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Tuesday Kickoff: Architects oppose A/C for Qatar stadiums, Di Maria hurt & more

BlatterQatar (Reuters Pictures)

The air conditioned stadiums that are supposed to combat the heat during the 2022 World Cup might have been a major selling point of Qatar's World Cup bid, but they might never come to fruition. 

The architects in charge of designing Qatar's World Cup stadiums are reportedly against having air conditioning in the arenas. According to the Associated Press, the head of the architect firm that's spearheading the project said that air conditioning a venue of that size is "notoriously unstable" and is too costly.

As an alternative, the firm suggested shading all of the seats and constructing the stadiums in other ways to account for the most ventilation possible.

Here are a few more stories from around the soccer world to get your Tuesday going:

DI MARIA TEARS THIGH MUSCLE

Real Madrid's 7-1 rout of Osasuna over the weekend didn't come without a cost.

The club's star Argentine winger, Angel Di Maria, tore a thigh muscle during the match, something that should keep him sidelined up to a month, according to various reports from Spain. 

The injury will also cause Di Maria to miss out on Argentina's World Cup qualifiers against Bolivia and Colombia during the upcoming international fixture window.

SUAREZ DENIES SAYING RACIST REMARKS

Liverpool midfielder Luis Suarez has denied directing racist remarks toward Manchester United defender Patrice Evra almost a month after an incident between the two sparked an FA investigation into the matter.

According to The Guardian, Suarez told Uruguayan media that, "There is no evidence I said anything racist to him. I said nothing of the sort. There were two parts of the discussion, one in Spanish, one in English. I did not insult him. It was just a way of expressing myself. I called him something his team-mates at Manchester call him, and even they were surprised by his reaction."

CHELSEA SELLING STADIUM NAMING RIGHTS

Chelsea might not be able to move from Stamford Bridge anytime soon, but that doesn't mean the club can't make more money off of its current stadium.

The club will be selling the naming rights to the stadium, announcing that it plans to have a deal in place in the next 6-to-8 months.

Chelsea has played at Stamford Bridge since 1905 and is seeking to move to a bigger venue, but the club can't move until it secures the full rights to the stadium grounds, which it sold to a supporters' group to prevent any developer from changing the layout of the land.

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What do you think of the Qatari stadium situation? Think Argentina will have a problem against Bolivia or Colombia without Di Maria? Do you believe Suarez? Think it will be weird for Chelsea to be playing in a place not named Stamford Bridge?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. there won’t be any fans there….nobody in their right mind wants to be in qatar…that’s why M. Jackson was hiding in qatar all the time, because he wasn’t in the right state of mind…hahahahahahah

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  2. ur an idiot…who compares evening temps to daytime temps??? many of the games will be played in the daytime fool…u must be an arab to think like this…OCCUPY QATAR

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  3. 107 avg temp equals to 125 degrees field temp….it’s usually much hotter on the ground…especially since it’s the desert and they are surrounded by sand which traps the heat…i’m estimating a bunch of dead players from heat stroke

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  4. i can’t walk around qatar because i have tattoos on my arms…and its too damn hot to wear long sleeve shirts…this is bs…lol…n i can’t drink unless its in a designated area…and all their chicks are draped from head to toe so i can’t see if they’re hot or not…this is BS…OCCUPY WALL STREET N QATAR…lol

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  5. players are gonna die from Heat Exhaustion and Heat stroke…fucc this…award the WC to the USA NOW….OCCUPY QATAR AND FIFA HQ’s

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  6. The USA played a group game in Pasadena in ’94. On top of that, the final was as well.

    And lets not forget that there are more teams (read: matches) in the current WC iteration. More to go around for everyone.

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  7. It’s gonna be an awful experience for both players and fans…and judging by the last World club championship there won’t be much of an atmosphere no matter when the games are played. It will probably be like the old Montreal Expos baseball stadium where the humming AC was louder than the fans!

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  8. At a minimum the Qatar World Cup has to be moved to the winter. Let’s say that the air conditioned stadiums work well, but the players only spend a small amount of their time in the stadiums. The rest of the time they will be stuck in their hotel room and when they go outside the heat will make them feel tired. When I went to Arizona during August it took me several weeks to get acclimated to the heat before I felt normal. You can’t avoid the heat completely.

    You can have the World Cup in Qater and it will work, but people are going to complain… and it won’t be remembered as anything special.

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  9. Instead of coming up with these ideas of having open air stadiums in Qatar, why not just have a close dome stadium with a retractable pitch. Regardless I am too upset that US did not get either 2018 or 2022. USA got screwed when the whole rotation stuff when into effect.

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  10. A lot of SBI readers are from back East, but try not to forget about the West Coast. If WC22 is eventually moved to the US, the Pacific Northwest and coastal California are all WAY cooler and less humid than the East Coast. So if you’re going to compare average temps, don’t forget about balmy So Cal, the Bay Area, Portland or Seattle.

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  11. A/C’s will get built. Architects are not the final decision makers. Now, I don’t know if the WC will still be held there, but you can bet that A/C’s will be built if the stadiums are.

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  12. Sucks to hear that about Di Maria!!!! But honestly, with all his diving, it was bound to happen

    This whole Qatar thing is insane…

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  13. it’s hot, but i wouldn’t say the average in DC is triple digits. i would say it is high 80s with 80-100% humidity. either way, it’s terrible. but not Qatar terrible.

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  14. I hope this is the case, but has this ever happened? Has a WC location ever been announced, then moved due to various issues??

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  15. The average low for Doha is close to the same as the average high for the US cities. How about that comparison? Or better yet, go dig up some data of your own.

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  16. The WC in Qatar will be moved! I calling it! There is NO way it will be played in temperatures upwards of 110 degrees. As sson as Blatter steps down, his successor will announce that it’ll be moved to Europe or the US.

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  17. How about 8:00 and 10:30 local Qatar time (or even 8:30 and 11:00)? How would that compare with midday in the USA? Remember, games are typically scheduled for prime viewing in Europe.

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  18. It’s a little bit apples to oranges. How about comparing the average evening temperature in Doha with the average midday temps for those USA cities? I suspect the difference won’t be so pronounced, especially if you factor in humidity and sun and get the “feels like” numbers for USA pitches.

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  19. Perhaps Qatar isn’t thinking this through. Instead of donating the stadiums to some needy 3rd world nations, Qatar should pre-lease them to FIFA — to whichever nations will be hosting subsequent Cups in a much warmer world. That could help them recoup the investment in renewably-powered A/C systems. The USA could probably use some more modern and A/C-enabled stadiums, since we’ll be playing during the day.

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  20. Architects are kind of douchey when non-Architects try to impose ideas or change their artistic vision. If they really want to put in A/C, then they will put in A/C, and the Architects will be upset and told to STFU.

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  21. In all honesty, yes:
    From Weather Underground, stats for June 26th (right in the middle of the last WC)
    (Ave hi/low Rec hi/low)
    ATL: 82/65 96/32
    DC: 86/68 101/56
    NYC: 81/66 100/56
    Doha:107/84 114/80

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  22. I think what they’re suggesting is that there are ways to keep the stadium cooler for everyone — preventing the seating sections from trapping heat would make the whole bowl cooler, including the pitch. However, even if they can keep the ambient temperature at natural levels, avoiding the intensely concentrated heat island effects that might put field temperatures above 120 degrees, the temps will still be too dang high.

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