Flyboy41

From everything Berhing has said, it looks like Newport is a go. Portune is politicing and he's showing a top reason why the team will move to Newport...Hamilton County politics. I don't think it's anywhere near a "fact" that FCC is going to be left out of MLS. MLS isn't stopping at 28 anyway but even if they were, FCC has most of its ducks in a row and will get shovels in the ground in Newport as soon as MLS says "go".

Providence Park in Portland is crammed into a small area. Not counting the Multnomah Athletic Club (which sits on the same block, Providence has a footprint of about 500 wide by 600 long. They're even adding 4,000 seats to bring capacity to 25,000 without expanding the footprint. You could maybe squeeze something similar into the West End. The issue of course is parking. Providence doesn't have much in the way of parking, relying on the light rail stop adjacent to the stadium. My photoshop skills suck so I'm not making a "rendering". Avaya stadium is certainly expandable as well with the open end.

Just an aside. Don't use Mapfre Stadium as a stand-in. Its so outdated. Use Orlando or Sporting KC's stadium. Sorry, just a pet peeve.

All of those look great! One caveat, though. Mapfre (Crew) Stadium probably isn't a good analogue. It's probably too big and a new stadium would be more modern. I'd use Houston, Kansas City or San Jose's stadiums as a template. If you want bigger, Orlando's new stadium seats 30,000 with a safe-standing section.

I was in Cincinnati over the holidays. Since I voted on the CBC twice and had to move to SLC during its construction, it was nice to see the system up and running. Here in Salt Lake we have a light rail system, commuter rail and a streetcar so I was excited to compare the CBC to the SLC Streetcar. Here are some thoughts. - I got on the CBC at the Banks. I liked the cheeky "Cincinnati Cylcones" stop right next to GABP. - I waited about 10 minutes for the streetcar to arrive and I didn't mind the wait but I would have liked to seen a display indicating the car's ETA. We have that option with the SLC streetcar. - I thought the speed was fine and the overall ride comfort was great. - Like the SLC Streetcar, I understand that the Cincinnati cars were built to light rail spec? Is this true? Here in SLC, we use Siemens for our light rail line and the streetcar. The streetcars themselves are just one Siemens car, identical to the light rail car, with a different paint scheme. If Cincy wants to use the same company for light rail, they're going to need something with more seating IMO. - CincyEZride kind of sucks. Overall, I enjoyed using the CBC and I look forward to using it again when I'm back in town this summer.

Many MLS clubs have USL affiliates. You'll probably see a minor/major league system with soccer like they have with MLB and NHL in a few years. The good news is that if FC Cincy wants to move to MLS, they have an ownership group with the money to do so. Wrong Side of the Pond just tweeted today that Berhding (sp?) basically said they have MLS ambitions. FC Cincinnati is affiliated with Kings and Hammer FC so they already have an academy system in the works.

Even though I don't live in Cincinnati anymore, I'm so excited for this team. We have RSL and a USL team here in SLC and now I can see FC Cincinnati in person when they visit for USL games and the US Open Cup. Relegation won't work here, and frankly I think it's a stupid idea. American fans have a pretty distinct idea of what major/minor leagues are. Can you imagine the drop off in overall attendance and revenue if the Reds got relegated to AAA? Also, TV networks are not going to pay money for a team that can get bumped out of the major league.

The NHL did announce that they are looking at expanding. Maybe the Cyclones could move up or coax the Florida Panthers to move.

Here in Salt Lake City, your Utah football and basketball ticket also serves as a round-trip TRAX ticket. I think it actually covers the streetcar and FrontRunner commuter rail too.

In my previous line of work I traveled to many arenas as a professional. I've even worked NCAA events at UD including the one the POTIS attended. I can tell you that from a locker room standpoint, media facilities standpoint, and overall quality of venue (narrow concourses, poor video and audio), UD arena is totally lacking. If it wasn't for the proximity to many of the major colleges and the fact that Dayton is a basketball crazy town, it wouldn't be the First Four venue. I know Dayton fans love it for the same reason Duke fans love Cameron Indoor and Butler fans love Hinkle (both are holes). It's nostalgia. It's the atmosphere. The arenas at OSU, Louisville, and yes, even Xavier are far superior to UD Arena. I am confident that an updated US Bank Arena that is configured better for basketball could make a great case for hosting the First Four. Cincinnati is within 2 hours of several top colleges and is a pretty good college basketball town. There would be no other major sports happening in town at the same time. As a former Cincinnati native, I want my town to have great events and I firmly believe the Queen City would be just as good if not better at hosting the First Four

As much as I'd love a new arena the best solution is for UC and US Bank arena to partner to renovate the current arena. As far as concerts go, we have good options already. Most summer tours go to Riverbend and now Bunbury. Most smaller acts have options in town and outside of some of the bigger arena acts, Cincinnati doesn't miss out of much. The only real acts we miss out on are big stadium tours, which should go to PBS. I'd love for Cincinnati to get NCAA tournaments but with other venues so close it's an uphill battle. However, a renovated US Bank Arena might be able to swipe the First Four from Dayton. UD Arena is a dump.

I always thought it would be nice to put an arena near UC or in OTR somewhere. UC would have to be a main tenant though.

And a rail corridor -- the Cincinnati-Indianapolis rail corridor was upgraded with heavier rail and a new yard built at the Honda plant. BTW automakers prefer to not build new manufacturing plants in urbanized areas close to labor pools because most urbanized areas are in non-compliance with EPA air quality standards, so the EPA permitting process for these auto plants takes too long and costs too much for most automakers to put up with. And where does a significant amount of air pollution come from?? Yep, cars. So if you want to attract an auto plant to your metro area, reduce the driving in it first to be in compliance with EPA air quality standards -- as Portland, OR recently came into compliance with! So maybe if 32 was upgraded between Batavia and Portsmouth, along with the NS line that runs parallel to the road for quite a ways, maybe we could get an auto plant in Brown or Adams County? :) We already have a closed one just outside of Batavia It was a joke. Trust me. I had a lot of friends whose fathers worked at the Ford plant in Batavia and the Milacron place in Mt. Orab. I'm against an expansion of I-74 as it's currently planned. I am for commuter rail and I see some benefit to the Oasis line as I think the Wasson line makes more sense for a light rail project. I can see why some are against the Oasis line and I have some misgivings about it myself but I can also see a chance for success.

And a rail corridor -- the Cincinnati-Indianapolis rail corridor was upgraded with heavier rail and a new yard built at the Honda plant. BTW automakers prefer to not build new manufacturing plants in urbanized areas close to labor pools because most urbanized areas are in non-compliance with EPA air quality standards, so the EPA permitting process for these auto plants takes too long and costs too much for most automakers to put up with. And where does a significant amount of air pollution come from?? Yep, cars. So if you want to attract an auto plant to your metro area, reduce the driving in it first to be in compliance with EPA air quality standards -- as Portland, OR recently came into compliance with! So maybe if 32 was upgraded between Batavia and Portsmouth, along with the NS line that runs parallel to the road for quite a ways, maybe we could get an auto plant in Brown or Adams County? :)

I grew up in Georgetown, Ohio and SR-32 is a big corridor through our county (Brown). I can remember when I was in high school in the late 1990s and all of the expansion was going on in Eastgate. Around this time all of us out in the boonies would hear people talking about how SR-32 was going to become an interstate and how great that would be. Just an a story I thought I'd share.