By Paul Kennedy
Major League Soccer will open its 11th soccer-specific stadium when the Houston Dynamo hosts D.C. United on Saturday.
The Dynamo has enjoyed considerable success since its move to Houston in 2006 — far more than was considered imaginable — and the opening of its downtown stadium, BBVA Compass Stadium, only addsto its success story.
(Click here for a video tour of BBVA Compass Stadium.)
BBVA Compass Stadium is dubbed the “mosturban” of MLS’s soccer stadiums, and its opening will play an important role in the revitalization of Houston’s East End district.
BBVA Compass Stadium “Bythe Numbers”
22,000 seats Capacity of BBVA Compass Stadium, making it the third largest of MLS’s soccer-specific stadiums after the Home DepotCenter (27,000) and Red Bull Arena (25,000).
12,000 season tickets Goal the Dynamo has topped, putting it on a par with the season-ticket base of both theNBA Rockets and MLB Astros.
36 luxury boxes All but two located less than 10 rows from the playing field (theother two are party suites located in the southeast corner).
31 boxes boxes for lease. All have been sold on three-year agreements at $50,000-60,000 ayear.
$82.60 Average cost of a ticket for Saturday’s Dynamo-D.C. United game on the secondary market.
$74.04 Average cost of a ticket for July 7, 2011, Astros-Red Sox game, the most expensive average cost of a ticket for an Astros game on the secondary market inthe last two seasons.
$1.7 billion Money MLS clubs have spent on soccer-specific stadiums through public-private funding partnerships.
$95 million Cost to build BBVA Compass Stadium ($60 million on construction, $20 million on infrastructure, $15 million on land).
$20 million Cost of10-year deal for stadium naming rights with BBVA Compass, U.S. subsidiary of Spanish bank BBVA.
2,340 days Time between the announcement that AEGwas moving the San Jose Earthquakes to Houston and the opening of the Dynamo’s own soccer stadium.
10 minutes Walk from the Market Square in downtownHouston to BBVA Compass Stadium, making it the most centrally located of MLS’s soccer-specific stadiums.
Sources:
bbvacompassstadium.com
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While CenturyLink in Seattle just about has to be at least as urban as BBVA, I can see it discounted as not being “Soccer Specific”. However, Jeld-Wen in Portland is also in the heart of the city, so calling BBVA “more urban” than that is a bit of a joke.