Opener at RFK keeps stadium troubles fresh
Everywhere Carey Talley goes, a new soccer stadium seems to follow. That includes stints in Dallas, where Pizza Hut Park opened in 2005, and Salt Lake City, where Rio Tinto Stadium opened in 2008.
Perhaps now that Talley is back in Washington, where he began his Major League Soccer career a dozen years ago, he’ll be that piece of karmic inspiration to help the league’s most storied club finally get its own building.
Although for Talley, simply having a locker at RFK Stadium is a step up from his last tenure, when D.C. United practiced in Fairfax County.
“When I was here, we’d come to RFK, we’d bring all our stuff in, we’d take all our stuff out,” Talley said. “It never really felt like a home. Now it’s a little bit different.”
But that home has become a symbol of a franchise falling ever further behind the rest of MLS, which by the end of the year will have 10 of its 16 teams playing in soccer-specific stadiums. Red Bull Arena, outside New York City, is the most notable, with progress being made on new facilities in three other markets.
It has become the backdrop to every home game for United (0-1-0), including its first home match of the 2010 campaign Saturday against New England (0-1-0).
“It makes me run a lot harder now, and there’s a lot more pressure on me and the team to find a new permanent home,” said United owner Will Chang, who hopes to announce the finalist from a group of three to six potential sites by the end of the year.
“The silver lining to it is that each year that goes by, the league gets stronger,” Chang said. “What New York has done is raise the bar for everybody. That gives us the opportunity to look at more in terms of a better product than four to five years ago.”
Meanwhile, MLS announced Thursday it has expanded the designated player rule to allow every team the option to sign two designated players, with the option of purchasing a third. The so-called “David Beckham Rule” allows teams to pay designated players whatever salary they choose but count only part of it toward the team’s $2.55 million salary cap.
United general manager Dave Kasper said D.C. does not intend to pursue a designated player this season.
