On the Athletic Loudoun reporting, I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason for this was that Pablo was able to get confirmation on some of the items from Pedro Santos and Steve Birnbaum as they became more integrated into the team. Pablo still does some DC United coverage and is local, so probably was able to get info from them even if they didn't want to be named specifically. Getting an authoritative confirmation might make it easier to publish. Add in that the deal was basically done, like you said Kartik around trying not to get in the way of deals being completed, and I think that makes the timing of publication less suspect.
Also, on the stadium, it's not terrible from a fan perspective, in that you are close to the play no matter where you are. But there's no shade anywhere on the grounds outside of the shipping container bathrooms. When it gets hot in the summer, it can feel like an oven, particularly on the side the camera faces. This year, they also made a weird decision to start games earlier, expecting more fans to come to early season games. Not exactly working out for them. Twice I would have gone but my son wasn't done with his youth games until too late to make it before halftime. And we're not an anomaly, playing into the mid/late afternoon, there aren't enough fields for all the leagues to not play all day. And the stands reflect that, even though they are winning for the first time ever, there are fewer people there. Maybe in the summer when school gets out and there's fewer youth soccer games it'll pick up. I hope so.
Happy to provide the perspective. I was actually at the opening match, and remember thinking that it would be perfect once they get it finished. As all the reporting indicates, it hasn't changed at all since that day. I get why that happened but there's real potential there. Obviously I'm a fan so I can't really speak to the playing conditions, though my son did the post game penally kicks they used to do and he said he had played on better turf. He was 12 at the time, so not a perfect assessment, but there are really nice fields all around the region so he's probably not wrong. I think they've improved it in the last couple years because every pass no longer has the rubber pellet rooster tail that we used to see. But I'm not surprised players complain. I've heard that the rugby team that used to play there feels happier with the facilities at the Maryland Soccer Plex than at Segra, so that's another set of voices that doesn't like the surface.
Anyway, good podcast as always, thanks for doing what you do. Love the care you all put in to covering all levels of our game.
On the Athletic Loudoun reporting, I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason for this was that Pablo was able to get confirmation on some of the items from Pedro Santos and Steve Birnbaum as they became more integrated into the team. Pablo still does some DC United coverage and is local, so probably was able to get info from them even if they didn't want to be named specifically. Getting an authoritative confirmation might make it easier to publish. Add in that the deal was basically done, like you said Kartik around trying not to get in the way of deals being completed, and I think that makes the timing of publication less suspect.
Also, on the stadium, it's not terrible from a fan perspective, in that you are close to the play no matter where you are. But there's no shade anywhere on the grounds outside of the shipping container bathrooms. When it gets hot in the summer, it can feel like an oven, particularly on the side the camera faces. This year, they also made a weird decision to start games earlier, expecting more fans to come to early season games. Not exactly working out for them. Twice I would have gone but my son wasn't done with his youth games until too late to make it before halftime. And we're not an anomaly, playing into the mid/late afternoon, there aren't enough fields for all the leagues to not play all day. And the stands reflect that, even though they are winning for the first time ever, there are fewer people there. Maybe in the summer when school gets out and there's fewer youth soccer games it'll pick up. I hope so.
Thank you for your perspective on watching games at Segra Field.
Happy to provide the perspective. I was actually at the opening match, and remember thinking that it would be perfect once they get it finished. As all the reporting indicates, it hasn't changed at all since that day. I get why that happened but there's real potential there. Obviously I'm a fan so I can't really speak to the playing conditions, though my son did the post game penally kicks they used to do and he said he had played on better turf. He was 12 at the time, so not a perfect assessment, but there are really nice fields all around the region so he's probably not wrong. I think they've improved it in the last couple years because every pass no longer has the rubber pellet rooster tail that we used to see. But I'm not surprised players complain. I've heard that the rugby team that used to play there feels happier with the facilities at the Maryland Soccer Plex than at Segra, so that's another set of voices that doesn't like the surface.
Anyway, good podcast as always, thanks for doing what you do. Love the care you all put in to covering all levels of our game.