"Kaval's Kickoff: The latest on London and SJ's new stadium" (Friday, 2/18/11) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
This is terrific of Kaval to do this. I think we've been asking for more communication from the front office and we're getting it.
I'm familiar with Devcon Construction, but not 360 Architecture. Are they qualified to handle a stadium? Ummm . . . I guess so. http://www.360architects.com/Press_...dowlands Stadium Ready for Season Openers.pdf
Since they are taking such care to ensure the grass is good, maybe that means no concerts, motocross, etc. I had a chance to attend a dinner with most of the Tottenham coaches and front office people when they came out. When the conversation took a turn to facilities and their stadium, they didn't have much to say about Buckshaw or practicing in an abandoned industrial complex. But, they all commented on the grass. The team administator who sat next to me said they were all surprised by how good the fields were. They seemed to equate field quality with club quality. Maybe the Quakes FO was listening. SCU's grounds people seem to do a very good job on the grass with 3 teams playing on it. I don't know who is taking care of Nutrilite, but maybe the Quakes can snitch SCU's field guy when they move into their stadium.
I sense a club motto or something coming on - Earthquakes soccer: we have great grass. Really there's no reason not to have a nice natural grass field given the climate here. It's low-hanging fruit and can give the Quakes a little bit of a competitive advantage over the plastic field brigade. Players will prefer to play on our fields, and their careers may last longer. In any case I really like the candor and the non-trivial information dump that Kaval has done here. High signal to noise ratio. And he knows Quakes fans well enough already to do a pre-emptive strike and make sure everyone understands that the Devcon stadium rendering is not representative of what the stadium will look like.
Does it sound like (from Kaval's article) they're going to scale back the roof overhang a bit? It sounds like there's concern over the shade messing up the field. Might be a change in the design to come?
They were concerned about the roof affecting the field condition but the "new roof material" addresses that problem.
Interesting - if you look closely you can see the innermost ring of the roof has some kind of transparent material hanging beyond the rest. I'm wondering if the blue/rest of the roof will be semi-transparent as well?
That Devcon rendering would have likely never seen the light of day, so why bother showing it? I wonder if it was done in an attempt to make the "current design" look more favorable in comparison. There are other stadium drawings that were done for the EIR and permitting process that are more interesting than the Devcon one. If the stadium design is complete or near-complete as rumored, how about giving us more detailed information? For instance: What is the distance from the touch line to the first row of seats? Distance from the touch line to the first row of the upper level seats? Distance from the touch line to the last row of the upper level? Will the team benches be built into the seating, (ala KC's new stadium) or will they be view blocking sideline benches? Where will the player entrance be located? Any plans to build a traditional supporters terrace on the berm? Any plans for a team gift shop and museum?
"Kaval's Kickoff: Demolition, playoffs and commercials" (Tuesday, 3/1/11) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
"Kaval's Kickoff: Gourmet food selection at Buck Shaw" (Monday, 3/14/11) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
You got to love this quote: I for one, feel this is going in the right direction with our pres. It seems that he is becoming a fan of the club himself and that could mean only good.
The last time something this appealing came out of a San Jose FO, they were announcing the name change to the Earthquakes. Makes me wish I was there