Comments on: America’s Wembley cont… The finalists are….

By: Michael Kane

Michael Kane — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 06:56:15 +0000

Pittsburgh is a good choice. This city is more outstanding from others.

By: Troy

Troy — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 06:18:47 +0000

The University of St. Louis? Seriously? It’s Saint Louis University. But don’t worry, the Billikens have only won 10 national titles in soccer…it’s not like the school has one the most storied programs in collegiate soccer or anything.

By: getting back with the ex

getting back with the ex — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:22:57 +0000

hey, your post

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Adeline Ruth — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:45:18 +0000

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By: make money from home

make money from home — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:07:37 +0000

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By: Rudy

Rudy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:05:24 +0000

Espo and Bob what are you talking about? PA West has 60,000 youth players, 2,000 adult amateurs, 7,000 coaches, and over 2,300 referees. We also have several colleges. If the USMNT played at Heinz Field it absolutely would be filled. Don’t overlook the soccer community here. It’s there, just their isn’t a local team to support. Pitt and the Riverhounds both are trash, both coaches are buddies and stink. And like the article says, we are a pretty neutral territory for people to travel. I think it’s a great selection and the hispanic population is under control for home games.

By: Houndguy

Houndguy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:16:29 +0000

As a former Yinzer (is there such a thing?) it’s nice to see Pittsburgh get it’s due.

Sadly however the USSF is more interested in making cash than actually promoting the game. Cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Buffulo would be great cities to promote the game as you suggested…however the Hispanic population is just to small, and like it or not it’s the Hispanics that are putting butts in the seats.

The game is growing and continuing to grow, and I would love to see the USSF get it’s head out of its arse and put games in places like Pittsburgh…but I don’t see it happening for at least 20 years.

By: Rook

Rook — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:52:55 +0000

USSF in Pittsburgh? As a person who grew up in the city and goes back once every few months I’d have to say no way would it ever fly. The city is too small, the footie base is wayyyy too small. USSF would have to compete with 3 pro franchises, the Steelers, Penguins and the Pirates, well OK 2 pro teams. It would also have to compete with Pitt basketball, plus PSU and Pitt football. Plus unlike other pro/college teams ticket prices are very reasonable so say unlike NY or Chicago they won’t attract sports fans unable to say go to a Bears/Giants game.

As far as the home team/away crowd the place will still be packed with Hispanic fans as Pgh is only a few hours away from Baltimore/DC/NY and hotels are much cheaper than other cities. Plus its not as if the Hispanic fans in the crowd have hurt the US as they have only lost once at home in 6? years (this doesn’t include the Gold cup loss to Mexico when our under 14 C-Team played).

If you want a US version of Wembley the ideal place was DC but instead of building a 150M soccer specific stadium for DC United and the USSF next to RFK they decided to spend 750M for the Nats and thanks to the wretched Nats the city won’t be spending a dime on a sports stadium for another 50 years (Verizon Center and Fed Ex Field were privately funded). Though even w/o a soccer specific stadium I like RFK for soccer too. Sure the place is a dump but the sight lines are great, there is plenty of parking for tailgating and the Metro stops at the stadium.

Anyway the thought of having a Wembley especially in a country so large is idiotic. Plus the new Wembley sucks, and the stadium is often only 1/2 full for England matches and you could hear a pin drop in the stadium. The atmosphere for England matches were much better when the new Wembley was being built and they were playing matches in Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield etc.

By: Max Bergmann

Max Bergmann — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:23:35 +0000

Thanks for the comments guys. To MDoubleA and Paul, I definitely thought about Columbus, but decided it was a bit too small – both in terms of Crew stadium and in population – for “Wembley” consideration. Horseshoe is a good idea – but that seems way too huge a venue for a city that size (also maybe as Gator fan I am just biased against Ohio State). In reality Columbus is a great place for US World cup qualifiers and the USMNT should definitely still play there.

Also to bob and espo’s point about the lack of support for soccer in Pittsburgh. That is clearly a massive drawback, and perhaps I am being way too optimistic, but I think one of the appeals is the chance to grow the game. Sure if the Nats play in Seattle they would likely get big crowds, but I think it does little to grow the sport. I would hope over the longer term, if the Nats became seen in the city as a Pittsburgh team that support would grow. It is at least worth trying to have a friendly their before the world cup.

By: espo

espo — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:55:18 +0000

Pittsburgh is an interesting choice. I”ve spent all 35 years of my life in Pittsburgh and as far a sports towns go, if we’re not #1 we’re not far off. However, when talking sports in Pittsburgh, soccer isn’t even on the radar. I’m a supporter of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (USLD2) and know full well the lack of support for the beautiful game. Also, the Rooney Family,who control Heinze field, will probably refuse to allow their field to be utilized. They’ve been very uncooperative towards bringing some games to the city’s biggest venue in recent years. We are historically a hard-working, blue collar town and we’re not very diverse so those points are valid. If we could get the Riverhounds and the Rooney family to work together to bring some soccer events to the city sort of as a “test run” then it may be worth pursuing. One of the best things about USMNT games in Columbus is that it’s mostly a pro-American crowd. Pittsburgh would be the same, just on a much larger scale.

@Bob, do you support the Hounds? If not, then aren’t you as much a part of the problem as the rest of the yinzers?