!

Read more here

Stadium prints

Some very cool prints with MLB parks and the roads surrounding. You can see them here, just sign up. They were on sale, when normally they're 40 dollars.