MLS Dynamo Break Ground On Soccer-Specific Stadium In Houston

A crowd of over 2,000 fans gathered Saturday to “celebrate the groundbreaking” for the MLS Dynamo’s new downtown Houston stadium, according to Jose De Jesus Ortiz of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. Dynamo co-Owners Gabriel Brener and Oscar de la Hoya, club President Chris Canetti, MLS President Mark Abbott, AEG President & CEO Tim Leiweke, Houston City Council member James Rodriguez and County Judge Ed Emmett were in attendance, along with "most of the Dynamo coaching staff and players." More than 500 "orange hard hats were passed out," and Dynamo F Brian Ching “drove a front-end loader before county and city officials joined team and MLS executives and the players for the symbolic dig.” De la Hoya at the event “promised to bring world-class boxing events to the stadium” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/6). The stadium is the first downtown soccer-specific stadium in the U.S., and MLSSOCCER.com’s Darrell Lovell wrote the "prime location" will place the Dynamo "in the heart of ... Houston’s sports landscape, where they’ll be neighbors" to the Rockets and Astros. Houston Mayor Anise Parker said, “It will make a really dynamic triangle with the Toyota Center, Minute Maid Park, and now the new Dynamo stadium -- with the George R. Brown Convention Center right in the middle of the action” (MLSSOCCER.com, 2/6).

DYNAMO'S GOLDEN BOY: The CHRONICLE's Ortiz noted De la Hoya “made it clear to Rodriguez that he is adamant about bringing world-class boxing cards to the Dynamo's new stadium.” The Dynamo “will be wise to cross-promote boxing matches with Dynamo games.” Ortiz wrote of de la Hoya, “There's no denying his marketing savvy.” Now that the Dynamo “will get their new stadium next year, the Golden Boy could surely help expand his team's fan base by making the rounds pitching his product, just as he has in boxing” (CHRON.com, 2/6).