The Official PayPal Park thread

This reminds me of what happened with the standing room seating in front of the LOBINA.
If fans enjoy something, then make it 3-4x more expensive and exclusive.
Good thing the bathrooms are not a super popular hang-out space.

 

She said "bathrooms." He he he.

 

What a drag, cutting up the top walkway more than just at the secured press box area. I was thinking much smaller than the less than fantastic Mr. Fox. Perhaps that's why he gets the big bucks.

I thought they would just have a suite on the top, not take the whole section with a clubhouse in the entire top corner. Will they post security to keep people from Sections 121 and 123 from walking over into empty seats in the newly minted premium Section 122? A fence?

I much prefer the view from the top of the stadium than the view from the bottom.

And the ribbon cutting for the academy facility/public youth fields is when again?

 

I have thought since 2015 that those open top corners would be great spots for additional bathrooms, especially since the concourse and bathrooms are so crowded at half time. I figured that the cost to bring water and electricity up there would deter ownership from improving the stadium in that manner for the vast majority of attendees. But here we are, additional full utilities upstairs for a private bar/clubhouse.

Maybe they can give us some porta potties in the other top corner.

 

Wow, I guess I just got an upgrade! My seats in the opposite corner are now considered premium viewing!

I actually do often go up to the corner at half time. The view of Levi's stadium was stupendous. But now it's blocked by one of the new buildings next door so I get to peer into Nancy Thomas's windows instead...

 

Anyone heard from Nancy?

 

I commented before I looked at the Sky Lounge promotional materials. It looks like the elevator opens inside the lounge, so it will be interesting to see what they do about accessibility issues. Also it looks like only a portion of 122 will be dedicated to this--it's a wide section with an aisle running up most of its middle, and there's a picture that seems to indicate only the central portion on each side of that aisle will be Sky Lounge seats. The press release says 300 seats, so that definitely would not use up the whole section. Also I was wrong about my guess that they would take out rows.

 

I am just so glad that I will be out of this stadium in 2019 after MLS moves the Crew to Austin so that I vow to never attend another MLS game. I am just exhausted by the "it's not personal it's business" attitude of MLS owners. Arthur Blank is going to make MLS a vile NFL2 subsidiary. I'm going to start watching 4th division games or college or just womens games or something... Or maybe I will just follow the Bundesliga, where most of the teams are owned by members/fans.

 

You will be "glad" to be out of this stadium? I thought you were happy after escaping your crappy moat seat?

And like someone else said earlier, " I am a Quakes fan, not an MLS fan".

 

Of course we Like our seats in the bowl. I’m just tired of giving Quakes & MLS money, just like I no longer care about NFL. Next I’ll get tired of all the sexism in the movie biz. I’ll have to learn how to read books.

It’s tiring being self-righteous!

 

The comments on this tweet are funny

NEWS: Earthquakes announce infrastructure changes to Avaya Stadium, to introduce two new Premium Seating options in 2018.

Introducing, the Sky Lounge & Bench Suites at Avaya Stadium. 😎

DETAILS: https://t.co/hcCbkHAQty pic.twitter.com/yfY1bmYujZ

— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) November 16, 2017

 

I hear you. The greed of the league and its owners is destroying any illusion that MLS differs from other sports leagues.

Between this sky lounge monstrosity and the reaming of the Crew faithful, my love is turning to hate. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Jacking around existing STH's to make room for more pricey people is terrible business practice.

Maybe it's just some off-season blues for me. What about for others?

Price increases and reduced amenities for non-luxury club members will continue until morale improves.

 

Little by little they've even eroded "privileges" for people in the club seats. At first, the area behind the seats was just for those fans. The counter behind the seats was convenient if you wanted to eat something and still watch the game. Then they started selling those counter seats, so now the counter is only available to "poach." Then this past season, they started allowing access to the club area to people in the first 5 rows of the sections directly above the club seats, so now that area is super crowded all the time. Don't know what else they can take away, but I'm sadly confident that they will continue to push that boundary until there is a strong pushback from the club seat fans. Anything to make a few extra bucks, no matter the consequences to the fans who pay the most.

 

While I'm ticked this happened to me and for a brief period of time we discussed trying to get our money back, I don't necessarily agree with this sentiment. I highly doubt this change will improve the overall Avaya atmosphere (I think it's more likely to decrease it), I do think they should continue to try to improve the stadium and understand that in doing so current season ticket holders will be affected. But I think they owe the people affected some type of acknowledgement that this change negatively affects their experience. It's not bad business practice if they make a sincere effort not to alienate us.

Our ticket rep as usual was incredibly helpful and found us equivalent seats (lucky for us season tickets aren't as popular as for other teams). That is of course a bare minimum. We had paid for our seats, and our confirmation included those seat numbers. I'm still irritated that the only acknowlegement that this sucks for us is an apology from our ticket rep, who we already really liked and are sad to lose. Maybe that's coming, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

I don't get the comparison between creating a sky lounge and relocating a franchise.

And calling the sky lounge a "monstrosity" seems over-stated. There still appears to be ample opportunity to enjoy the cat walk. And the only person who has reported being displaced from season seating reports also being given equivalent seats in the other corner. There are plenty of unsold seats in Avaya, so I expect everyone displaced to be reasonably accommodated, especially since I'm guessing many of the reserved seats for the sky lounge area were not renewed season seats in the first place. The sky lounge is arguably an unseemly money grab, but a monstrosity? Not so much.

I'm personally dubious the sky lounge is going to be a big seller at the rates quoted. As others have said on here, the view may be nice but not at that price. And, since the luxury moat crowd is likely to stay put, who exactly is going to fill the sky lounge seats? Unless the Quakes suddenly become a Warriors-style juggernaut and must-see attraction (in which case, it's all good), sooner or later the sky lounge will probably be re-opened to the masses, at dramatically reduced pricing, because otherwise those seats will remain empty.

 

Agreed, you should get some free swag or other sweetener in the bargain. And you might let your ticket rep know you feel that way.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think your choice of words ("bare minimum", "irritated", "sucks for us") results from bad business practice.

Sometimes we take that elevator or walk the entire length of the top walkway. Now we can't.

The promotional information shows a new barrier within Section 122. Sign of the times, I suppose. We build fences not bridges.

 

Actually the Sky Lounge is a wonderful idea.

It isolates most of the casuals with cash flow into an area where they won't annoy the rest of us with their incessant talking about everything but the game they're supposed to be watching.

The crap angle and height to watch the game is irrelevant...more of an inside joke really.

Absolutely brilliant. Definitely a positive for the true fans.

 

Quoting sjearthquakes reddit:

" I had to move my season tickets because of this. I got a call from my rep the same day my final payment went through on a seat I cant keep. Horseshit"

(https://www.reddit.com/r/SJEarthqua...quakes_unveil_new_premium_seating_dubbed_the/)

 

Here's what I would like them to do in future situations like this is tell the affected people: "Hey, this is happening, I know it's not what you want, but there are other equivalent seats available. Why don't you come over on this day and we're going to have some pieces of paper on the options. You can pick out your seats." Bonus points for the pieces of paper being a scarf or something. Extra bonus points for a player meet and greet. It would turn the negative into something new at least.

We actually picked out our seats at Winterfest, when we got to walk the stadium looking at a couple seats. It was an great low pressure experience, and really helped us feel more connected to the seats and the team.

In picking our new seats, our rep was kind enough to take a picture of the view from the first option, which helped us avoid making a mistake and pick what I hope are a better option.

 

And? Was an equivalent seat not provided? Was a refund refused?

 

I'm not sure what the joke is, but this section has an incredible angle for actually watching soccer and the height isn't a problem. That's part of what would make seeing it empty next year so irritating.