Even accounting for the tendency of stadium drawings and models to be more impressive than the real things, the Houston Dynamo's new digs really look amazing. Combined with its downtown location, it really does seem like Houston could end up with the best stadium situation in all of MLS.
That got me to thinking about where the various teams rank in that regard. It also got me thinking how one goes about assessing such a thing.
What I came up with was an unscientific, semi-objective grading system. I assessed all 18 teams’ stadium situations in five areas: Location, attendance, soccer-suitability, value for the customer and longterm viability.
Of those categories, I tried to use objective standards for four. For location, I used Walkscore, which basically tells us how walkable the immediate neighborhood around the stadium is. (If the stadium had a transit walkscore (not all did), I averaged it with the actual walkscore.) For attendance, I just used the average attendance figures from last season and made some educated guesses for the two expansion teams and Sporting Kansas City. For value, I compared the mid-range cost of a 2011 season-ticket. For longterm viability, I assumed each stadium would be suitable for 30 years after it was first built (generally accepted as the life of a pro-sports stadium) and cut that time in half if they are already making noise about moving (Chivas USA and Columbus Crew fit that category).
Soccer-suitability is obviously the most subjective of the categories. For that, I looked at a combination of the field dimensions (bigger is better), quality of the pitch and the general environment. I basically gave them a score of 1-5 here, with most of the new stadiums getting a 4 or 5. The Seattle Sounders were the toughest team to grade in this area since their stadium was, in fact, designed for soccer, but has a turf field. I gave it a 3.5 to cut the difference.
One more note, I had to play with the numbers for a few teams. In conferring with Benjamin Massey of 86 Forever (SB Nation's Vancouver Whitecaps blog), I decided too little is known about BC Place to give it a score. I instead used their current home, Empire Field. I also made some estimations for Sporting Kansas City and the Houston Dynamo, who have obviously not played in their new stadiums. Like I said, this is not meant to be scientific, as much as it's supposed to explain the way I came up with my rankings.
Once I had numbers for all the categories, I ranked them and then took the average of the rankings. That average made up my ultimate list. Anyway, here is Nos. 18-10 (Nos. 9-1 will come this weekend):
(NOTE: After originally writing this, I made some small tweaks to my grades that changed some average scores but didn’t result in any real changes in the standings.)
This should come as little surprise. They play in a football stadium that doesn’t even try to hide the gridiron lines and is usually about 15-20 percent full. It’s located in the suburbs of Foxborough, Mass. The one saving grace is that it’s relatively cheap to attend a game there. The most frustrating part? As much as everyone knows this stadium is ill-fit for soccer, there have been almost no clear efforts (aside from lip-service) by ownership to find a new home.
Summary (MLS rank): Walkscore - 52 (15); Attendance - 12,987 (16); Long-term viability - 2010 (16); Mid-priced season ticket - $414 (5); Soccer - suitability-1 (18). Average: 14.
17. DC United
Again, I doubt anyone is going to be shocked by this. DC United is at least actively seeking a new home, but the only area where RFK Stadium came up as MLS average was in location. The fact of the matter is that it’s old, big and begging to be replaced.
Summary (MLS Rank): Walkscore - 61 (9); Attendance - 14,532; Long-term viability - 2010 (16); Mid-priced season ticket - $480 (10). Average: 12.8.
16. Chicago Fire
I’ll admit, this was a bit of a surprise, as the Fire have a pretty decent set-up. As nice as Toyota Park may be, though, it is hurt by just decent attendance and the fact that the stadium is not all that new by MLS standards (built in 2004). Where it really gets hurt, though, is its suburban location in Bridgeview, Ill., as well as the cost of tickets (fourth most expensive). The only area it comes out looking strong is in soccer-suitability.
Summary (MLS Rank): Walkscore - 40 (16); Attendance - 15,814 (11); Long-term viability - 2034 (10); Soccer-suitability - 4 (5); Mid-priced season ticket - $600. Average: 11.4.
If I wasn’t using this numeric system, there’s no way Buck Shaw Stadium would be equal with Toyota Park, but I committed to this format and I’ll live with the consequences. The former college baseball stadium is helped by a very good location (the campus of Santa Clara University is both walkable and transit friendly) and very reasonably priced tickets.
Summary (MLS Rank): Walkscore - 78 (4); Attendance - 9,659 (18); Long-term viability - 2010 (16); Soccer-suitability - 2 (15); Mid-priced season ticket - $400 (4). Average: 11.2.
14. Columbus Crew
This is our second soccer-specific stadium to make the bottom 5, and this is probably just about where it belongs considering the Crew have started making noise about wanting a new home. There’s a certain classical aspect to Crew Stadium: It’s perfectly serviceable but lacks the bells and whistles of its off-spring. I would say there’s no reason they need to move anytime soon, but I give them until about 2015 to start getting serious about finding a new home.
Summary (MLS Rank): Walkscore - 58 (14); Attendance - 14,642 (12); Long-term viability - 2015 (14); Soccer-suitability - 3 (11); Mid-priced season ticket - $414 (5). Average: 11.2.
13. Colorado Rapids
The biggest knock against Dick’s Sporting Goods Park is that it’s really out in the middle of nowhere (the Commerce City, Colo. stadium’s location receives the worst Walkscore in MLS be a huge margin) and the substandard attendance doesn’t help. It does reasonably well in the other areas, though, and would move all the way up to 10th if they just drew league average attendance.
Summary (MLS Rank): Walkscore -12 (18); Attendance - 13,329 (15); Long-term viability - 2037 (7); Soccer suitability - 4 (5); Mid-priced season ticket - $459 (9). Average: 10.8.
11. FC Dallas
A lot of people will be surprised at how high Pizza Hut Park gets ranked, I’m sure. But for all the slag the Frisco, Texas location receives, it’s really not all that bad. The town has more than tripled in size since 2000, now topping 100,000 residents and the stadium has a totally respectable Walkscore. There’s really no reason that FC Dallas shouldn’t be able to be successful here.
Summary (MLS Rank): Walkscore - 72 (6); Attendance - 10,815 (17); Long-term viability - 2035 (9); Soccer suitability - 3 (11); Mid-priced season tickets - 432 (8). Average: 10.2.
11. Chivas USA
Since they are clearly the second-fiddle in their stadium, they did not get the full benefit of playing at Home Depot Center, the way the Galaxy did. I gave them credit for being in a suitable stadium only until 2018, or half the time of the Galaxy. I also knocked them on soccer-suitability, which I’ll admit is probably unfair, but I’m sure you’ll live. They should be applauded for only charging about two-thirds of what the Galaxy charge for comparable seats.
Summary (MLS Rank): Walkscore - 57 (11); Attendance - 14,574 (13); Long-term viability - 2018 (13); Soccer suitability - 3 (11); Mid-priced season tickets - $390 (3). Average: 10.2.
10. Vancouver Whitecaps
As I partially explained earlier, I wasn't quite sure how to treat the Whitecaps. On one hand, I had no problem giving Sporting Kansas City and the Portland Timbers the full benefits of the doubt when it came to their stadiums. But it sounds like there's a chance the Whitecaps won't move into BC Place until November, which means they are almost certainly going to be playing most of their games at Empire Field. Let's just say that Massey is not enthusiastic about the near-term stadium prospects for the Whitecaps. That said, they took more than 14,000 season-ticket deposits and are supposedly having those renewed at a better than 100-percent rate. I think we can safely assume that they'll have 19,000 fans a game no matter where they play.
Summary (MLS Rank): Walkscore - 73 (5); Attendance - 19,000* (5); Long-term viability - 2011 (15); Soccer-suitability - 3 (11); Mid-priced season ticket ($589). Average: 9.8.
* - Represents a projected figure.
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