urbanSTL

eee123 wrote: ↑

Jul 06, 2022

It's supposed to be complete this month, right? Is that still the goal? My main concern is the 348 non-gamedays per year.

Kind of disappointed there haven't been any announcements about events. We're going to need a lot more than 17 MLS games a year to make the neighborhood more lively. They should've already secured a women's pro team. Will the academy teams play there? With that stadium capacity and St. Louisans' fandom (see the XFL), MLS game ticket prices may cost more than a major European pro game.

Some earlier press coverage touted concerts, but how much will other events be allowed without concern for damaging the turf?

RockChalkSTL wrote: ↑

Jul 06, 2022

I think my biggest problem with this stadium is that it seats only 22,500 and not 30,000. 

St. Louis is going to be a smash success for MLS and I think we'll ultimately wish we'd put more seats in Centene Stadium. 

Laife Fulk wrote: ↑

Jul 07, 2022

That's definitely a fantasy. Zero chance they'd build a new MLS stadium for just 7.5k more seats. They'd either just build out a new seating section or two and raise the roofs or more realistically just raise prices to align the demand to seating supply.

FrankRider wrote:I feel like this design is slightly underwhelming.  Maybe more of a missed opportunity would be how to put it.  Don’t get me wrong.  I like it for the most part.  I’m at about 80%. I just don’t love it - yet.  But with just a few more tweaks I think it could have been much more pleasing ascetically.  For instance take one of the stadiums best features, the glass curtain wall on Market.  It looks nice and modern unlike the other three sides where you get views of the underside of bleachers and restroom/concession back of house like a D2 college.  Why not extend that curtain wall to the other sides giving the stadium a uniform enclosed look all the way around.  They could have still left strategic views open onto the pitch or the seating areas where needed.

Additionally, while the columns look great and the idea is befitting an end cap building sitting on a mall surrounded by other historical buildings.  But again I feel like they could have done a little more such as make the columns slightly larger and more ornate.  Nothing too gaudy, just a column with coved insets and maybe something more substantial as the base and caps.  With the LED roof they could have even incorporated LEDs into the columns themselves.  That combo along with the white palate of the stadium itself would be spectacular. 

Laife Fulk wrote:That's definitely a fantasy. Zero chance they'd build a new MLS stadium for just 7.5k more seats. They'd either just build out a new seating section or two and raise the roofs or more realistically just raise prices to align the demand to seating supply.

RockChalkSTL wrote: ↑

Jul 06, 2022

I think my biggest problem with this stadium is that it seats only 22,500 and not 30,000. 

St. Louis is going to be a smash success for MLS and I think we'll ultimately wish we'd put more seats in Centene Stadium. 

RockChalkSTL wrote: ↑

Jul 07, 2022

Gareth Bales

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Jul 06, 2022

Idk how much of the $460M spent was just on the stadium itself but whatever it was (lets say $300M) its pretty pedestrian design on the outside compared to what you see in Europe and other places for $300M. 

dweebe wrote:So to recap where we are at
-Centene Stadium is unattractive
-Centene Stadium is built too small
-it sucks because a women's team hasn't been announced  
-it also sucks no other events for 2023 have been publicized

For everyone demanding more right now let them finish the stadium and even get the first MLS schedule in place. They need to walk before they run.

sc4mayor wrote: ↑

Jul 07, 2022

^ You've been around here since 2006.  That's what people do here...pick things apart and complain...you shouldn't be surprised by this anymore haha.  Nonsensical b*tching is a sport in this town.

I can recall a discussion here about how terrible it was that CitySC wasn't maintaining the city's DeSoto Park soccer fields because "reasons"...despite the fact that the first piece of steel hadn't even risen out of the ground at the stadium site yet.  People here will always find the smallest reasons to pick something apart.  They're not going to change, so you might as well come to peace with it.

Laife Fulk wrote: ↑

Jul 07, 2022

That's definitely a fantasy. Zero chance they'd build a new MLS stadium for just 7.5k more seats. They'd either just build out a new seating section or two and raise the roofs or more realistically just raise prices to align the demand to seating supply.

RockChalkSTL wrote: ↑

Jul 07, 2022

European soccer has no shortage of ugly stadiums, even in the Premier League. Goodison Park, home of Everton F.C., is a solid example of that, though the building was raised back in 1892 or something like that. 

Still, I don't think it's quite fair to compare MLS clubs and stadiums with tier 1 European clubs in England, Spain, Germany, or Italy. 

MLS is growing rapidly but still has a long way to go. One website ranks it as the 16th-best soccer league in the world; the English Championship, tier 2 English soccer, is ranked 11th. 

If you were to put MLS clubs in the English promotion/relegation-based system, I think you'd see them split between the second and third tiers, the English Championship and League One. 

This may be changing soon as it appears that salaries could be on the rise in MLS -- and they should be after the $2.5 billion deal with Apple TV. Lorenzo Insigne, an Italian national player, just received the largest contract in league history from Toronto F.C. with an AAV of $15 million over four seasons ($60 million). Gareth Bales and Giorgio Chiellini, national players for Wales and Italy, just signed contracts with Los Angeles F.C., too.

If MLS can start handing out these larger contracts regularly, I think you'll see more players choose MLS over Europe.