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?

Before long we could see a larger PPL Park in Chester, PA. The Philadelphia Union have done well so far to keep the place packed in their first couple of games this season but could more seats be added here soon? It is possible.

The University of Villanova is trying to make the jump to the big league’s in college football and are potentially looking at PPL Park to host their home games. The catch is they’ll need to expand it to hold 30,000 seats. Currently it holds 18,500 seats.

For Villanova to be a BCS school, they need 15,000 in actual or paid attendance for all games in its home stadium. Currently their home stadium only seats 12,000 and doesn’t look like a candidate for expansion any time soon.

So that is where PPL Park comes in.

PPL Park has four possible sites where expansion could take place, raising the capacity from 20,000 to a little more than 30,000, according to Sakiewicz. The addition of an upper deck on the south end, or “River End,” section would add about 2,000 seats. Additionally, the concourse level on both the east and west portions of the stadium and the east suites, or “Founding Members” section, can accommodate more seats.

The bigger concern will come down to maintenance on the field. Never mind the ugliness that is football lines on a MLS pitch, but the possibility that the natural grass will be beaten up a good bit during the fall while both MLS and college football are going on.

A big test for this will be coming up this summer when PPL Park hosts the collegiate rugby championships on June 4-5.

I think for the most part adding some extra seats to this stadium will have to happen eventually. I could see Philly as one of those clubs that have a stadium of this size that will need a few extra thousand seats from time to time. Plus, it could mean they’ll be able to host better international matches there. From a MLS side of things, I do wonder if they’d be able to fill 30,000 seats on a fairly regular basis for league matches.

What do you think of PPL Park expanding to 30k seats to make way possibly for a college football team to move in with them? Do you think the Union can handle a stadium that size?