Banc Of California Stadium Opens

[erik]

For those of you interested in (relatively) arcane matters:

This past week, L.A. celebrated the opening of its first outdoor sports venue since April 1962 (which is when Dodger Stadium opened just four miles up the road), in the form of Banc of California Stadium. It is the home of Major League Soccer's newest franchise, the Los Angeles Football Club, and is located where the Los Angeles Sports Arena used to be, on Figueroa Street, adjacent to the L.A. Memorial Coliseum:

www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/04/19/lafcs-banc-california-stadium-officially-open-business

[the Scribe]

Glad to see it was built with private funds and not taxpayer monies although no doubt the city had to come up with a lot of the enhancements and infrastructure. Nice looking structure.

Arizona has recently built a soccer complex too. I guess it is finally catching on as a sport.

[erik]

Well the LAFC ownership, which includes Lakers legend Magic Johnson and U.S. women's soccer legend Mia Hamm, worked very well with the L.A. power structure to get this thing through. It was an important thing to have, especially in light of the fact that we'll be having the Olympics come back to Los Angeles in 2028. It is, as of this writing, the most expensive soccer stadium in America at a $350 million price tag.

As for Arizona's new pro-soccer endeavor--if I am not mistaken, I think it would be a somewhat covered facility, since soccer is a summer sport and temperatures in Arizona are, how shall we say, kind of on the hot[/color] side. But I wouldn't doubt that it could work (I believe that soccer complex is in the Phoenix area, probably in Peoria).

Soccer has only recently caught on because our population is obviously becoming more diverse, and it is a national pastime in Latin America, and I think more Anglos are starting to get involved. It is also not exactly the most "TV friendly" sport in America, because you can't have hard TV breaks for beer and fast food ads like you do for the NFL, except at halfimt. But I find it to be extremely exciting to watch on the few times it still comes on TV, and at times it is quite hair-raising.

By the way, for those who are interested, here is how the MLS (Major League Soccer) is shaped:

West
Los Angeles Galaxy
Los Angeles FC
San Jose Earthquakes
Real Salt Lake
Colorado Rapids
Seattle Sounders
Portland Timbers
Vancouver Whitecaps
FC Dallas
Houston Dynamo
Sporting Kansas City
Minnesota

East
New York Red Bulls
New York City FC
Orlando City SC
Atlanta
DC United
Philadelphia Union
New England Revolution
Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew
Toronto FC
Montreal Impact