EQ Stadium

Fingers crossed.

 

So long as it does get finished. We can endure any 90 day delays.

 

I'm getting ready to move up to the Bay Area and would love to be welcomed by the good news of a new Soccer Specific Stadium. Come on SJE, bring San Jose a new temple of goodness.

S!

 

I hate to say it, but call me when they break ground.

SJ and New England have talked too much and done too little to allow me to trust them.

 

New England?

What has New England ever talked about for building anything??


What do the Krafts need to build an SSS to be profitable for themselves???


What are you even talking about?????

 

he's talking about various quotes from high levels within the organization over the years specifically stating they want to build the revs their own stadium in or very near the urban area of boston.

he's talking about the over $100,000 the krafts spent out of pocket on a feasibility study related to building a SSS over a train maintenance facility.

if your going to be a smarmy twat, you should know what your talking about.

 

some background for ya. There's more out there and I'm sure others will be more than happy to fill you in more but there is a start.

 

I think he was referring to New England talking about something this concrete.

The Quakes are announcing demolition on a site they own and have already built a practice field on with a definite time frame for it to finish and an opening day range for their stadium whose construction will start shortly after the demolition completes... New England is still back at the "floating site ideas" phase if that...

 

The article seems to imply that construction will not necessarily follow right after demolition, which is somewhat confusing to me. Can you explain what the hold up is? Are they really just waiting for a naming rights sponsor and, if so, why? Surely they have the money to actually pay for the construction and recoup on the investment by selecting a naming rights sponsor later on, no?

 

Actually the article on MLSSoccer seems to imply they do have the money to start construction and finish by the 2013 opening day but if they were to get a naming rights sponsor they could build faster and might be able to finish some time during the 2012 season.

 

For one thing, they just applied for the planned development permit to build the stadium back on Jan. 20th. From what information can be gleamed from the city website it will take until at least until July to review and approve the permit, so, no actual construction can start until then. In the meantime they are free to demolish the old site and prep it for construction.

 

I know SJ fans are likely to be happy with anything they can get but man, I'd be disappointed if that was my brand new SSS to be.

#dontshootme

 

BIG THANKS to Lew Wolf for bringing the franchise back, but it always felt to me that he was talked into it by Garber and had immediate buyers remorse. Unlike say the new KC fellas who seem to LOVE their footy, Lew had other ideas more related to real estate, or so it seems. Or he just does not have the cash on hand to do it right/promptly.

In the long run, the Quakes need a new owner, and I hate to say this, but Lew is not a young man. Heaven forbid, but who will take over when he disapears from the scene, either via retirement or anything else? Maybe Quakes fans can fill in who the minority owners might be, if any?

Stadium looks really nice, but my thing is and always has been I hate that friggin empty end, and would love some close fans behind the goal for TV. Make it seem like people are having a great time at the game, waving flags, chanting, clapping in unison, instead of sitting on some blanket or aimlessly wondering around with a beer in hand and not really watching the action. Promote the game day experience with your best asset, the fans themselves. It's a no-brainer of epic proportions.

My 3 cents...

 

It was the other way around. Garber, or rather the league's BoG, very much didn't want to be in the same situation in SJ twice. But Wolff had already bought an option on a team, he had public sympathy on his side, and had a land-swap deal that he figured was sure to go over because, since it was not a cash subsidy, it wouldn't require a public referendum.

Then the Great Recession happened. That made the land-swap deal economically infeasible, which meant Wolff had to buy land at full price on the market. That has scaled down, and slowed down, everything. Slowed down partially because he's had to negotiate an agreement with the city to buy the land three different times at three different prices as the property value has continued to fall. Basically, he was going to wait until it hit bottom to move.

Of course, you don't want to judge how nice a stadium looks and feels until you've had a chance to be in it, but even assuming your impression holds, as far as a post-Wolff future, I would say this locks the Quakes up for at least 10 years*, probably 20. It may cause the team to be one of the laggards in revenues, but it is also likely to keep their expenses very low. And one thing almost any new stadium does, even one that maybe doesn't scream 'major league', is that it gets the 'will they leave town?' monkey off the franchise's back in the minds of fans. A lot of times, that alone can increase interest in the team. (Believe me, here in DC, I would take a cheap stadium over having that cloud overhead.)

(* The 10 years figure assumes some very rapid growth from the league, to the point that the Quakes' revenue actually becomes a drag, and Wolff or a future owner would have to consider upgrades to the facility to remain competitive. In other words, such a 'good problem' for the rest of the league to have that we probably shouldn't be looking at it as a disaster.)

 

I can understand people being hopeful but skeptical. If there's any comparison to be made, I would think it'd be with Kansas City, where there was this demolition ceremony... and then they built in an entirely different location. Now, I'm not suggesting that anything like that is likely here. Just that it's one example where demolishing buildings isn't necessarily relevant to stadium construction.

 

Hey, if the fans come out, it will be a success, just look at TFC and that simple stadium they put up. When filled it looks fine, and that SJ roof instantly gives it a better feel for most of us stadium snobs.

 

I'm wishing you well, but Wizards/Sporting fans remember all the demo the team did at the Three Trails/Bannister Mall site in Missouri. I think they still have some development plans for the location, but alas - no soccer stadium.

 

Interestingly, a business in my day job's industry was basically forced to move their manufacturing facility out of Sommerville due to some upcoming redevelopment in the area.

 

Wouldn't you say that was an exception, and not the rule? Do I need to point out all the other stadiums that were built where demolish happened?

 

I think the difference in the case of KC vs SJ is that KC it wasn't the owners land they were demolishing on. In SJ's case it is. Wolff and Co. own the land this demolition is taking place on and have held it for several years now without doing anything (and we know the economy hasn't recovered yet) so if they're doing something now it tends to lean toward the notion that it's finally time to build the stadium.

 

Stan, yes and no. The first thing that you need to understand is that the "land-swap" deal concerned an entirely different piece of property. That land is about a 75 acre orchard in south San Jose that was zoned commercial/industrial years ago. Wolff had an option to buy it. His plan was to have the city council zone it residential, which would have about tripled its value with a stroke of a pen. Wolff would have walked away with about $80 million in profit, which would fund his stadium. Then the great Recession happened and that plan went out the door. The stadium itself was not going to be built on that land. Initially they were talking with SJSU to build a brand new stadium to replace Spartan, which they would share with the football team. San Jose State did not like Wolff's proposal and backed out.
Wolff and a couple of his other developer buddies then took out an option to buy the big chunk of land next to the airport. The stadium is only a small part of what they want to do there. That land, owned by the city, had to be sold at fair market value. And that price has been renegotiated twice now to reflect the declining value of the land. With the latest deal Wollf can choose to buy only the land that the stadium will be sited on, to expedite the process. They don't have to purchase the entire parcel.

 

I guess you haven't seen the stadium rendering yet, by no stretch of the imagination is it a temple unless it's a temple to bad taste.

 

What most people do not understand is that Lew Wolff is NOT the majority owner of the team, John Fisher of the Gap fortune is. (They own the Oakland A's together also). Lew, however, is the managing general partner of the whole operation, the front man so to speak, who does all the negotiating and wheelin' and dealin'. Fisher likes to keep in the background and let Lew run the show. The San Jose Sharks are also reported to own a 10% stake in the team. As far as what would happen if something happens to Lew, well, that's anyone's guess. However, his son Keith appears to have taken the lead in the Quakes stadium project.

 

Doesn't Wolf go to all or most of the Earthquake home games? It's probably incorrect to say that he's uninterested in the team.