Nippert Stadium is "scheduled for another makeover this year, and the latest overhaul is designed to make Cincinnati and its upstart soccer franchise more attractive," according to a front-page piece by Jason Williams of the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER. USL club FC Cincinnati plans to "permanently remove a 'minimum number of rows and lower level seats'" around the Univ. of Cincinnati's horseshoe-shaped football stadium "in order to widen the playing field." It does not appear the renovation "will have any impact on UC's prospects of joining the Big 12." UC officials said that the capacity of the 40,000-seat stadium "is not expected to be reduced." Neither FC Cincinnati President & GM Jeff Berding nor the contract "disclosed the cost, but the agreement does say the soccer club will pay for the work." Williams notes a bigger field "would bring Nippert Stadium up to" MLS playing regulations and "allow UC to host popular U.S. national team qualifying matches and exhibition games for some of the world's top soccer clubs." Berding said luring such matches "helps put Cincinnati on the map as a top soccer city" in the U.S. A higher regional soccer profile also "could help further FC Cincinnati's MLS dreams." Berding: "We want Cincinnati to be recognized as a pro soccer market" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 4/28).
