A new Columbus Crew stadium is coming to the city’s downtown Arena District and photos released Tuesday are making the rest of the league envious.
Mapfre Stadium, opened in 1999, was the first soccer-specific stadium in Major League Soccer. In a sign of the times, the current Columbus Crew stadium is now severely out of date, with the scoreboard once catching on fire in a microcosm of the club itself. With the Crew officially saved from Anthony Precourt by the Cleveland Browns owners, the club knew it needed a new venue and investment.
We wrote about the upcoming Columbus Crew stadium — slated to open July 2021 — back in December, but more details and images were released by the team on Tuesday.
Welcome to the future.
Join the #Crew96 Downtown Stadium Waitlist: https://t.co/2d6rd6YXPP— Columbus Crew SC (@ColumbusCrewSC) September 24, 2019
Released in conjunction with the club begging fans to put a down deposit now to reserve their seats, the Columbus Crew stadium (the working title is “Downtown Stadium,” but that will obviously change) is looking better and better.
360-degree open concourse, the first supporters’ beer garden in @MLS, and a brew hall that will be open on non-matchdays.
— Columbus Crew SC (@ColumbusCrewSC) September 24, 2019
Here are some details on the Columbus Crew stadium, from the club itself:
- A continuous wrap-around roof; four unique stands with their own identity and design
- A 3,400-seat Nordecke safe-standing section complete with its own Beer Garden
- A 5,000 sq. ft. Brew Hall with open views to the entrance plaza and downtown
- Approximately 34,000 sq. ft. of open club lounge space available for community uses
- And of course, a 100,000 sq. ft. field compliant with MLS, Concacaf and FIFA regulations, in addition to football, rugby, lacrosse, concerts, and other community events.
Of course, since this is MLS in 2019, the arena has to have a brew hall and beer garden, because if you don’t have both you’re not even trying (though we’re not sure about claiming the beer garden is a first). The Nordecke supporters’ section will be integrated with tifo rigging systems, which is useful. There’s a community plaza located outside the stadium (open to the public on game days) that’s a nice touch and could encourage a great gameday atmosphere around the park. And it’s always good to know they remembered to save enough room to make the field regulation size.
Home of the @Nordecke.
The North Side of the stadium includes 3,400 safe-standing seats with a steep bowl rake close to the pitch. pic.twitter.com/N7CdHprqBC— Columbus Crew SC (@ColumbusCrewSC) September 24, 2019
For more info and high-res images of the Columbus Crew stadium, follow this link.
Your turn, Austin.
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