It started out as just a rumor on Twitter, that with the construction on going at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas State University was looking to move their spring football game to Sporting Park. The KC Star was able to get confirmation that the school has "reached out to Sporting KC and have had preliminary discussions about
bringing the spring game to Kansas City tentatively on the afternoon of
April 25."
There aren't many other facilities in the state that could host a large number of K-State fans for a football game. Playing their spring scrimmage at Memorial Stadium on KU's campus seems laughable and any high school stadium just won't have the capacity that K-State would likely want/need for the game. So if they want to stay in the state they're quite limited.
Sporting is in Houston on April 25th to take on the Dynamo, but return home the following weekend, and play a nationally televised game on ESPN 2 on Sunday May 3rd against Chicago. Would a week be enough time to recover from a football game hosted there? Would soccer fans tuning in see football lines still on the field (an annoyance to most soccer fans).
Sporting Park has already hosted one football game as the NCAA Division II championship was held at Sporting Park last December (and will be for the next three years as well), the difference this time is that the game would take place in the middle of the season.
Would this be a good move? I'm not really sure it is. Since Sporting Park opened in 2011 there's been one turf related issue after another. From a dry summer, to overuse, to a fungus caused problems. Last year for the first couple home games the turf looked horrible and was eventually replaced with a new grass surface. Once that surface settled it did well, but there are still plenty of questions based on the history the stadium has had with it's surface.
One point I will make regarding this is the argument that a SSS shouldn't be hosting football games. A soccer specific stadium does not mean a soccer only stadium. I understand the want and need to fill stadium dates with things like concerts and football, I just don't like the idea of doing it so early in the season in a stadium that has a history of playing surface issues.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment