WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

Just a quick note that was passed along to me. The New York Red Bulls have erected the first steel beam today at their new stadium. In conjunction with the steel beam going up the club announced today that they have decided to rename the stadium to Red Bull Arena.

“The name of the stadium was changed to Red Bull Arena to be more in line with other Red Bull properties worldwide,” said Red Bull New York Managing Director Erik Stover.  “Over the course of the construction process, the naming was not controlled by Red Bull. Since Red Bull took over complete control of the construction of the stadium last November, we have been planning to make a change more in line with other Red Bull properties.  Red Bull Arena will be the benchmark in the North American soccer stadium landscape by which all other venues will be measured.”

Over the next seven months, the structural steel will be erected to support the new dynamic form roof – a curving structure that will wrap Red Bull Arena in an elegant shell. The unique stadium roof design, which will create a distinguished identity and unique atmosphere for Red Bulls fans, will extend from its leading edge over the entire seating bowl and then curve down to the concourse, creating the dominate architectural statement of power and elegance. The roof will extend 120 feet from the last seat to halfway between the field wall and the field’s touchlines, with 60 feet of the roof being translucent, letting in natural light.

Cool. If it can come out to look anything like it’s sister across the pond on Austria, I think we will have a winner. I just feel bad for Red Bull fans that it has taken FOREVER to get this thing going here. But with the beams going up that is a positive sign.