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Farmers Field. Can it be a good move for LAG?


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#1 ABES

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 12:09 AM

I keep reading stories about Chivas USA potentially looking for a new stadium to not share with LAG anymore. Story state that the new Farmers Field can be a possibility. Farmers state they will host international soccer matches but nothing about local teams. It is being built for American Football not a soccer specific stadium like HDC. DTLA is true LA (central city) not like Carson. If Farmers Field allowed a MLS team to move there should the Galaxy move there? Leave soccer specific HDC for an American Football specific stadium just to be in true LA? My dilemma is that it will be cool for me because I work in DTLA just three blocks from the proposed site and its 20 miles closer to my house than the HDC. But It's being build for football not soccer. Would they leave?

#2 Universal_Re-Monster

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 12:17 AM

you should probably stop reading.
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#3 Cristobal Guillermo

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 12:31 AM

What would the goats and their 8,000 max fans want with a 70,000 seat stadium?

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#4 ABES

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 12:44 AM

Anyways the stadium won't be ready till 2016... so a lot can happen by then.

#5 Caasi Gohd

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 10:31 AM

For Chivas:
Farmer's Field would be a non-starter for Chivas simply because:

a) they have no fans, just a few thousand people they hand free/heavily discounted tickets each and every week, and
b) their whole reason for wanting to move from the HDC is to avoid paying rent to AEG. Logic would demand that rent at Farmer's Field would be much more than rent at the HDC (This is also a problem for LA, since the team technically pays rent to AEG, too).

For LA:
I don't think it's a bad idea, but you'd need a new Front Office to go with a stadium that size. Our current FO can't get 24,000 people from a population of +15 million in +4 counties; and it's largely their fault. They still have an attitude that nobody wants to come to a soccer game and that they're doing god's work and turning water into wine every weekend with their announced attendance of approx. 20,000. On top of that they want to set prices at a certain level and then bitch that people won't come to games.

The only way that happens is if AEG decides they want to treat LA like a first class team and allocate the FO a lot more resources, particularly in terms of marketing, so the team can do more aggressive advertising for games not including Real Madrid. Otherwise, the FO would be paying more rent to play in a 2/3rds empty stadium.

It's a nice thought though.

#6 Catamount

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 10:45 AM

For Chivas:
Farmer's Field would be a non-starter for Chivas simply because:

a) they have no fans, just a few thousand people they hand free/heavily discounted tickets each and every week, and
b) their whole reason for wanting to move from the HDC is to avoid paying rent to AEG. Logic would demand that rent at Farmer's Field would be much more than rent at the HDC (This is also a problem for LA, since the team technically pays rent to AEG, too).

For LA:
I don't think it's a bad idea, but you'd need a new Front Office to go with a stadium that size. Our current FO can't get 24,000 people from a population of +15 million in +4 counties; and it's largely their fault. They still have an attitude that nobody wants to come to a soccer game and that they're doing god's work and turning water into wine every weekend with their announced attendance of approx. 20,000. On top of that they want to set prices at a certain level and then bitch that people won't come to games.

The only way that happens is if AEG decides they want to treat LA like a first class team and allocate the FO a lot more resources, particularly in terms of marketing, so the team can do more aggressive advertising for games not including Real Madrid. Otherwise, the FO would be paying more rent to play in a 2/3rds empty stadium.

It's a nice thought though.

Maybe championships would help. I wonder what the attendance might be if the Galaxy were the World Club Champions. Just a thought... :)

#7 dhines

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 11:11 AM

farmers field will be great for key galaxy games, but no way they would have that as their home. i mean, could you imagine the dallas v LAG in that place? 24k in a 70k stadium will look like crap on TV, but more importantly . . . until the galaxy can build a 35k - 40k average attendance, the rent payment just wouldn't make sense.

in my mind, this is just CUSA trying to lower the rent payment. we all do the same crap when buying a cay . . . "_____ dealership is offering me X, but it is in the wrong color. if you don't get close enough to that price i won't care about the color" no way in hell CUSA is going anywhere unless:

1) they rebrand
2) they move to another city
3) some JUCO in east LA wants CUSA

that being said, what city is going to make an offer for a non-rebranded CUSA? none. Will CUSA ever rebrand? no way, at least not with the current management of the chivas business group; for those guys it is all about the pride of not giving up on chivas, which is necessitating they keep cutting payroll to lessen losses. as for moving to a JUCO stadium, my guess is the MLS will never allow that to happen. to survive clubs need soccer specific stadiums. moving to a JUCO stadium has only been accepted by the MLS as a solution while a team is looking to build their own . . . and i don't see CUSA willing to discuss that.

will farmers field have soccer, yep. but until the galaxy have the ability to sign 4 - 5 big name people, they won't have the 'butts in seats' to make it economically viable.

#8 Universal_Re-Monster

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 11:13 AM

i keep reading stories that the united states wants to go explore mars. like explore it using people!
it would be cool for me because total recall is one of my favorite movies, but mars seems like a dangerous place.
do you think there are aliens on mars? if there are aliens on mars would/should we still go?
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#9 fredo9

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 12:21 PM

THE GALAXY can't limit themselves to being a "true LA" franchise. The world is their oyster.

A new stadium for a few games per season would be good. People like shiny new things. Also, party trains into DTLA and pre-match pub parties could be marketed like tailgating is a draw to the Rose Bowl.

AEG's view that soccer is a niche sport that requires premium pricing is a continuing problem. Bring back $10 tickets and there will be more people attending games. An affordable "good time" is much more dependable in bringing return patrons than "Big Names." And only return patrons become supporters.


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#10 Gen'Buck'Turgidson

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 01:16 PM

I like the HDC...it's cozy, it's close to home, it's a good facility for MLS.
It gets its fair share of soccer mommies and daddies with kids who drive up from the OC and Manhattan Beach and PV, but with the exception of those in ACB/Galaxians, LARS, a couple hundred or so other diehards, people really don't come from all over LA to see the team.

Yet the HDC gets 20,000+ for most weekend games.

Lowering prices would fill the HDC for Galaxy games.

If you could get to the stadium on the train from the Valley or the South Bay or Pasadena, and if tickets were more sensibly priced, I don't see a reason why a team like the Galaxy couldn't sell 40,000 regularly like Seattle does in their NFL stadium. I'd gladly trade the convenience of the HDC for a TRUE Los Angeles presence in the MLS.

Major drawback of the plan would be that the field would in all likelihood be turf, wouldn't it? What does the Farmer's Field surface plan call for? Without grass, it's not worth it.
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#11 cesar

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 01:57 PM

i keep reading stories that the united states wants to go explore mars. like explore it using people!
it would be cool for me because total recall is one of my favorite movies, but mars seems like a dangerous place.
do you think there are aliens on mars? if there are aliens on mars would/should we still go?


if there are aliens in Mars, i want the female ones to have 3 titties.

#12 Eric B

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 04:25 PM

Two things:

First, fuck off with the "True LA" bullshit. SoCal is not New York, Chicago, or even San Francisco. The population is spread out with multiple pockets of "town centers." Carson is as convenient, if not more so, for a majority of the potential Galaxy fanbase.

Second: I don't think the league would ever really move the Renters because then that's an expansion fee on which its losing out. Moving Goats Lite to Atlanta means Arthur Blank's check goes to Vergara instead of straight to headquarters.

#13 Gen'Buck'Turgidson

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 08:02 PM

This reminds me of a similar conversation I had with a Chicago supporter about Bridgeview...I've never had the conversation with anyone from San Jose about it, but people in SF do not mistake SJ or Oakland for San Francisco either.

I know people need to drive a long way to do things in LA, but very often, people simply just won't. I am the same way about nightclubs or live shows in LA. I just won't go unless I am dying to see it, or for an out of town visitor because I'm nice like that.

No, there is a real LA. Carson is in LA county, but not in the city of Los Angeles. The stadium is almost as close to the city of LA as it is to Orange County which is just a few miles down the 405 or 91.

If you don't think people who actually live in LA don't notice, well, I disagree and believe they do.

By the way, are you an Angels fan? They seem to be the only people I've ever met so adamant about it...

Don't get me wrong...I love the location the G's play at. It is super convenient to me in the Beach Cities, but not really to people who actually live in LA. And there's way more of them than there are people in the South Bay.

I feel the location of the HDC was sited based on the demographic target market selection AEG made aiming at suburban soccer moms and their kids. I think AEG fucked up. I think if they played downtown, they'd get a lot more people to attend. I think they'd also get a lot more season ticket holders and fewer one timers.
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
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The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which "unskilled people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it." The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average.

#14 dhines

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 08:18 PM

from a commuting standpoint, downtown LA is much better . . . if only for the reason of having more freeways to choose from (101, 5, 10, 110) and pleanty city streets to scoot around on. if they are smart and tie it into the metro system, they would really be stylin'.

i will say this, rarely do i try to make a weekday game. seriously, i wish i could . . . but getting from my work in simi to carson by a 7pm or 7:30pm start time is near impossible. now if they had metro, and i could just drive to my house and then jump on the orange line, i would definitely attend more weekday games.

i can only speak for what i see . . . but i can't count how many times i have heard "i would love to go to a galaxy game, but carson is just too far." we need a stadium that is more centrally located in LA county, downtown would serve that.

#15 romero03

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 09:46 PM

I agree with a few things here. Lower ticket prices(won't happen). If the G's played downtown you'd get a larger crowd.

Buck mentions some good stuff.

Don't think they have specified about grass or turf, but I would assume it would be grass.

I've said this in a few threads, but I'd want the G's to play at Farmers Field.

Edit* Senate committee voted earlier this week to expedite Farmers Field plan. If AEG gets past EIR process, the NFL will likely be back in LA next year. If AEG takes care of environmental and legal actions by May, which they expect to, an NFL team, likely the Chargers, will be playing in LA.

Edit** "Much made of NFL assessing a hefty relocation fee for a team that moves to LA. Not necessarily so. My sources say cud be relatively nominal." Sam Farmer LATimes

Edit*** Asked Sam Farmer by what month would a team have to notify it's stadium/city they intend to move if they want to play in LA next season and this was his response to me: "if the Chargers were to relocate, they'd have to inform city of SD between 2/1-5/1 of a given year to avoid lawsuits from city"
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