Opposition group holds rally against Beckham’s MLS stadium

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http://wsvn.com/news/local/opposition-group-holds-rally-against-beckhams-mls-stadium/

Opposition group holds rally against Beckham’s MLS stadium

MIAMI (WSVN) - David Beckham’s quest to bring soccer to South Florida is facing a new hurdle.

Residents and clergy in Overtown and Spring Garden held a rally, Wednesday, against Beckham’s proposed soccer stadium.

The meeting was organized by the Overtown Spring Garden Community Coalition.

The group argues the deal is light on community benefits and heavy on consequences.

“Well, what we hope to accomplish is to reverse this train that has so much momentum, which is the Major League Soccer stadium,” said St. John’s Baptist Church Bishop James Adams. “We feel that the site is inappropriate for the size that it is.”

County commissioners voted in June to sell the three acre property along Northwest Seventh Avenue to Beckham’s group for an estimated $9 million.

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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article166072327.html

Beckham stadium draws organized neighborhood opposition

In the first sign of organized opposition to David Beckham’s dreams of bringing professional soccer to Miami, a new community group has formed to push city, county and Major League Soccer leaders to shoot down a 25,000-seat stadium near the Miami River.

On Wednesday, property owners, residents and clergy in Spring Garden and Overtown — the two neighborhoods bordering Beckham’s proposed stadium site — will gather at St. John Institutional Missionary Baptist Church to rally against what they say is a stadium deal light on community benefits and heavy on consequences.

The meeting is organized by the Overtown Spring Garden Community Collective, a not-for-profit incorporated last week.

“The goal is to stop the stadium,” said James Adams, senior pastor at St. John Church. “We’re a much stronger voice when all of us are on the same page. And we’re trying to do the same thing as opposed to having just splintered groups.”

The organization’s board of directors includes Adams and Bruce Matheson, a wealthy Spring Garden landowner who filed a lawsuit last month seeking to overturn the county’s no-bid agreement to sell a water and sewer facility to Beckham. (Matheson told the Miami Herald that his lawsuit and the organization are not coordinated efforts.)

Attempts to rally against the stadium — for which Beckham and his team of investors are still seeking approvals — are emerging late in the game.

County commissioners voted in June to sell a three-acre property along Northwest Seventh Avenue for $9 million to Miami Beckham United, the last piece of property needed by the soccer star and his investors to compile a 9-acre stadium site. And Major League Soccer owners agreed last week to have league commissioner Don Garber negotiate a final deal to authorize the creation of Beckham’s franchise.

But Adams and other group leaders note that Beckham has yet to make a $450,000 down payment on the purchase of county land, due in September. And even should the sale and MLS approval go through, they say, Beckham’s team of investors still has to obtain special approvals by the Miami City Commission in order to build its stadium — a lengthy process that has yet to begin.

Adams said the group is concerned that a special events venue designed with paltry parking facilities would damage the neighborhood. He also said they’ve been urged to unite in part by public statements about the lack of significant opposition to the stadium by the County Commission and, more recently, in The New York Times.

“We need to correct that fact. That’s not true,” said Amanda Hand, a Spring Garden resident and former lawyer for the Miami city attorney’s office who serves as the group’s registered agent. “Our motto is it’s not a done deal. We’ve heard that way too often.”

The group organized informally weeks ago and sent a letter to city and county leaders in July criticizing the county’s community benefits package and what they said were essentially public subsidies for Beckham in the form of publicly funded infrastructure upgrades. This week, as the Miami New Times first reported, the group began distributing fliers to promote its Wednesday rally.

County spokesman Michael Hernández declined to comment on the group. But he defended the stadium agreement — conducted under the same state law that paved the way for the American Dream Mall in northwest Dade — as a good deal for the county and the surrounding neighborhoods.

“The construction of the stadium alone will create hundreds of jobs,” he said. “Major League Soccer will be a good neighbor and partner to the Overtown and Spring Garden communities and to all of Miami-Dade County.”

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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article166826092.html

County asks judge to toss lawsuit against David Beckham’s Miami soccer stadium

Miami-Dade defended its $9 million no-bid land deal with David Beckham in court filings Friday, saying the stadium the retired soccer star wants to build would bring an economic boost that “far exceeds” the sales price on the county land.

County lawyers argued the June deal to sell about three acres of land to Beckham and partners was justified under Florida’s economic-development statute, and asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to block the pending sale. Beckham’s group has until mid-September to make a $450,000 down payment on the Overtown parcel, which sits next to six acres he and his partners purchased for $19 million from a private owner last year.

Bruce Matheson, a wealthy activist with property near the proposed stadium, sued Miami-Dade on July 21, asking a judge to force the county to undo the sale and put the parcel up for competitive bidding. The litigation came two weeks before Major League Soccer owners met to consider granting Beckham an expansion franchise in Miami for a deeply discounted price, and the board opted instead to have a committee negotiate terms with the Beckham group this month.

The delay could give the league time to have the suit neutralized, with Miami-Dade requesting a dismissal. This week, the Beckham group asked to be added as a defendant in the case. Matheson is known for his deep pockets when it comes to legal bills, and success in foiling the Miami Open tennis tournament’s efforts to expand on county parkland on Key Biscayne that his family once owned.

At issue is whether Miami-Dade acted legally in signing a sales deal with Miami Beckham United without offering the land — currently a truck depot for the county’s sewer department — to other bidders. The county based the sales price on two appraisals from 2015, but Matheson’s suit claims Miami-Dade is ignoring more recent high-value sales in the area north of the Miami River. With Miami-Dade agreeing to reduce the price to cover the expense of cleaning up the property, the Beckham group would be obligated to pay about $8.4 million for the land.

In their first response to the suit, filed Friday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, county lawyers argued Matheson ignored well-established state precedent of letting governments bypass the bidding process when a land sale is justified as economic development. In exchange for the no-bid process, the Beckham group agreed to create 50 permanent full-time jobs at the 25,000-seat stadium and pursue various training and vendor programs for the local area.

“As the statute fully authorizes the County to convey land [for the stadium] under terms and conditions whose economic development value far exceeds any price that could be obtained from the mere sale of the land through competitive bidding, no challenge to the sale of the property can succeed,” the county wrote.

Residents in Overtown and neighboring Spring Garden, where Matheson owns land, are fighting the stadium proposal, which still requires zoning approval from Miami. Matheson declined to comment Friday.

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http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Group-Says-Planned-Soccer-Stadium-Wont-Be-Good-For-Overtown-439563893.html

Group Says Planned Soccer Stadium Won't Be Good For Overtown

The group believes other areas in South Florida are better suited for the soccer stadium

“It's not a done deal.”

That is the message some Overtown and Spring Gardens residents want to send to Miami Beckham United as it pursues plans to build a soccer stadium in the community. Residents in the two communities attended a meeting Wednesday to discuss why they oppose the stadium plans.

"What's the benefit to this historic neighborhood?" asked Bishop James Adams, who joined the newly-created Overtown Spring Gardens Community Collective.

The group believes other areas in South Florida are better suited for the soccer stadium. The Beckham group is eyeing land on Northwest 8th Street and 7th Avenue for the 25,000-seat stadium. Opponents said it’s a bad idea.

"Noise, traffic. The fact that we have 25,000 people swarming the area at once and then we have nobody there for the other 320 plus days per year,” said Amanda Hand.

One major hurdle for the Beckham group is a lawsuit filed by Spring Garden land owner Bruce Matheson. He alleges the county broke the law by selling Beckham land in a no-bid deal.

"They're supposed to get an open bid for disposing of county land. The values of the property have escalated since the appraisal was done," argued Matheson.

A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade County Mayor's office called the lawsuit frivolous and said in part:

"The County is on solid legal ground and we expect the Beckham group to finalize the purchase of public land for $9.1 million, finance the construction of their stadium with private dollars, and once completed, pay property taxes on the stadium."

The Overtown Spring Gardens Community Collective says it plans to continue meeting and speaking out against the stadium deal.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2017/08/11/from-the-editor-will-nashville-help-billionaires.html

From the editor: Will Nashville help billionaires pay for a soccer stadium?

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http://www.amny.com/sports/brooklyn-italians-own-lengthy-soccer-history-in-the-big-apple-1.13972205

Brooklyn Italians own lengthy soccer history in the Big Apple

Major League Soccer made a permanent home in the Big Apple just a few years ago. But on the lower levels of the sport, soccer has been a staple in Brooklyn for nearly seven decades.

The Brooklyn Italians, currently of the lower-tier National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), were established shortly after World War II by a group of Italian immigrants.

“It was kind of like a way to socialize with other Italian immigrants and from there they decided to get into the sports that they love and form a team,” said Fred DeMarco, the coach of the Italians’ U13 squad. “We evolved with the times. We weren’t only an Italian club. We had players and members of the club that were of different descents.”

Following their formation in 1949, the Italians became more competitive as time went on, winning leagues and tournaments. The most notable accomplishments are a pair of U.S. Open Cup trophies earned in 1979 (under the name Brooklyn Dodgers) and 1991.

Their clubhouse, located on the corner of 18th Avenue and 58th Street in Mapleton, carries the club’s rich history on its wooden walls.

“Every trophy that has ever been won, whether at the youth level or the adult side, is in that clubhouse,” DeMarco said. “Not many clubs in the city or the country have a clubhouse that they could truly call their own. It’s been with us since the beginning.”

The Italians believe in youth development that opens a path to their senior team.

“Most teams in New York are focused on [either the youth or senior team],” DeMarco said. “We have a good combination of it all.”

Unlike MLS’ New York City FC, the Brooklyn Italians are the historic, local club that focuses on being a part of their immediate community. The senior team plays at LIU Brooklyn’s Athletic Complex, while the youth teams play and train at Calvert Vaux Park and John Dewey High School.

“[Community] is very important,” DeMarco said. “We want to keep our fields local, easy for players and parents to get to. We want to keep them in the community.”

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Within the next two years, though, the club hopes to join Major League Soccer, the top tier professional league in the United States. To get there, FC Cincinnati will have to beat out 11 other cities that have applied for the MLS expansion in 2020.

Winning the bidding process will likely require taxpayers to agree to fund a new soccer-only stadium for FC Cincinnati. The price tag: about $200 million, at least half of it coming from public sources, the Cincinnati Business Courier reports.

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Rumor pegs AutoZone Park as future home of professional soccer

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) -

Memphis could be the next home to a professional soccer team.

SocTakes, a popular soccer blog, reports a deal to put a professional team in AutoZone Park is almost complete. The team would be part of the United Soccer League (USL), a division two league under Major League Soccer.

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The United Soccer League has announced that Austin is getting a new team, franchised to COTA chairman Bobby Epstein. They'll be playing at new 5,000-seat stadium being built on the circuit's grounds and set to open in 2019.

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Vikings owners join group trying to bring MLS to Nashville

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Minnesota United and Mortenson Construction will ramp up work on the Major League Soccer club’s new Allianz Field this fall, while business leases on the site’s northern side remain in place in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood.

A central crane stretches high above the corner of Interstate 94 and Snelling Avenue as most of the existing soil remediation work has concluded and sub-surface has been started on the stadium’s southern end, Loons majority owner Bill McGuire said Thursday. Steel for the 19,400-seat soccer-specific venue is projected to arrive in September and October.

“They are chugging along pretty fast,” McGuire said.

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http://www.twincities.com/2017/08/11/united-owner-bill-mcguire-fans-want-more-wins-new-stadium-me-too/

United owner Bill McGuire: Fans want ‘more wins, new stadium. Me, too.’

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http://marketrealist.com/2017/08/disney-prepared-cut-cord/

Why Disney Is Prepared to Cut the Cord

After announcing its fiscal 3Q17 results on August 8, Walt Disney (DIS) announced that it would no longer stream its movies on Netflix (NFLX) starting in 2019. The world’s largest entertainment company wants to start a direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019 that would show its movies exclusively.

The media giant also plans to start a streaming service for ESPN in 2018. The ESPN streaming service would include MLB, NHL, and MLS (Major League Soccer) programming.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2017/08/11/no-time-like-now-for-san-antonio-to-beef-up-its.html

No time like now for San Antonio to beef up its pitch for franchise

A formal professional sports commission could give the Alamo City more ammunition in talks with leagues and teams

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http://worldsoccertalk.com/2017/08/11/watched-soccer-games-us-tv-august-1-6-2017/

Most-watched soccer games on US TV for August 1-6, 2017

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https://www.lagalaxy.com/post/2017/08/12/stubhub-center-added-ea-sports-fifa-18-playable-stadiums

StubHub Center added to EA SPORTS™ FIFA 18 playable stadiums

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http://awfulannouncing.com/ratings/ratings-first-post-star-major-league-soccer-sunday-doubleheader-fs1-doubles-viewership-recent-years.html

Ratings: First Post-All-Star Major League Soccer Sunday Doubleheader on FS1 More Than Doubles Viewership from Recent Years

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https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/soccer/soccer/2017/08/12/peticolas-brews-unique-support-fc-dallas

Peticolas brews up unique support for FC Dallas

Soccer and craft beer is a match made in Heaven for many. Peticolas Brewing Company has been at the forefront of this intermingling of emerging cultures with their popular 2014 American IPA, Thrilla in Brazilla, celebrating the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The brewery, based in Dallas' Design District, have teamed up with Columbus' Land-Grant Brewing Co. to produce the first collaboration celebrating two MLS markets. In particular, one that once carried a rivalry for the Lamar Hunt Pioneer Cup while both teams fell under the ownership of the Hunt Sports Group.

"We knew that we weren't the only brewery out there with a passion for soccer," says Land-Grant Co-Founder and President, Adam Benner, "and thought it could be fun to bring rival sides together over well crafted beer."

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https://mlsmultiplex.com/2017/08/13/detroit-city-fc-going-pro/

Detroit City FC Going Pro?

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https://mlsmultiplex.com/2017/08/13/will-major-league-soccer-coming-las-vegas-soon/

Will Major League Soccer be coming to Las Vegas soon?

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http://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/823058

Goals fly in as Saint Louis Wins Seven Goal Thriller

Four goals in 15 minutes eventually ends in Saint Louis win in front of 4,001 fans.

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http://www.lex18.com/story/36126666/united-soccer-league-is-looking-to-possibly-add-lexington-team
   
United Soccer League is Looking to Possibly Add Lexington Team in New Division

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http://www.espnfc.com/real-madrid/story/3176467/david-beckham-to-become-real-madrid-ambassador-florentino-perez

David Beckham to become Real Madrid ambassador - Florentino Perez

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https://www.facebook.com/Beckham/posts/10154627274136571

David Beckham shared Major League Soccer (MLS)'s post.

August 10 at 11:59am ·

Exciting times for MLS!

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https://patch.com/florida/stpete/tampa-bay-rowdies-host-toy-drive

Tampa Bay Rowdies To Host Toy Drive

The USL team is partnering up with 9-year-old Addison Kapustiak and her nonprofit organization, Sending Smiles.

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http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/retail/bill-edwards-hires-outside-firm-to-manage-sundial-st-pete/2333485

Bill Edwards hires outside firm to manage Sundial St. Pete

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http://www.tbreporter.com/business/st-pete-voters-decide-vinoy-parking-garage/

St. Pete Voters to Decide on Vinoy Parking Garage

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http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-st-petersburg-cant-ignore-midtowns-decline/2333456

Editorial: St. Petersburg can't ignore Midtown's decline

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http://www.nashvillepost.com/sports/sports-business/blog/20972060/ingram-wont-influence-vanderbilts-decision-on-possible-stadium-partnership

Ingram won't influence Vanderbilt's decision on possible stadium partnership

Lead owner of MLS bid recuses himself from discussions regarding joint occupancy in off-campus facility

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http://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-chargers-stubhub-20170810-story.html

How cozy StubHub Center is racing to transform itself into an NFL-worthy home for the Chargers

The European-style roof atop StubHub Center, made of a fabric designed to contain and reverberate crowd noise, was not in the original design plans for the $150-million stadium in Carson.

It was added at the last minute, at a cost of $8 million, by stadium developer and operator AEG on Jurgen Klinsmann’s insistence after the former German soccer star and U.S. national-team coach toured the facility before it opened in 2003.

Who knew that 14 years later the tensioned membrane structure, manufactured by Birdair, Inc., would be one of the keys to transforming the 27,000-seat soccer stadium into an NFL-worthy home for the Chargers, who will host the Seattle Seahawks in their first StubHub exhibition game Sunday night?

“Home-field advantage is so important in the NFL, so we’re very excited to see whether that structural element can add any benefit to the crowd noise,” said A.G. Spanos, president of business operations for the team. “Obviously, it’s a small stadium. It seats 27,000. Our goal is to make it sound like 90,000.”

If the Chargers rebound from a 5-11 season and challenge for a playoff spot, and if their offense is high-powered and entertaining, their temporary home for three seasons could, at times, sound something like an NFL stadium. It will never look or feel like one, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

StubHub’s football seating capacity will be less than half of every other NFL stadium. Not not since 1965, when the Oakland Raiders played their final season in 22,000-seat Frank Youell Field, has an NFL or AFL team played in a facility this small.

“I think it presents a great opportunity for us to give our fans a very unique experience,” Spanos said. “Every seat is going be close to the action by virtue of the size of the venue.”

The elevation of the seats in the last row of StubHub Center is lower than the first row of luxury-suite seats in most NFL stadiums. The Chargers will add three rows of field-level bleachers in at least two corners of the end zone, bringing hundreds of fans who can afford the high-priced seats even closer to the action.

The proximity of virtually every section to the field will provide a level of intimacy few NFL stadiums can match. Most fans will be able to hear quarterback snap counts and audibles. Coaches screaming on the sidelines and bone-crushing collisions on the field will be within earshot.

“Everybody is so close to the field that every visual sense will be heightened,” said Michael Roth, vice president of communications for AEG. “You’ll smell some of the sweat, you’ll touch the players when they come over the sides, you’ll hear them … it’s football for the senses.”

Several players raved about their new home after last Saturday’s joint practice with the Rams, which attracted about 8,000 fans to StubHub. They could only imagine how the place will feel and sound when it’s packed.

“The atmosphere was amazing,” defensive end Melvin Ingram said. “It feels like everybody is so close. … The fans are even more stoked than we are. When you come out here and see them so hyped, I have no choice but to lay it on the line for them.”

The Chargers, in conjunction with stadium and league officials, have worked furiously for months to upgrade and adjust the facility to accommodate the larger crowds expected for football, from adding seats, parking, concession stands and restrooms to a massive expansion of the press box.

The bleachers in the second deck on the east side of the stadium were replaced by tip-up seats and moved to the berm on the north side, adding 1,000 seats. A new section of upper-level bleachers, which will seat 330, was erected in the southeast corner of the stadium.

The 43 luxury suites have been renovated with new seats, furniture, community tables, and engineered hardwood floors instead of dated carpet.

Fans will have use of the restrooms and concession stands at the 8,000-seat tennis stadium next door. A new concession area with food trucks, beer trucks and high-end portable restrooms will be added behind the berm on the north side.

“These are not construction-site portable restrooms,” Roth said. “They’re movie-studio-set ones.”

Katie Pandolfo, the facility’s general manager for 13 years, said most NFL stadiums have a ratio of 120 fans to one concession-stand point of sale.

“We tried to get even lower than that,” Pandolfo said. “We’re at 112 to one.”

Parking lots will open for tailgating four hours before the game, but tailgating will not be allowed on the lots located on Cal State Dominguez Hills property.

Fans wishing to use public transportation can take free Chargers Express shuttles from the Harbor Gateway Transit Center on the Silver Line and the Del Amo station on the Blue Line. Drop-off will be in front of the stadium.

An official pregame tailgate will begin three hours before games on the plaza concourse on the south side of the stadium, which can accommodate up to 8,000 people.

There will be at least 16 food trucks, featuring a variety of Los Angeles-area vendors, several large-screen televisions for the viewing of early games, an outdoor bar, shade areas and stages for pregame radio and television shows.

The Chargers will have full use of the American Express Stadium club, which seats about 250 on the south side, the 14 cabanas, which seat four to six people, outside the club and the Jim Beam Champions Lounge, from where fans can see players coming in and out of the locker rooms.

The press box is undergoing a major facelift. A third row was added to the main box, boosting capacity from about 35 to 53. Floors were constructed on the roof of the luxury suites so an auxiliary press box could be built on both sides of the main box.

In all, the new configuration will accommodate more than 200 media members. Though the auxiliary box will be outdoors, the working area will be protected by the stadium roof.

Two new radio booths were built outside the south side of the press box, and a large new booth on the north side will serve as a security command post for police and NFL officials.

Two booths were added on each side of the press box for the NFL-mandated 20-yard-line television cameras, and a stairway allowing access to the roof of the main box was built to accommodate the 50-yard-line camera.

Two of the eight booths on the first floor of the press box were reconfigured with riser systems to accommodate coaching staffs. The other six booths will house the national television crew, radio crews for both teams, instant-replay officials, game-clock managers and medical spotters.

“We had the network and NFL officials fly in, we brought in a lot of experts to look at all the infrastructure that needed to be put in place so the replay system can work, so the coach-to-quarterback communication can work,” Spanos said. “All those behind-the-scene things needed to be done.”

To accommodate 53-man NFL rosters, four small locker rooms were converted to two larger ones with 60 cubicles in each. Both teams will have access to training rooms and a weight room. There will be small postgame news conference rooms for each team and rooms for game officials and the chain gang.

The Chargers will have the use of the new 52 X 20-foot video board on the south side of the stadium. A ribbon board was added to display detailed game information, out-of-town scores and fantasy league stats.

The Chargers are paying for the bulk of the renovations and upgrades, which Spanos estimated to be in the “tens-of-millions-of-dollars” range.

Eric Smith, former stadium voice of the Dodgers, has been hired as StubHub’s public-address announcer, and Mark Tamar, who spent the past decade with the Seattle Seahawks, has been hired as vice president of fan experience.

Tamar, a UCLA graduate who previously worked for the Lakers and Dodgers, was instrumental in creating the “12th-Man” experience in CenturyLink Field. In addition to spearheading game-day entertainment, he will look to “raise the roof” in StubHub Center.

“Seattle has a similar canopy above its stadium, and it’s as loud as any stadium I’ve been in,” Spanos said. “We hired Mark Tamar with two objectives: to create a great fan experience and to create a great home-field advantage.

“Seahawk fans take a lot of pride in knowing they can impact the outcome of the game. I think the fans underestimate the role they can play. We need to make StubHub a fierce place to play.”

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http://www.tampabay.com/sports/soccer/rowdies-lose-in-st-louis-snapping-five-game-unbeaten-streak/2333655

Rowdies lose in St. Louis, snapping five-game unbeaten streak