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.