One of my biggest regrets about last year was that I did not attend a road game. Perhaps it was for the best as Seattle tended to perform poorly on the road. However, MLS has a number of soccer specific stadiums (SSS, for the uninitiated) that would be fun to see. I'm thinking mostly of The Home Depot Center, where LA and Chivas play. With Scott and Sam and a few other friends living in the LA area, I figured that the trip to SoCal would have been a fun one. But as you can see from the picture, there isn't really anything around the Home Depot Center. It's not located in a major downtown area and it's not near any bars. There appears to be ample room for tailgating, so I can't complain much. But I would like to have the option of hitting up a few bars after the game, especially if Sounders managed to win the game. So while the HDC is a great stadium for soccer, I think some of the peripherals may be lacking.
I've only been impressed by one other SSS and that's Toronto's BMO Field. Unfortunately, Sounders played Toronto in April last year, when I believe, accounting for wind chill, it was -262 degrees during the game. Toronto's stadium and atmosphere seem incredible, and the stadium is located in the downtown area. Toronto is on the map. Throw in the fact that I've never been there, and it's supposedly the home of the best nightlife in Canada - oh, and that we should beat them easily - and I think a trip up north may be in the cards in the coming seasons. I suppose I'll just have to wait and look at the schedules and see when we play at BMO Field during the summer. We play them on April 25th, so I don't think I'll be making the trip this year.
Which leads me to the linked article. Red Bull Arena may have gone to the top of my list for away games. The article does a great job of explaining things, but I'll summarize. It's a grass field, in a part of town with several bars and restaurants, and is (taking into consideration that it's NY) pretty accessible via mass transit. I know people in NY, but I don't think any of them live in the city, and I don't know that any of them want to put me up for three days while I'm in town. The game is May 15th, so perhaps the weather will be nice but not too humid. And unless NYRB makes an incredible turn-around this year after their nearly historic poor season (which is possible - I don't really know anything about their new coach or their new players), we should be able to go to NY and see a Sounders victory. I don't know if they'll fill the stadium with energetic and rabid supporters, but that will leave better seats for me to choose from. The stadium design sounds amazing and very un-MLS in that the club chose to optimize the stadium for soccer and not for other things (like concerts - many MLS SSS have stages at one end to improve their quality as a concert venue).
Hopefully I make some money this year, because the away game at NYRB is one I really want to see this year.
