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 Its so outdated.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.

The key would be to make the freight railroads whole, to not negatively impact their existing operations and allow capacity for future growth. The FrontRunner service in SLC uses the UP right of way, but operates almost entirely on a track separate from the freight track(s). Here is a video showing the new track infrastructure built for the FrontRunner.... While it operates on it's own tracks for the most part, I am pretty sure that UP runs locals over the FR line during off ours. I know for a fact that they do this on the TRAX light rail line as my daily commute goes by several rail-served businesses with covered hoppers parked beside them and you see railroad signals on the line. Either way, I think that while a commuter line to Blue Ash, using I&O's track or something like that makes sense, the EC isn't as terrible as some make it seem.

Wouldn't it make more sense to work with NS, CSX, or I&O to use one of their lines to Sharonville, Blue Ash, or West Chester? Hate to keep bringing up SLC, but our commuter rail uses some Union Pacific ROW. I know the main problem is getting the trains downtown.

I'm not transportation expert by any means so I can only give anecdotal input. I currently live in Salt Lake City and we have a commuter rail system called the FrontRunner that connects SLC to Ogden in the north and Provo in the south. It's about 40 miles each way from SLC to the ends of the line. The reason I think a commuter line along the Eastern Corridor makes sense is because the FrontRunner is successful here in the SLC region with a lower population density than Cincinnati. Many of the FrontRunner stations in the suburbs are simple park and rides and aren't located next to shopping or dense residential neighborhoods. There are also some pretty long runs through scrubby desert with literally nothing nearby but it's pretty successful. My question is, where would the Oasis line terminate? I know that ROW was preserved from Sawyer Point to the Riverfront Transit Center but it would require laying track to make the final connection. Is this the plan?

Wouldn't a line connecting to the casino - up Gilbert - and connecting to the current Wasson line be conceivable? I know there's not a ton of room on the Wasson line, but the S-Line streetcar here in Salt Lake City is linear with passing sidings. What I'm imagining is being able to board somewhere around Oakley and ride past Rookwood commons, past Xavier, then connect to a line down the middle of Gilbert Ave to go down hill.

I can't begin to tell you how overjoyed I am today. I'm in Utah and I want to hug someone when I get back to Cincinnati next week for the Holidays! Congrats to everyone back home who fought so hard. Now, use that energy to get the streetcar finished by the All Star game and to get regional light rail!

I just moved to SaltLake City where we have light rail, commuter rail, and soon a streetcar. I'll try to get some photos but google Sugarhouse Streetcar. Our new line goes through some of the least dense neighborhoods I've seen in a city. In fact, all of SLC's rail lines run through some pretty sprawled areas.

NYC will be getting the next MLS team. The commissioner of the league as pretty much stated this and a recent plan to buy land in Flushing has been announced. As LesterLyles stated, the league is going with a soccer-specific stadium model with Seattle and Vancouver being exceptions. DC is looking into a new facility and NE may be as well. Orlando, San Antonio, Detroit, and Pittsburgh will probably see MLS before Cincinnati. That is, unless Mike Brown wants to pony up the cash for a team.

MLS requires a $30 million buy in and a plan for a soccer-specific stadium for new teams so I doubt we ever get one. Seattle and Vancouver play in bigger stadiums that were either designed with soccer in mind (Seattle) or heavily renovated to host soccer (Vancouver). I know this is off topic but if I were a billionaire, I'd buy a MLS team and put a stadium in OTR or across the river in Newport.

The only flaw I see with that is that the Philly arena has an NBA and NHL team as its main tenant. That's roughly 80 or so booked dates a year between those two teams. 'Nova used to play all of their games there at one point so add another 15 or so booked dates to an already highly-booked arena. As I've stated before, Cincy is pretty saturated in the sports market and could probably not support and NBA or NHL team. Xavier doesn't need nor want a new arena, and usually doesn't want to play outside of Cintas Center unless it's against a special opponent. UC, on the other hand, needs a new arena and their athletic director has actively talked about it. The key to a new venue though is dates. The good thing is that an arena is a more cost effective venue than a football stadium but still needs to be filled. With UC you would get at least 30 dates a year between men and women's basketball. Add the Cyclones and you get another 36 or so regular season dates a year. Something seating about 18,000 would be able to host the NCAA every two or three years but you would still need concerts/motorcross/icecapades/etc. to fill the other 250/300 days a year. I think Cincinnati can do it but UC and the Cyclones are going to have to be the main tenant to make it worth while.

That's the exact spot I was talking about. A 16-18,000 seat arena with a parking structure might fit there and would be great for UC students and would be on a streetcar stop IIRC. You may have to close/rearrange the streets though.