DC United Managing General Partner Jason Levien said that the team's new 20,000-capacity stadium is "on schedule to open next June." In DC, Steven Goff noted the club has already "sold most of Audi Field’s 31 luxury suites," and the ongoing season-ticket push will "accelerate this summer." United will "work with the league to backload" next year's schedule with home matches, "meaning perhaps a dozen on the road to start the season." Levien said that possible construction delays "wouldn’t prevent the team from playing all 17 home dates in the new venue next season" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/29).
ON STRANGER TIDES: In Pittsburgh, Joe Starkey writes the Pirates are "in danger of posting their biggest attendance drop since their second year at PNC Park." Their "average crowd (23,505) has shrunk by nearly 4,000 per game through half the home schedule." That "ought to set off alarms" in Owner Bob Nutting’s office. It would also "mark a third consecutive drop." Starkey: "A sports franchise’s worst enemy -- apathy -- has begun to set in" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 6/30).
