Happy global climate strike day! As kids (and their adults) take to the streets today, it’s important to keep in mind two not-contradictory-though-they-may-seem-so things: We are seriously screwed even if we act now, but there’s still a lot we can do to keep ourselves from being even more seriously screwed. (And by “we” here I mostly mean governments, because it’s almost impossible for individuals alone to significantly impact carbon emissions just by shutting off lights and avoiding air travel, not that those aren’t important things to do, too.)
Anyway, enough about the fate of humanity, let’s talk about sports venues (and not even about the carbon footprints of building new ones and flying teams from city to city, which would be a whole other article):
- CBS Sports says an MLS expansion franchise for Sacramento is “practically done,” while MLS says it’s “not finalized.” These are not actually contradictory things!
- MLS deputy commissioner Mark Abbott tells Pro Soccer USA on the possibility of more expansion teams beyond the 30 currently in the works (Sacramento would be 29th): “The plan is to focus on getting to 30. It’s a large country, so we’ll see what happens, but our plan is to focus on 30.” These are also not contradictory things!
- The city of Miami has set a deadline of October 24 for a lease for Inter Miami‘s proposed stadium atop a polluted golf course, and could reject the whole deal on Halloween if it’s not ready by then. The curse of David Beckham could yet live on, though of course, unlike the earth as a whole, Beckham has a viable Plan B.
- The owner of the USL League Two (i.e., fourth-tier) Des Moines Menace says he wants to launch a USL Championship (i.e., second-tier) team if the city helps build him a $60 million stadium. Polk County supervisors have said thanks, but no thanks.
- Here’s a video showing “a peek inside” Seattle’s new arena, which if you’re a fan of closeups of bare support beams and bent metal rebar is bound to delight you! Maybe they should have edited in some entourage and greeblies.
- And here are some renderings of proposed design ideas for Birmingham’s new stadium for University of Alabama-Birmingham football. Does the same guy in a green shirt and white bucket hat appear multiple times in each image? You bet he does!
- This. Please never let The Onion fall victim to rich guys who are more interested in pretending to know what they’re doing than listening to people who actually do.
When you say Sacramento is going to be the 29th expansion team in MLS do you mean it will be the 29th team or is 29th on the list of places MLS is expanding to (which could still mean it gets a team in the next couple of years, obviously)?
Oh, and that Onion story is absolutely true, right?
The MLS is putting teams in cities of the future. It will be the sport of the future. MLB will be gone by 2060
I’m going to hate the 12-minute lag when watching matches broadcast from the Mars Colony.
It’s not “the MLS.”
Maybe it will be when it’s “the future”?
Looked at the new Alabama Birmingham stadium. It looks amazingly like the stadium put into service at the University of Houston a couple of years ago. It cost $120MM. The layout is almost EXACTLY what will be used by UAB.
The UH stadium was built with donations and sponsorship money.
Incoming vaportecture for the Columbus team! https://www.dispatch.com/sports/20190922/michael-arace–new-columbus-crew-stadium-will-make-arena-district-real-sports-jewel
Combo city/state/county? deal iirc.