PT I: The Red Bull Arena Tour

By: Dave Martinez | March 10th, 2009

The Red Bulls took on a unique initiative yesterday, allowing season ticket holders to be given a guided group tour through the skeleton of Red Bull Arena. No pictures or videos were allowed. So a back route had to be taken be taken in order for the masses to get a peak as well, don’t you think?

Well, I had the privilege of walking the new Red Bulls Arena yesterday with VP of Communications, Mr. Andrew McGowan. Andrew was able to offer us details on the stadium construction, including approximate milestone dates (such as time frames for seating, the installation of grass and so on), important structural insight, as well as infrastructural information and so on.

Some highlights of the visit:

- There are no bad seats in the house. Seriously. From the first row to the sideline is 21 feet. The second level on the eastern building slopes down and in an oscillating semi-circle fashion that, at its highest point, holds 26 rows of seats. There is a full view of the action no matter where you are.
- And if the view needed to get any better, the North and South side of the Arena will feature two huge monitors for people to follow along with the action.
- There is also talk about a wrap around electronic graphic, like they do in hockey games. Should add to the atmosphere.
- The Western Building is the Arena’s base of operation, housing both teams locker room areas, press boxes and interview rooms, some conditioning areas as well as the infamous Red Bull Corner Pub (which has a pretty large central air system for those of you interested). It also houses the only elevator shafts in the arena.
- The locker room area will have a glass wall of sorts for fans to walk by and catch a glimpse of their favorite players. I am sure we won’t see Juan Pablo Angel in a towel (sorry ladies) but you get the idea.
- When asked about the RB Pub’s availability for away games, Mr. McGowan stated,”I am sure they will be able to work something out to keep the place open on off days.” Let’s cross our fingers, as the reserved area for the pub will be a large and accommodating space.
- All supporters groups will be seated in the south section of the Arena, which will be aptly numbered “101.”
- You can walk around the entire bowl of the arena. Can’t wait to take a nice stroll during a hot August day.
- There is no bench seating anywhere in the stadium.
- The place is made to contain and sustain sound. From the wrap around mesh rooftop to the concrete base and the aluminum second tier seating, RB Arena will be a deafening experience for visiting sides.
- “Kentucky Blue Grass” will be the grass of choice for this bad boy.
- The stadium holds 10,823 lower bowl seats, with 340 open, wheelchair accessible areas. The upper bowl seats 13218, with 332 wheelchair areas.
- The completion for the seating should be sometime in September/October of this year.
- The completion of the grass field may happen in about two months time.
- The grass field will feature a PGA style draining system for the grass. In instances of heavy downpour or in climate weather, the drainage system acts like a vacuum beneath the grass, soaking up the precipitation as to not effect the field performance.
- And, as far as transportation is concerned, well, its not a concern. The PATH train literally stops a parking lot away from the Arena. And driving is a breeze, especially for New Yorkers coming from the Lincoln Tunnel (15 minutes at the most with no traffic).

Walking through the stadium is a dream for long suffering Metro-Bull fans who have been waiting for this day to come since the clubs inception in 1996. To the Red Bulls credit, keep in mind that the first steel beam was erected just this past August. And that accomplishment was only after 2-3 months of the Red Bulls securing the rights to build. Now, a measly 6 months later, the skeleton of the stadium is nearly complete, and the dream is one step closer to becoming a reality.

Part two of this walk through will include plenty of video of the sites and sounds of Red Bull Arena. Click HERE for PART II of our Red Bull Arena Tour!

The Drive Up To Red Bull Arena . . .