More Cowboys Nitpicking
July 18th, 2009 . 1:59 am . By: Buzz CarrickSo I was talking to some people involved on the CONCACAF side of things, and they tell me there are a couple more “problems” that have surfaced in this Gold Cup that might keep Cowboys Stadium off the World Cup List. Not that any of them are insurmountable if course, Jerry Jones has got lots of money after all. But there are two more trouble spots… And yes these are real, I’m not making them up. 1. You can’t put the corner flags into the ground at Cowboys. Apparently that’s a big deal. FIFA says no to any kind of stand or base for the corner flags. Under the turf at Cowboys is solid cement. 2. In the pic I posted before, you can see the field level luxury boxes surrounding the surface. Apparently they have a bar/railing. CONCACAF has had to wrap the bars in padding I’m told, but that appears to not be a good long term plan and may not satisfy FIFA. Yes, both solvable and perhaps fairly easily. But when combined with lack of grass and the narrow dimensions (even if they are legit 70, FIFA prefers 75)… I think it just goes to show that saying you had soccer in mind when doing the design is not the same as doing a full lay out and plan that would meet with FIFA approval. Then again the place does belong to the Cowboys, so I’m probably being greedy. I would just like to see the World Cup in my backyard again. P.S. I do love the fact that of the three surfaces for Cowboys, one of them is a soccer field with the correct markings and nothing else cluttering up the field. I think that shows a certain level of commitment to the game. P.P.S. Come on Jerry. Buy FCD! I still have my Dallas Cowboys Football Club dream. You could buy them with pocket change and then have something to do in the summer with your fancy new building. Think of the players that name might attract. Talk about a global brand!! *sigh* 17 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
For games that would sell out PHP we could play at Jerry World, like SJ does with McAfee. So we would only use Jerry World when Beckham is in town but still an MLS match there would be awesome.
i thought they were gonna bring in real grass for World Cup matches. i toured the stadium once as a part of a university journalism competition, and the guy that answered questions after the tour said that, if the US was to host the World Cup and Jerry World was going to be a venue, real grass would be brought in to satisfy FIFA regulations. that would take care of the corner flags issue, at least.
I’m willing to bet that by 2018 FIFA will prefer a quality modern Field Turf over grass that is beat to crap with dead spots and uneven, you know, like nearly every grass stadium around the world.
I’ll take that bet.
I’d take that bet also. No way fake grass will ever surpass the real stuff.
Think the Augusta National would ever install fake stuff for the Masters. No chance.
If Jerry Jones were to even THINK about buying FCD, I’d drop my support in a heartbeat.
Field turf is only marginally better than astro turf… the stuff sucks
Charles – could JJ be worse than what he have out of ownership right now?
Pegasus – yes
Charles – just the sight of Jerry parading up and down the sideline with a FCD kit and gold-plated shinguards would be worth the price of admission.
Mark Williams, associate principal at Dallas-based HKS Architects, which designed Cowboys Stadium, said that from the start, the plan was to make the structure “FIFA-friendly.”
Williams, whose soccer experience includes working with clubs in England and Mexico, said FIFA’s minimum field specifications are 330 feet long and 210 feet wide. Cowboys Stadium can easily be configured to accommodate that standard.
“Lots of venues can’t squeeze in the layout of a soccer playing surface,” he said. “Some didn’t think of it. Some chose not to fit it in. We made sure the pitch layout of our playing surface would fit.”
–I guess they didn’t think of it all that much. I guess the minimum was just good enough.
I should note that the clip above is an exerpt from a Dallas Morning News article a few weeks back.
http://www.dallasnews.com/shar.../071209dnsposoccer.92f07f.html
Hearing more about the field size I find myself kind of stunned. Five more yards and it is a serious candidate for WC final. Now?
Chelsea-America this Sunday will have grass. Grass is not the issue, it is the field size. Not sure FIFA wants the absolute minimum size even for group stage games.
Any WC games in Texas would likely be in Reliant in Houston, they already have real grass and can fit a full pitch.
I wouldn’t necessarily count out the Cotton Bowl for group stage games, however. It is very nice now with the renovation, was a total dump the last time they used it and they still did, and has an immaculate playing surface.
FIFA put in place the 70 yard wide minimum standard. But in 2008, they updated their specs and said for WC games, they expected at least 74 yards in width. It sounds like the Cowboys went with the original spec, and then didn’t adjust when FIFA updated their numbers last year.
As you yourself said, these are easy fixes. Do we really think Jerry Jones will let such easy fixes keep him from the World Cup?
Cowboys FC. Nice ring to it.