According to an email sent to some FC Dallas season ticket holders, the club is closing the north end Beer Garden for 2021. Instead, FC Dallas plans to renovate sections 112 and 113 (the southwest corner of the stands) to build a “safe standing” area for the supporters.
There is also talk of an “all you can eat” section in the south end.
While we certainly welcome a safe standing area we do wonder what is to become of the north stage as there is nothing in the email to indicate what will happen to it. There is also no timeline mentioned for when the ‘safe standing” are will be complete.
Update: as pointed out by one reader, this also moves the supporters close to where the teams come out of the new locker rooms.
Update 2: Dan Crooke mentions that part of the reason for the Beer Garden closure is that the MLSPA negotiated for “no field-level seating” in 2021 which includes 500 of the 975 beer garden seats as they were currently set up.
Lots of questions here, as it seems the club is leaving plenty of details to the imagination (I am not in an SG):
– They are closing the beer garden, but how long will it take to make this “standing area” in 112 and 113? If they’re trying to rush this through for the start of the season, I doubt it will resemble a “modern amenity”.
– Will they also be moving cheap beer to the south end as well? If not, I could see the $3 concession area getting even more packed than it is today (it is also typically staffed by volunteer groups, so it is sloooooooow).
– Does FCD have a long term plan here? It seems like they change things pretty drastically from year to year. This move seems to limit some of the progress made in recent years (larger tifos, combining of SGs), very much a “one step forward, two steps back” situation.