Where are those stadiums? I guess every leagus has they're mini stadiums, SJ will be ours, Garber has always been desperate to have a team in the bay area, wish it was SF instead.
Why? In SF the only place to play would be Kezar Stadium, which is inaccessible, has a capacity of 9,500, and has a track around it. Or Candlestick, which is a 70,000 seat, decaying 60's multipurpose beast. And you'd never find a place to build a new stadium nor get any gov't support for such wasteful spending unless you put a rider on it that pot was sold in all the concession stands. Also SJ won't be the "mini" stadium. It'll be a stadium tailored to fit the current and near future fanbase rather than sitting half empty most games like most MLS stadiums. And it's open end leaves natural room to expand later if and when the fanbase grows.
Whenever they finish getting the private financing together. Unlike some cities, handouts are against the law in SJ so it takes time, more so when the economy is in the shitter. But they're working on it, the new practice facility was the first of many steps.
Considering how embarrassingly small, cheap and suite-less the new SSS is currently planned to be, does it really matter? -G
In my mind, this is the biggest short coming of the proposed stadium. It may also be a reason that corporate sponsorship of the stadium is difficult to find. When the best seat in the house is really a seat instead of a private room, that's a tough sell to corporate customers.
Got 40 million you want to contribute since our city is one of the only ones in America incapable of doing so?
It usually takes about 18 months to construct an MLS SSS. So considering that there'll be even less to build for this one and factoring in any kind of winter weather delays, it should be ready by Opening Day 2012 if shovels hit the ground no later than mid-summer 2010. -G
I'm not a multi-billionaire, totally unlike Lew Wolff and Jon Fisher, not to mention any others who may be involved in the venture. They might as well stay in Buck Shaw Stadium indefinitely rather than build a half-assed MLS SSS (only $40-$60 million total construction cost, only 15k permanent seats, no suites, an open end with a small grass lawn in place of seats, etc.)... and considering how relatively bare MLS SSS's are compared to other modern pro sports venues in terms of seats and amenities, that's really saying something! -G
And on top of that, they're reportedly waiting for a stadium naming rights sponsor to sign on for about $5 million per year without which stadium construction won't even begin, while most MLS stadium naming rights deals have fallen into about the $1.5-$2.5 million per year range and were understandably signed after stadium construction had already begun or been completed (i.e. sponsors generally like to sign on to something they see is already being done or has already been done). -G
i've been thinking along the same lines. and every time i watch a sj home game on the tv and see those patches of empty bleachers, this feeling grows. it seems to me that having enough buzz to pack that little 10k facility for every game might be desirable before building the new sss starts to look like a no-brainer. and i have a sneaky suspicion that lew wolff himself looks at it that way.
Actually, if anything, I've been advocating that they build an SSS at the very least no worse than any other modern MLS SSS save perhaps Red Bull Arena: an enclosed $80-$100 million (heck, even $60-$80 million) 18k-20k (or more) permanent seats stadium with suites. But alas... -G
Dead wrong man. Buck Shaw is a temp stadium. The Epicenter, even with what you see as shortcomings, will be a permanent home that secures the team in the region for decades to come and will be part of a larger soccer complex and most importantly for the team's health we'll be in control of our revenues. Right now we're only as secure as long as SCU wants us on their campus and we do not control our revenues.
Chicken-or-egg. In the Bay Area, you're not going to have buzz about a team and you're not going to pack the facility unless it is first rate. This was true for the San Francisco Giants (who traded in Candlestick for AT&T Park), was true for the San Jose Sharks (who traded in the Cow Palace for HP Pavilion), and will be true for the Earthquakes once the Epicenter is built. If you're right about Lew's thinking (and you may well be), it helps explain why his franchise is currently floundering. You cannot get the egg when the chicken is ass-backwards.
The large one is a state owned stadium, not team owned, so it was built for all sports needs, which include tracks and field. The stadium also holds rodeo events. The gap between the stands and the track is a pit to prevent pitch invasion. You ignored the first stadium, which is built with seats directly to the field and steep upper level seating. Remember, the entire left section was empty for ten years, but construction started in 2009 to finish it for the world cup (my own picture) Excuse the blur (libertadores match, the banners were removed before kickoff). The game was sold out, the empty stands shown were not on sale because of obstructed views from the wall.
Not true. They are looking for $5 million of sponsorship, some of which has already been secured, and naming rights is only part of that.
in the renderings it looks as if there are suites ringing three sides of the field right below where the upper level starts. If these aren't suites, what are these program elements that force most of your seats to be raised above a direct connection to the field?
It's the main concourse. The stadium is designed similar to the new Stanford stadium where the upper level is above the main concourse and cantelivered over it to keep the upper level closer to the field and allow both upper and lower levels to share a concourse.
You have a good eye. We can only speculate on how the stadium will be structured base on what we've been told and we've been told very little. What we do know is that those aren't suites. Wolff has specifically said no suites. He doesn't like them and feels they distract from the atmosphere. Here's what I think the stadium will look like (based on Stanfurd). Similar to you, I suspect the lower bowl, or at least potions of it, will be exclusive club seats with restrictive access. In seat catering, fancy bathrooms, that kind of thing - and priced accordingly. It would be very easy to build a wall to separate the upperdeck riff-raff from the lower bowl.
very true about the chicken or the egg. sometimes you need to invest to get a venture going. red bull built a stadium although the size of the crowds had not been impressive. i would only add that in the case of the 'quakes, an argument could be made for erring on the side of caution, given the whole mls experience there so far. also, the epicenter wouldn't be anything like at&t or hp. although i assume it would have much better 'bathrooms' than buck shaw.
Stanford is a nice stadium. Too bad Bill Walsh didn't have soccer in mind (at least as far as the width of the pitch is concerned) when they re-built it. Never understood with the WC 94 success how they didn't care to think about that!