Earthquakes to Robertson Stadium talks dead

[wufc]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3409671

Maggard also talked about the need for FieldTurf, something that might have gone out the window with
talks with Anschutz Entertainment Group about the possibility of bringing an MLS team to Robertson Stadium now dead.

[wufc]

http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2005/10/24/story6.html

The 30,000-seat Spartan Stadium would be the focus of any renovation plan, Mr. Weyermann concedes, and that project would come with a price tag estimated at $40 million. The primary goal of the master plan would be to keep Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes in town, Mr. Weyermann says. That team's owners, AEG Sports Inc., have offered in the past to kick in up to $18 million to renovate Spartan Stadium but wants management control of the facility. San Jose State has so far said it would not give up stadium operations.

It'll be interesting if SJSU cuts its football program after this year.

[uclacarlos]

It'll be interesting if SJSU cuts its football program after this year.
share... why do you say this?

[Earthshaker]

It'll be interesting if SJSU cuts its football program after this year.

I think that talk is now a thing of the past.

[Goodsport]

Earthquakes to Robertson Stadium talks dead

[GOMER PYLE]"WELL SUR-PRAZ, SUR-PRAZ, SUR-PRAZ!"[/GOMER PYLE] :D

Seriously, though, thanks for sharing that info. :)


-G

[wufc]

share... why do you say this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose_State_University#Sports

On April 21, 2004, the Academic Senate voted in favor of terminating the 110 year old football program and withdrawing from the WAC for budgetary reasons. The following month, the entire faculty voted by a 3-1 margin in favor of the elimination of football. Although these votes were only advisory, they were seen as putting pressure on the new president, due to be announced later that week. The university has had problems with the football program for several decades. The university has produced just one winning record in football following the 1990 season. Additionally, Spartan Stadium will require significant upgrades in the near future for the university to stay in Division 1-A.

On September 18, 2004, the SJSU Spartans football team hosted the "Read-2-Lead Classic," an event designed to boost attendance and save the program. The university expected a sell-out of 28,000. The paid attendance was less than 11,000. The Spartans ended the 2004 season with an average attendance of less than 7,000, the lowest in all of Division I-A football. Although the administration has announced another attempt to save the program, local insiders have all but written it off.

Though with their team drawing over 18k the last two games, I guess they're safe for now.

[uclacarlos]

18 months ago. I haven't heard any rumblings of late, but I also don't follow the situation...

[cristoforo7]

Unless an MLS team plays home games temporarily at a high school facility, there will be no MLS team in Houston in 2006. (I don't think the Astrodome is a viable option for 2006 at this point. And Reliant is too expensive.)

[CK]

What other stadium options (besides Astrodome, Relient, & Robertson), does Houston now have?

[wufc]

My guess is Rice Stadium.

[Atom'sDad]

Anyone know what happen with the Delmar talks? Are they dead too? How long does it take to build a stadium like the one they talked about for Delmar? Maybe C.A. is shooting for 2007.

[CeltTexan]

I have the inside in that Rice is on the table and RU has given MLS/AEG a steal of a deal at 10K per match. They even will allow for grass to be grown unlike Utah and their University field for RSL.

IMHO, Rice Stadium would be a solid fit for Team Houston until our SSS is built. Then it's on like donkey kong amigos!!!

[anderson]

I have the inside in that Rice is on the table and RU has given MLS/AEG a steal of a deal at 10K per match. They even will allow for grass to be grown unlike Utah and their University field for RSL.

IMHO, Rice Stadium would be a solid fit for Team Houston until our SSS is built. Then it's on like donkey kong amigos!!!Very interesting, Celt. I deleted a stadium post I just made when I saw your post. I checked with my insider on things related to Rice who tells me that something out of the ordinary is going on, but can't say more for various reasons. People are speculating that it's about Hatfield resigning, but maybe there's more than one interesting thing going on.

[uclacarlos]

Still, at 10K/game the savings don't necessarily add up, at least not in the short-term. If they plan on moving the franchise and then selling to Club America, that just throws out the window a team that makes Chivas USA and LA much more valuable b/c of the attendance bump and the legitimacy of one rivalry (LA) and the probability of a 2nd (chivas) and a 3rd (CA).

I'm sure that a stadium deal is prolly closer to being done in Houston than SJ/SF area, but enough to warrant moving a relatively healthy franchise???

[chapulincolorado]

I'm sure that a stadium deal is prolly closer to being done in Houston than SJ/SF area, but enough to warrant moving a relatively healthy franchise???

In the end....is all about $$owners$$. With Houston, you get a stadium (with an SSS in the future) and Club America. Those are the numbers that matter to MLSHQ.

[dna77054]

I have the inside in that Rice is on the table and RU has given MLS/AEG a steal of a deal at 10K per match. They even will allow for grass to be grown unlike Utah and their University field for RSL.

IMHO, Rice Stadium would be a solid fit for Team Houston until our SSS is built. Then it's on like donkey kong amigos!!!

I went to Rice, attended a couple of Rice gridiron games and a long time a go a friendly between Pumas and Atletico Nacional of Colombia. If they still have the same type of turf, it would be pretty bad. Putting in grass or some high quality field turf would be nice. Also I cannot remember how much extra width there is. The stadium was built specifically for gridiron so we may end up with a very narrow pitch. Also, unless redone recently, the bleacher seating if horrible uncomfortable.

On the plus side, Rice is in good neighborhood (for those who care), and parking would be free or very cheap. Having said all that, I would probably attend most matches. It could work as a temporary home.

[joebloe888]

Bottom line:

AEG wants to be in Houston, a newly-minted Top 10 market on the rise, instead of San Francisco-San Jose, a shrinking market which has LOST 5% of its population in the past 4 years according to Neilsen Media Research.

(San Francisco-San Jose slipped under Boston, another shrinking market, 2 years ago. Dallas-Fort Worth will pass San Francisco-San Jose by 2007.)

San Jose is the DETROIT of the 21st Century, with acres upon acres of vacant industrial and office parks resembling ghost towns. Many of these industrial and office parks have been empty since 2002.

Silicon Valley will NEVER be what it once was.

Venture Capitalists these days absolutely will NOT fund a new information technology startup unless the product development center is located in places such as Bangalore instead of Silicon Valley.

With the Quakes bounced out of the playoffs, AEG/HSG can safely carry out contraction of the Wizards and the Quakes in 2006 if necessary before re-expanding in 2007 to Toronto and Houston.

--

There is absolutely NO CHANCE MLS will ever be in Rochester. The Rhinos played the "MLS" card to get their taxpayer-funded stadium so there is no need to play the "MLS" card any further.

Furthermore, Rochester has slipped to TV market #79 (behind Omaha, Spokane, and Springfield, Missouri) as companies in Rochester such as Polaroid, Xerox, and Kodak continue to shrink. There is no way MLS will saddle itself with a small TV market that is shrinking.

[anderson]

I went to Rice, attended a couple of Rice gridiron games and a long time a go a friendly between Pumas and Atletico Nacional of Colombia. If they still have the same type of turf, it would be pretty bad. Putting in grass or some high quality field turf would be nice. Also I cannot remember how much extra width there is. The stadium was built specifically for gridiron so we may end up with a very narrow pitch. Also, unless redone recently, the bleacher seating if horrible uncomfortable.The field level is extremely narrow. We tried to estimate the distance last night and came up with around 70-75 yards total (based on the NCAA regs for field width, coaches's area, and team area, plus our best guesstimate of the rest). Maybe they could put the benches and officials' table in the first few rows like some of the stadiums in England. Dunno, but it would be very narrow indeed.

The wooden bleachers on the five or six central sections along each sideline have been replaced with alumninum bleachers. The top few rows along those central sections have box seats with chairbacks. The corners, end zones, and the upper tiers are still wooden benches. The end zones are covered with large blue tarps for "downsizing" of the sort that's pretty familiar to MLS fans. The upper tiers are hardly ever used. When you have a crowd of between 15-20,000 in the central sections of the lower tier (which was generally the case before this year), it actually makes for a pretty decent atmosphere.

I also think the sightlines at Rice Stadium are better than at any other major stadium in Houston, including Reliant. The seating slopes very steeply, so even seats in the upper rows provide a great view.

On the plus side, Rice is in good neighborhood (for those who care), and parking would be free or very cheap. Having said all that, I would probably attend most matches. It could work as a temporary home.Yup. Rice Stadium is within convenient walking distance of the Rice Village, a popular entertainment/retail district with dozens of good, varied restaurants and several cool bars and pubs.

Three stops in the MetroRail line are also within reasonable walking distance.

Rice Stadium has its limitations, but it would be a perfectly adequate temporary venue (assuming they replace the playing surface and we can learn to live with a very narrow field).

[bright]

Bottom line:

AEG wants to be in Houston, a newly-minted Top 10 market on the rise, instead of San Francisco-San Jose, a shrinking market which has LOST 5% of its population in the past 4 years according to Neilsen Media Research.

(San Francisco-San Jose slipped under Boston, another shrinking market, 2 years ago. Dallas-Fort Worth will pass San Francisco-San Jose by 2007.)


http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/San_Jose_replaces_Detroit_as_10th-largest_U.S._city

The city of San Jose gained population in the last 4 years.

- Paul

[joebloe888]

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/San_Jose_replaces_Detroit_as_10th-largest_U.S._city

The city of San Jose gained population in the last 4 years.


The San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland TV market LOST 5% of its TV households in the past 4 years according to Neilsen Media Research.

I can care less whether the City of San Jose itself (which accounts for less than 15% of the San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland TV market) gained or lost population.