"Build It Now!"

Lew Wolff on Next Steps for San Jose Stadium (mlsinsiderblog):

 

Begin? My impression is that they've been working on sponsorships for a while. I guess this is good news in a weird sort of way. If they've been working on it for a year or so and they haven't achieved what they've set out to do, that's a little worrisome. You start to wonder if it's achievable. If OTOH they are just now officially "beginning", then there's still some hope that it could possibly move along at a reasonable pace.

 

is the city willing to/going to spend any money to provide the necessary infrastructure improvements to the stadium area?

 

What exactly would need improving? The site is right near a highway, bus station, rail access, and even an airport. I'm not totally familiar with the plans nor the state of the local infrastructure, but I don't think there is too much that would be actually needed. Maybe wanted.

 

I believe the surrounding area is slated for more private commercial development. Coleman Avenue is perhaps all that would fall under municipal responsibility, but it's in good shape and suitable for expected traffic.

 

Indeed it is. And the local interchange with I-880 was already rebuilt recently to handle airport traffic that will never come, so there is no need for any improvements there. Also the local Caltrain station is was undergoing renovations already so nothing needs to be done there. The site itself was already wired and piped for heavy industrial so there shouldn't be much of anything needed to upgrade that other than the actual building on site which is the developers responsibility. Nope this is a 100% private project.

 

Probably one of the the most positive/ best retort posts I've ever read on this board.

I tell people ALL the time that if you told me 35 years ago there'd be quite a few Americans playing soccer in other countries some day, let alone ENGLAND, I'd say say, "Yeah, RIGHT!".

Great post.

 

Perhaps they have been waiting until they knew they could for sure build a stadium at that site before they went all out looking for a naming rights sponsor. With the passage of the DEIR and they rezoning of the site they no longer have that question mark hanging over the whole project.

And they can now also go past the stadium rendering stage and come up with actual design plans, and who knows, maybe they want to include a long term sponsor in the design process to maximize the promotion of their brand.

 

my apologies for putting this stuff in this thread but I couldn't find a better place.

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-dynamo-stadium

 

there is any news on the epicenter?

 

I knew AEG would get Houston to get that stadium done quickly just as they said they would.

 

They've still got a pair of public votes ahead of them. And they're not lacking for opposition down there. But yeah great job on getting a quick stadium deal done in Houston AEG. Only took them what, 5 years to be behind us in getting a stadium done?

 

Any time you've still got a vote on use of public money, you're not "close."

 

There's no way to get from Caltrain to the FMC site without a 2 mile drive up and over De La Cruz.

 

Not yet, but there will be. They'll build either a bridge or run a bus/shuttle. To not do so would be absurd.

 

I would bet several pints of beer (good beer) that EQLLC have been talking to lots of sponsors, but that those discussions have all be sort of "IF we can get this together." Now that the die has been cast, these talks can proceed as actual business deals, and move out of the speculative realm.

EQLLC have been planning to build a pedestrian bridge from the CalTrain Station to the Stadium site all along. Be patient grasshopper!

Oh and @#$% Houston, AEG, MLS, and their associated minions of evil. I'd like to kick Don Gerber in the balls until his eyes bleed. Wanker! (Hmmmm. Maybe I could use that deep breathing and meditation stuff?)

GO QUAKES!!
0-0-0 so far ...

- Mark

 

Maybe. Some sponsors do want to see something concrete like Rio Tinto did. However others like Cisco don't need something concrete to see. It all depends on who they can get to sign on. If they can find another Cisco we could have a naming sponsor before shovels hit the Earth and long before the building is done.

 

Minimum 10% return on cost. Maybe 12%.

 

My point is that private $ is going to be tough to get.

 

Not nearly as hard as public money in California. When you think about it Wolff/Fisher/et al already have enough cash on hand to build it out of pocket. What they're really trying to do, and I cannot blame them for it as I'd do the same thing, they're trying to make sure they don't lose a lot of cash on this stadium deal. That's likely why they're moving forward with the permit/design phase while still looking for $$$.

 

Wolff and Fisher are billionaires. They can afford to build the stadium out of pocket. Happily, they are also very good at getting other people to invest in their schemes. I'm sure that they will find sufficient sponsors to build the stadium.

GO QUAKES!!

- Mark

 

Yeah, here's hoping for a short wait for us to break ground.

Maybe we need a new chant for the supporters to show that we are stadium zionists. To steal a line from the traditional passover seder...

"Next year in the Epicenter!" (from "Next year in Jerusalem") or something like that. Something that will reiterate just how important the new stadium is to us.

 

Given the current controversy over Israel's new development plans for East Jerusalem, I'm not sure it's a good time to mix the Jerusalem metaphors into another building project.