'The Hut' shows future of soccer venues

(by James Edwards desnews.com 9-19-05)

FRISCO, Texas — The locker rooms are in mobile trailers, the press box looks like a construction zone, and you can see the steel skeletons of the adjacent office buildings.

Make no mistake about it, Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, is definitely still a work in progress, but for a soccer fan, it's a beautiful site. Who cares if you still need a hard hat in some areas. This 21,193-seat stadium and the surrounding 17 championship-quality fields represents the growth of soccer in America, and in a state dominated by the other football.

The pitch is pristine, there isn't a bad seat in the house, there's ample concessions, restrooms and parking, and the Hut contains two huge video boards near the north endline.

When it's all said and done, the $80 million price-tag will provide one of the fastest-growing midsize towns in America a consistent source of revenue. The cost will be split among the Hunt Sports Group, the city of Frisco, Collin County and the Frisco Independent School District. The fact the four independent entities came together with a common vision is a minor miracle in and of itself.

The 26 luxury suites at Pizza Hut Park are all sold out, and at a cost of $35,000 per season, they provide the team nearly $1 million in revenue, over half the team's salary cap.

When Pizza Hut Park opened for business two months ago — perhaps prematurely — it became the third soccer-specific stadium in Major League Soccer.

The Columbus Crew laid the foundation in 1999 with the completion of the $35 million, fringe-less Crew Stadium. The team didn't spend millions of extra dollars on extravagant amenities, because quite frankly, the idea of simply building a soccer specific stadium in the United States still seemed like a risky endeavor.

When Crew Stadium opened, not only did attendance increase, but over the years Columbus has been host to key World Cup qualifiers for the U.S. National Team.

Four years later when the Home Depot Center opened in Carson, Calif. at a cost of $150 million, money was thrown around like it often is in Southern California. The complex includes a 27,000-seat soccer stadium, a 13,000-seat tennis stadium, a 20,000-seat track and field stadium in addition to several surrounding soccer field and tennis courts.

The crown jewel is definitely the soccer stadium, and it's largely because of the overhanging Teflon roof. Not only does it provide shade for the fans, but it helps crowd noise bounce around the stadium in a way that it feels like the stadium holds 72,000 fans instead of 27,000 fans.

Everything from the stadium club restaurant, to the locker rooms, to the luxury suites gives the Home Depot Center a world-class stadium feel.

The Chicago Fire are in the midst of construction on a 20,000-seat soccer-specific stadium in Bridgeview, and hope to begin play there in 2006. The MetroStars recently finalized a deal that will get them out of the cavernous Giants Stadium, and into a 25,000-seat soccer-specific stadium in Harrison, N.J. by 2007.

While these stadiums all have their own aesthetic charm, they've also helped future clubs like Real Salt Lake get a better idea about what works and doesn't work when building a stadium.

Years from now, when Real Salt Lake finally starts playing games in its own soccer specific stadium — whether it's in Sandy, Murray or downtown Salt lake City — the team would be lucky to call a stadium like Pizza Hut Park home.