People who are close to me know that I am a sucker for two things: soccer stadiums and city skylines. Combine the two and I am worthless as all I’ll want to do is spend time looking at them together in all possible elements.

So here it is, thanks to the Houston Dynamo Twitter feed, the new BBVA Compass Stadium at night, with the downtown skyline in the background.

Holy smokes I can’t wait for a trip to this place later this summer.

Go ahead and say it. You think this is pretty. Well you aren’t the only one. The orange seats are going in as we speak and the grass will soon be installed. Happy times indeed in Houston.

(Photo via @hapykappy7)

Saw this photo over at Stadium Porn. Good gravy this one looks nice. The inside may not have the bells and whistles that LIVESTRONG Sporting Park or Red Bull Arena have but I do believe this one will go right in line with the rest of the new(ish) stadiums in MLS.

Well done Houston.

In order to get the blessing of the locals, the Quakes agreed to remove the ability for the stadium to host concerts to help reduce noise pollution in the surrounding area. Most MLS venues use concerts to help facilitate more revenue but the Quakes felt they can get by without them.

“Our main focus is soccer and I think we made a big concession here,” shared Keith Wolff with the audience. “This is to try to get a soccer stadium done because we are getting such great fan support in Santa Clara, but there is only so much we can do there. So we really want to get this stadium done. We are willing to forego the concert revenue to make this happen.”

“The neighbors can declare victory given that there will not be concerts hosted at the new stadium,” said Councilman Liccardo, who has been involved in planning and permitting procedures in conjunction with the Earthquakes since the beginning of the process.

From the sound of the report, the locals were very worried about loud noises. Seeing how the stadium will only host 18k, it really shouldn’t be that bad.

The Quakes now have some good momentum in this project and hope in the coming weeks to being building their very own soccer stadium. A positive sign that soccer will be staying in the Bay Area for the long run.

BC Place is getting awfully close to opening up again in Vancouver. I noticed this post over at stadiumporn.com (awesome name btw). The light panels on the outside of the stadium are pretty sweet. And that roof. Wowzers.

Its a cool little stadium, something that will work nicely in MLS. Nothing overly sexy about it but one that I kind of like. It’s the simple little things I suppose that work with this.

(H/T to SF for linking this up earlier today)

(H/T to SF for posting this).

I love it when MLS teams are aggressive with their plans. The Philadelphia Union are indeed one of those clubs. Philly.com is reporting that the club wants to make their home field even bigger.

Union officials are developing long-term plans to expand the stadium, contemplating a three-phase process, the first to increase seating from 18,500 to 20,000. By the end of the three-phase process they hope to have the stadium up to 30,000 seats.

Yes, 30k.

That would represent an overall 62 percent increase in capacity and the total cost would be right around $25 million. New decks would rise over the sideline stands and above the east sections collectively known as the River End.

The club already has a waiting list for season tickets as they sold out of the 13,000 season tickets allotted for this season. So there is a demand for more seats of course, similar to what we saw in Toronto at BMO Field.

What I like about their plans with this expansion plans is that it isn’t all right away. The first phase would only add 1,500 seats. And that phase wouldn’t be done for another couple years. Slow and steady growth, just like the league has been doing for years now. Smart if you ask me.

Hopefully before long they pass around some sketches of what this expansion could look like at PPL Park.

Man, I can’t wait to attend a game there. Can you?