She's the first of 4 "additional signings" to be announced by the team. The other 3 have been signed but not officially announced. The names of the four though for FCKC have been posted by some players on Twitter and in other locations. Thad has collected that information. According to him the other 3 players are Sinead Farrelly, a 23 year old attacking midfielder who also played for the Independence, Melissa Henderson a 23 year old forward and was originally drafted in the 2012 WPS draft by Sky Blue. The final signing is defender Leigh Ann Robinson. Another former Independence player as FCKC looks to pick players up from a team that made the last two finals of the WPS.
FCKC certainly seems to be continuing their winning in the offseason. Hopefully it transitions for them into the regular season. First though they'll need to announce where they're going to play. It sounds like that will be coming soon.
Tomorrow morning. A little word of advice, we will have 1 of the largest stadiums in the league. Already 20% sold...before venue announcing.
— Brian Budzinski (@kcsoccerdome) February 6, 2013
FCKC looks set to announce their stadium tomorrow. Plenty of speculation on where they're going to play. Rumors have swirled from UMKC, to Park, to Sporting Park, to a local high school stadium. But if you want to believe the tweet above, we first need to look at the announced attendances for the other 7 facilities in the league. From lowest to highest
Dilboy Stadium - Boston Breakers - 2,500 - The Breakers recently announced though that they'll be adding about 1,000 seats.
Benedictine University - Chicago Red Stars - 3,000 - A local college for the Red Stars
Starfire Stadium - Seattle Reign - 4,500 - A very nice facility where the Sounders have played US Open Cup and reserve games.
Yurcak Field - Sky Blue FC - 5,000 - The fourth largest facility right now.
Maryland SoccerPlex - Washington Spirit - 5,126 - Another facility used by an MLS team in US Open Cup games.
Sahlen's Stadium - Western New York Flash - 13,768 - The second largest stadium being used.
Jeld-Wen Field - Portland Thorns - 20,438 - The highest capacity stadium in the league.
So by the comment that it will be one of the biggest in the league, you could assume that the facility will have over 5,126 to put it in the top 3. At least to me to be considered one of the biggest, it would need to be at least top 3. So could it be Sporting Park? That would certainly make it one of the largest in the league, but would FCKC be able to fill the stadium to make it worth the price of rent? I think you can probably rule out UMKC, unless they're planning on adding 5,000 or so temporary seats to the venue.
My thought right now is that it's likely to be a high school football stadium where FCKC might add another 1,000 or so seats to give them somewhere in the 6,000 to 7,000 range. It'd put it well behind the likes of Portland but would still make them one of the largest stadiums in the league.
But with 20% already being sold, that's certainly a good start for the club as well.
It'll be interesting to see the official announcement tomorrow and where the Blues are going to play.
4 comments:
Really hoping it's Sporting Park KC. If Portland can do it then why Kansas City? Our stadium capacity and attendance is very similar to Jeld-Wen Field. I understand the need to fill those seats, but matches being held at a top-flight venue will doubtless increase attendance.
Oops, I mean "Why NOT Kansas City"
Sorry for the typo
And I hope it is NOT Sporting Park. No thanks. No need to dilute a good thing out there. Besides the turf can't take it.
Sporting Park's turf can handle two teams. The Home Depot Center in LA hosts two MLS teams and the turf is fine.
I think if it's anywhere but Sporting Park, it would be bad PR for SKC. It makes them appear uncooperative.
It all comes down to how SKC views FCKC. Are they more competition for scarce entertainment dollars in an already crowded sports market? Or is FCKC a partner who can help make KC the soccer destination in the Midwest. Robb's tweet implied the later.
If it truly is the later, SKC should do everything they can to help FCKC out, including a sweet heart deal for the user of Sporting Park.
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