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A peek inside BBVA Compass Stadium

Major League Soccer's newest soccer-specific stadium is set to open in a little more than a month, when the Houston Dynamo open BBVA Compass Stadium on May 12 against D.C. United.

The finishing touches are being put on the Downtown Houston stadium, but here is a sneak peak from inside the Dynamo's new home:

Comments

  1. They may not be packed every game, but I’m willing to bet, at least for this year if not farther down the line, those suites will be used.

    And the fans aren’t really split up per se. The 200 levels seats are literally right on top of the field. Someone measured it during a tour and from the pitch to the back of the 200 level (on an X-axis) is around 125 feet. That is steep as hell, with the 100 levels being flat and only 8 rows deep.

    Believe me, people won’t feel separated at all.

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  2. The mesh on the outside of the stadium is open, so the wind coming from the South will blow through the stadium no problem. Even the roof is high enough to allow any winds to pour into the stadium to cool people of.

    It won’t be that bad so long as we avoid daygames during the summer. However, like the LA game this year, day games won’t be quite so bad since most of the seats will be covered in shade for the majority of the afternoon hours. Only the North End seats are not covered.

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  3. NE is by far the worse. massive NFL stadium in the suburbs. DCU at least has a smaller stadium (45K) and it’s in the city. but still…

    it’s all the Redskins fault…well, Dan Synder.

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  4. No AC for this facility, teams will still have to play in the Good ol’ Texas Summer Heat…

    But with more control over when to schedule matches maybe the league and Dynamo will be able to plan games with much more efficiency and maybe not play the usual 2 games month in the summer, maybe play 1 game in July, 1 in August and 2 in June but early June…..

    September is kind of hot in the 1st half but by then maybe they can just play the 1st 2 weeks on the road and then play 2 home games the last 2 weekends of month…
    Lets hope they play more in March, April, May and then the good ol’ cooler October

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  5. A Quakes fan complaining already about their soccer specific stadium…. on the internet, you can truly find it all…

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  6. New England and Chivas USA are the only ones I really see being problematic. Both teams are primary residents with terrible attendances. For profit reasons, DC needs a stadium.

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  7. BBVACS looks fantastic. Quality-looking place to have a game. I’m still sad that the Philly FO decided to scale back on the roof and design they had originally planned for PPL.

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  8. New England and DC United need stadiums extremely bad. Doesn’t make a lot of since at this point that DC doesn’t have a stadium. Pretty pathetic to say the least. The city needs to get behind the effort to add the stadium dilemma in DC.

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  9. Houston for sure. Great stadium and not a terribly long trip to Europe or Central America (relative to other US cities).. They should get a qualifier

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  10. NE and DC are the two main teams that “need” soccer stadiums.

    Vancouver and Seattle will likely stay where they are for at least 10-15 years.

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  11. Drove by it today on my way to UH.

    The exterior is magnificent.

    What a great set up for sports fans; Toyota Center, Minute Maid Park, BBVA Compass Stadium and lots of sports bars all in a mile and a half radius!

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  12. i love it, the rapid growth of this league is really unparalleled in any other sport in America, and I’d say faster than any other new soccer league in the world

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  13. This brings tears of joy to my eyes. Forty years ago I used to get in fights defending the game. Twenty-eight years ago I had to listen to main-stream media hacks telling me they are sick of people saying soccer “is the next big thing” as they ridiculed the dumpster fire the NASL became and soccer disappeared from media relevance in this country. Ten years ago I heard the same theme repeated as MLS contracted and looked to be circling the drain.

    In one decade the business model for soccer is has matured in North America. Most teams in the league control their own venue and the all-important revenue that comes from that. The infrastructure is in place that has allowed the league to survive the economic storm around it, and has set the table for it to continue growing. Soccer may not be “the next big thing” –what soccer fan ever says that any way? However, the business model in place means it’s here to stay for a while.

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  14. does anyone know how many more teams need to build their own soccer-specific stadium? it’s getting close to every team having their own right?

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  15. As a Quakes fan, I absolutely agree! Our suites will be at field level. How’s it going to look on tv when half the suites are empty, and the people in the other half of the suites have their backs turned to the field. Lame.

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  16. Those suites really split up the fans, I know they bring in money but the 100 level is pretty small.

    I think this plus the earthquakes stadium show a disturbing trend of displacing fans for what are often empty corporate suites.

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  17. You already scored a Sugarland Concert and TSU Football games, don’t be getting all greedy with wanting more soccer games. Those TSU games will be exciting when players start slamming into the sides.

    I do think a USMNT friendly vs Holland is in order.

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  18. Lots of fans will be right on top of the action. Awesome setup for fan experience and volume creation. It will become an Orange Fortress.

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  19. What was that? A waste of 10 seconds. But the photos of this place look incredible. Good for the Dynamo to make something really unique for MLS standards (especially the exterior). I think Red Bull Arena, BBVA Compass, and Livestrong are the top three stadiums in MLS by far.

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