Anschutz Has Stadium Visions
Phil Anschutz threw a party at the Sports Cafe in the fashionable South Beach area the other night.
The guests were the players and coaches from Anschutz’s three Major League Soccer teams--the Galaxy, the Colorado Rapids and the Chicago Fire.
And what he told them should bring a smile to the face of every soccer fan in Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago. In short, the billionaire said he is committed to building soccer-specific stadiums in each of those MLS cities.
Players were even shown artists’ renderings and scale models of the proposed stadiums. They came away more than a little impressed.
In L.A., Anschutz envisions a 30,000-35,000-seat stadium built in the style of the more intimate European soccer grounds. Rectangular in shape, it would have two tiers, floodlights in each corner, a gigantic video screen at one end and an equally imposing Galaxy sign in lights at the other.
Just where it will be constructed is undetermined. Three sites are under consideration in Los Angeles and Carson. Once a location is chosen, the stadium could be built and operating within 18 months, possibly sooner, Anschutz said.
By the start of the 2002 season, in other words, the Galaxy could have a new home and a real future.
STUMBLING OUT THE GATE
Once again, soccer in the United States is about to shoot itself in the foot.
The announcement in New York last week that yet another professional league--the Women’s United Soccer Assn. (WUSA)--will begin play in the spring of 2001 defies rational explanation.
Not because a women’s league is a bad idea, but because WUSA apparently is intent on operating independently of MLS, which also is considering a women’s league.
Soccer has been down this road before--competing leagues chasing the same limited audience--and it leads to a dead end.
WUSA says it hopes to draw 6,500 a game playing a five-month season in small, probably college stadiums starting in April 2001. Cal State Fullerton has been mentioned as one possible site.
Considering that MLS is moving toward new stadiums of its own--look for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars to announce plans for a new home in Newark--doesn’t it make more sense for MLS and WUSA to operate hand in hand?
The 6,500 fans that WUSA optimistically hopes to attract, added to the MLS average attendance of about 14,500, equals a halfway decent 21,000 for a doubleheader. That size crowd in a 30,000-seat stadium would provide a good atmosphere and probably would generate more media coverage and greater season ticket sales.
John Hendricks, chairman and CEO of Discovery Communications and founder of the Discovery Channel, is the man behind WUSA. He said he has raised $40 million for the purpose, with such investors as Time Warner Inc., Comcast Corp., Continental Cablevision Inc. and Cox Communications each having kicked in $5 million.
Tony DiCicco, the former U.S. women’s national team coach, is serving as a WUSA advisor, and players Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Brandi Chastain are involved.
U.S. Soccer has to sanction the league before it can begin play and it would seem to make sense for the federation to broker a marriage between WUSA and MLS.
Even before WUSA’s announcement, Mark Abbott, MLS’s chief operating officer, had been asked by the federation to submit a business plan for a women’s professional league. MLS Commissioner Don Garber, a member of U.S. Soccer’s women’s professional soccer development committee, said he “looks forward to being part of this exciting development.”
Having twice had to go on strike against U.S. Soccer to get an acceptable contract, it is understandable that the women would be wary of the federation. But working in conjunction with MLS is the only sensible way to go.
The sport as a whole would benefit.
JOE-MAX REPLIES
As an eight-year veteran of the U.S. national team and its second-leading scorer behind Eric Wynalda, Joe-Max Moore wasn’t thrilled by the comments made about him last week by Bruce Arena.
The U.S. coach said Moore, from Irvine and playing for Everton in the English Premier League, is not a 90-minute player, adding “I’m not fooled by” the four goals Moore has scored for Everton since being acquired from the New England Revolution.
“I have no idea why he tried to discredit what I’ve done here,” Moore said from his home in England. “It was shocking, to be honest. I’m proud of what I’ve done here so far and I’m sorry he isn’t.
“I just find it kind of odd that he would go and do that. The only time he’s ever seen me play a full game for him is once. So I don’t know how he can make that kind of judgment.”
Moore has played in nine games for Everton, starting three. He and his wife, Martha, have bought a house, meaning that MLS will not see him back any time soon.
The difference between the play in the English league and MLS is vast, he said.
“The speed of play, there’s no comparison,” he said. “The pace of the game, they give you no time on the ball here.”
He could be in the Florida sun with the Revolution, but he’s happy where he is.
“It’s miserable at times, with the weather, but I knew that coming in,” he said. “I think I made a great decision. It’s been incredible. I just hope I continue to play and that I continue to find the goal.”
SEVEN GOALKEEPERS?
Losing two games to Norway is a shocking development for the world champion U.S. women’s national team, but hasn’t Coach April Heinrichs gone a little far by inviting seven goalkeepers to camp in preparation for the eight-nation Algarve Cup in Portugal?
Heinrichs retained all 17 World Cup ’99 players who were in Florida this month for the two-game series against the Norwegians, but dropped the youngest players, including 17-year-olds Nandi Pryce, Aleisha Kramer and Veronica Zepeda of Riverside.
The goalkeeping situation appears almost bizarre.
World Cup goalkeepers Briana Scurry and Saskia Webber will be among the 29 players in camp in Orlando from March 2-6, but so will five other keepers: Jen Branam of Placentia, Lakeysia Beene of Gold River, Calif., Hope Solo of Richland, Wash., Emily Oleksiuk of Willow Grove, Pa., and Siri Mullinix of Greensboro, N.C.
And after her team had yielded five goals in 3-2 and 2-1 losses to Norway, Heinrichs also recalled defender Christie Pearce from the World Cup squad.
The Algarve Cup is March 12-18 and the U.S. will play in Group A with Sweden, Portugal and Denmark. Group B has China, Norway, Canada and Finland.
QUICK PASSES
Since being eliminated from the Gold Cup, the U.S. men’s national team can look ahead to a game March 12 against Tunisia in Birmingham, Ala., before going on the road for an as-yet-unannounced game against Russia in Moscow. Meanwhile, U.S. Soccer has released the schedule for the four-nation U.S. Cup in June. The Americans play South Africa on June 3 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.; Ireland at Foxboro (Mass.) Stadium on June 6, and Mexico at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on June 11.
UCLA Coach Todd Saldana landed four members of the U.S. under-17 national team that finished fourth in the FIFA under-17 World Championship in New Zealand in November. Signed to national letters of intent were goalkeeper Delvin Countess, defenders Nelson Akwari and Alexander Yi, and midfielder Adolfo Gregorio. Also joining the Bruins is defender Leonard Griffin, a member of the U.S. under-18 national team. “In terms of experience and accomplishments, this has to be one of the top recruiting classes in UCLA history,” Saldana said. “We will be a young but very talented team next year.”
