Big D Weekly - February 12
Big D Weekly - February 12
FC Dallas is back from their preseason trip to Spain.
We are moving fast through this preseason. In just two weeks’ time, FC Dallas will be starting the regular season!
The trip to Spain appeared to be a good one for a lot of players. Dante Sealy had a really impressive time over the two weeks there. He scored four goals and added one assist. Head coach Nico Estevez seems really bullish about his future in this new formation, too.
The club moves into the final phase of the preseason this week as they return to the training pitch in Frisco today. They’ll have one more test this weekend when they host D.C. United.
This will also be the week that we fully see the club’s new primary kit that will be revealed. We’ve seen part of the kit in photos involving newcomer Petar Musa. Once we have the full kit, we’ll share it with you all.
Aside from all of that, I’ve seen a number thrown out lately that could change a lot of things for FC Dallas and Toyota Stadium. We don’t have a ton of details yet, but I’ve been hearing that the Hunts could be prepared to spend up to $150 million on stadium renovations that could begin later this year.
Does this mean we’ll finally see some canopy cover on the East Stand? Will they completely cut the North Stand and add more seating back to that area? Are they prepared to add another deck of seating somehow? Anything feels possible here right now, and it is certainly fun to speculate.
Just a bit of a refresher: when the National Soccer Hall of Fame was added to the South End, that cost roughly $41 million. So, seeing that the Hunts could spend up to three times that amount can really make one dream.
What would be your number one thing to see renovated at Toyota Stadium? With consistent kick-offs at 7:30 or 8:00 pm (thanks to Apple), is a canopy on the East Stand even as big of a deal as it once was? I’d lean toward completely redoing the North Stand by adding a full, safe-standing supporters section back to that area.
🔥 More items from the blog
Other FCD-related recaps/updates from the week
Here are some other posts from the last few days that are worth a read:
FC Dallas announces collaboration with True Brvnd (FCDallas.com)
Blogging FC Dallas’ preseason in Spain (FCDallas.com)
What the signing of Petar Musa means for FC Dallas (Dallas Sports Nation)
📋 From Around MLS
If you thought the USSF and MLS’s pitch to remove first teams from the US Open Cup was over, think again. They’re still having daily talks about what the two sides are going to do this year. I know USSF came out almost immediately and rejected MLS’s request back in December, but I also felt that MLS would figure out some sort of loophole to get their first teams out of the tournament.
I brought up the Duncan McGuire transfer in last week’s newsletter, but that deal ended up dying at the final hour last week due to some paperwork not being filed on time. Good lord. I suppose Orlando will have to wait until the summer to move him.
FC Dallas wasn’t the only club shelling out a record transfer amount this preseason. The Chicago Fire also joined the club of teams spending a lot of money on a transfer.
The Concacaf Champions Cup got started this past week. Club America had a tough outing in Nicaragua. While the Liga MX side may have struggled on the road, I do think they’ll be fine at home. In fact, I see the Liga MX sides do very well in this bracket. Of the nine MLS clubs competing, seven of them — Houston Dynamo, St. Louis City, Vancouver Whitecaps, Orlando City, Nashville SC, FC Cincinnati, Columbus Crew and Inter Miami — are all on one side of the bracket. That doesn’t bode well for MLS.
MLS announced some big steps forward in the youth game this past week. Clubs will be compensated should they move to an MLS academy and then to a Homegrown deal. That is a big deal for some smaller clubs out there that still produce talent each year.
That’s it for this week’s newsletter. Thank you all for subscribing (and if you aren’t subscribed, just hit that button below and get signed up now)!
On the stadium, I'd be inclined to go the way you are leaning. Rip out the entire north end and completely we do it with seating as well as another indoor section above the seats (like the south end) and then perhaps a row of suites and offices (if needed above it).
What would be really cool, although admittedly likely not profitable so just a dream is to put in a full year-round restaurant above the seating that could be accessed from outside the north-end but have doors locked to keep people out of the stadium. on non game days Likely a known chain type restaurant with a soccer them (or something more local like the Londoner for example).
The old Rangers stadium had a TGI Fridays that you could go to all year round that overlooked the field. Was kind of cool. With something like this you'd still feel connected to the team and have a reason to go to the stadium during the off season, during the week or when the team was on the road. Plenty of other soccer going on most of the year you could watch on large screen tvs while enjoying a meal and gazing off to the field from time to time in anticipation of the next home match.