PHOTO: Columbus Crew Stadium. (AP file)

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By José Alfredo Flores, USA TODAY

The best and brightest in Major League Soccer will be on display at the league's fifth All-Star Game on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. However, the brightest star might not be a player. Crew Stadium, the first soccer-specific stadium built for a U.S. pro team, will be showcased as the prototype for other MLS teams to follow.

"To have a facility (for soccer fans in a particular city) to call their own and attract them to MLS games is key to the success of this league," says MLS Commissioner Don Garber.

That view is shared by Lamar Hunt, a longtime pro sports entrepreneur who still owns the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs, was an original MLS investor and remains involved with operating the Crew and the Kansas City Wizards.

Tampa Bay's Carlos Valderrama in a July 15, 2000 game. (Mike Fisher, AP)

"Building stadiums to fit the size of our audience is certainly the biggest need we have as a league," says Hunt, who financed the $28 million, 22,555-seat Crew Stadium. "There is definitely a perceived sense of pride soccer fans have for their own facility."

League officials, investors and players agree there are many problems with the larger-than-required facilities that abound in MLS. Since the Crew is the only MLS team that owns its own, soccer-specific stadium, the league faces difficulty with scheduling, crowd atmosphere and field quality (Hunt's organization owns Arrowhead Stadium, where the Wizards play, and New England Revolution investor-operator Robert Kraft, owns Foxboro Stadium, which is also home to Kraft's New England Patriots). But the biggest issue probably is the image created by the many seats that remain empty, even when teams draw crowds that meet MLS' expectations.

The league lists the capacities of its larger stadiums in "downsized" form — that is, with certain sections closed. For example, the Cotton Bowl in Dallas has a normal capacity of 67,600, an MLS capacity of 22,528 and an average crowd of 13,899 for Burn games this season.

"The media's perception is if we don't sell out our games, we look like a failure even though we're hitting our attendance goals," says Burn president and general manager Andy Swift. "We average the same as the (NBA's Dallas) Mavericks, but no one complains since they play in an (18,187-seat) arena."

The average normal capacity of MLS stadiums is 60,000, and the league is drawing an average of 13,650 fans this season. In the English Premier League, the top league in a soccer-obsessed country, the stadiums have an average capacity of about 35,000.

"We're not asking for anything different than anywhere else around the world," says D.C. United and U.S. national team defender Jeff Agoos.

"For most markets, 20,000 to 25,000 is the perfect fit," Hunt says. "By having a smaller stadium there is always the threat for a sellout."

Several MLS teams are examining the possibility of building soccer-specific stadiums, with the Los Angeles Galaxy at the forefront. The club has preliminary plans for a 30,000-seat stadium on the campus of California State University-Dominguez Hills in suburban Los Angeles. Other teams — including Chicago, New York/New Jersey, Colorado and D.C. United — hope to follow suit within the next five years.

Galaxy officials would like to have the stadium in place by the 2002 season. Currently Los Angeles plays in the gargantuan Rose Bowl, where the normal capacity is 92,542.

With their own stadiums, MLS teams would control all aspects of the facilities' operations, and they would be able to keep all the money from concessions, parking and corporate sponsorship — revenue streams some MLS teams now have to share with the owners of their stadiums.

The D.C. Sports Commission, which owns RFK Stadium, where D.C. United plays "makes 50% more than we do," says D.C. United general manager Kevin Payne.

"Long-term profitability in this league comes with soccer-specific stadiums," says the Burn's Swift.

Falling roof tiles in the upper deck, security problems and poor guest services also have plagued RFK. Garber says, "D.C. is suffering because of this. RFK has some issues that need to be taken care of immediately."

The D.C. Sports Commission is considering renovating the aging stadium. But Payne says, "We could get a brand new stadium for the cost of renovation."

Giants Stadium is home to two NFL teams, six concerts a year and an XFL team next season. Says Garber, the MetroStars are "certainly low on the Giants Stadium tenant list."

The MetroStars have to schedule their matches around the other events, creating confusion for potential ticket buyers with games Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

"It's hard selling season tickets when we have games at so many different times and days," MetroStars general manager Nick Sakiewicz says. "With a new stadium we would have more control on when we play, creating a destination day and time for games."

With many MLS teams also in heavily used stadiums, games sometimes are played amid poor field conditions created by other events. A recent exhibition between D.C. United and Newcastle United of the English Premier League was played on a muddy field because of a Dave Matthews concert a few days before the game.

"It was amazing that they (D.C.) were able to pass the ball so well on that pitch. Maybe they're used to it," says Newcastle United forward and former England national team captain Alan Shearer. Adds MetroStars and Colombian national forward Adolfo Valencia: "Many fields here are left destroyed after so many games. That's why it's important for the league to create stadiums only for soccer."

During football season, MLS games have yellow soccer lines and white football lines, excluding Crew Stadium. Although football games are played there, the unsightly football lines are removed for Crew games.

"It's not a pretty sight," says Mutiny general manager Bill Manning, whose team plays in Raymond James Stadium, which is also home to the NFL Buccaneers. "When you're the major tenant at the facility you get your way."

With football lines on the field and partially filled stadiums, many MLS matches don't look their best on TV.

"These games are certainly not as TV friendly," says Garber. "Twenty thousand in Crew Stadium certainly looks better than 30,000 in Giants Stadium."

Despite the problems with some of the stadiums, Garber is optimistic.

"We're a young league. We've got a lot of growing still to do and with growing come some growing pains," he says. "Having the All-Star Game in Crew Stadium is a great statement for the game. If we can have an environment where we are not lost in the caverns we play in our future will be real bright."