It’s been a bit of a slow news week so far, but fortunately F.C. Cincinnati is here to bail us out with some fresh vaportecture renderings of its new stadium that it’s building with somewhere between $81 million and $213 million in public money. You’ll recall that back in April, it was supposed to look like this:
But now, it’s going to look like this:
As you can see, there have been a lot of advances! The lighting system has been redirected to light the field rather than the roof, the ad boards have been removed from one sideline to make possible exciting plays where players actually tumble into the front row, the video board has been relocated from the corner to the upper end seats where it will block more fans’ views, someone has brought an enormous banner that is being spread out across the upper and lower decks despite it being the middle of game play, and somewhat fewer fans are excitedly raising their fists for good reason (possibly because the action has moved to the other end of the pitch, possibly because no one can see around all the checkerboard flags that were handed out, possibly because they’re all annoyed by vuvuzelas now being allowed in the stadium). Also the confetti mysteriously falling from above appears to have been gotten smaller, possibly because the previous size was considered a concussion hazard.
What else we got? Anything with some lens flare?
Now that’s what I’m talking about! I especially like the passerby in the last image excitedly pointing to the sky above the stadium, no doubt saying, “There are no fireworks or spotlights or mysterious colored clouds coming out of the top! Is it broken?”
F.C. Cincinnati president Jeff Berding also told Cincinnati Business Courier why the team chose to build a 26,000-seat stadium when right now they average 28,000 fans a game, and it was it was too expensive to build more seats (every additional thousand seats costing an additional $10 million) but also that by building more seats they can keep ticket prices lower, and 26,000 was the sweet spot where those two equations met, presumably, though he didn’t actually say. Just rest assured that your MLS team has two goals in mind: keeping ticket prices low and maximizing profits, and there’s no way those two things will ever come into conflict. Now wave your flag faster, you’re getting confetti on your head.
I think the biggest thing is that they’ve tried to pass off a stadium with no suites and then another one with basically all suites on the sidelines. I’d imagine ticket premiums will be through the roof.
The last rendering shows an odd glass like ramp. Maybe they plan on having an aviary or possibly a marijuana growing greenhouse !
If FC Cincy gets an aviary then I think the Bengals’ lease says they have to get one too.
The stadium’s FAQ page still claims that “FC Cincinnati’s ownership group has privately funded the $250 million construction cost of the stadium.”
https://www.westendstadium.com/faqs
The stadium’s FAQ page still claims that “FC Cincinnati’s ownership group has privately funded the $250 million construction cost of the stadium.”