Hello. I've heard twice today that Chelsea have a match scheduled at Stanford Stadium on July 14th. No opponent had been announced as of yet. If anyone has anymore info, please let's all find out & get down there & watch some footy! I may not be a Blues fan (Glory, Glory Man United!!!) but anytime you can watch a side like that train & play here, you must go at all costs! Cheers & Earthquakes Forever!
I also heard about Chelsea at Stanford Stadium on July 14th. WorldSoccerDaily mentioned it. Any word on where tix are available?
When I saw the thread title, I was afraid that it was another Chelsea rumor related to a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. Thank God.
Stanford can still seat more than AT&T and the Coliseum. I'm not sure if soccer configs add or detract from those totals, though.
Doubt they'd put the game at either place, though in the past at least one match was played during the baseball season. Plus, the Giants are home against that other hated LA team the Dodgers that weekend. I'd be up for Chelsea playing in the Bay Area and checking them out even at Stanford--sure beats trekking down to LA to see them.
Stanford has got to be a better location for soccer of any ilk than either of those two places (AT&T Park is cluless and Coliseum is just poorly laid out).
PacBell and Oakland are both around 40K. I doubt they'd put Oakland into the football config for this game. Don't knock Stanford yet. It should be an awsome place to see soccer. Maybe the best stadium for bIg soccer games in California? Sure gonna be fun finding out.
Not knocking the stadium, it's beautiful but the Colisseum is bigger even in non-football configuration. What Stanford Stadium really shows is how fast you can build a terrific stadium if you are truly committed and don't have NIMBY worries, etc. All the money and power of Stanford built it in nine months. You have to see the time lapsed video of the construction, it's fantastic.
Barely, if you include the top of Mt. Davis where some of the field wouldn't be visible. And they would have to play on a temporarily sodded infield.
If the 2010 WC were to be moved to the US (and apparently, this IS being considered), the Bay Area would realistically have Stanford and Candlestick available. While Oakland would be nice, the fact is that I doubt FIFA would be open to doing anything there as long as the baseball configuration was in place. Temporary sod, odd field angle, etc., just isn't in the cards. On the other hand, Candlestick, as bad a place as it is, would be empty during the summer, as would Stanford. I could imagine early rounds at either location.
Have any games been played at Stanford since the renovation? The field is tiny now. The entire surface is only 77 x 147 yds. Given the room needed on either touch line I wonder how small the pitch would be.
I was wondering the same thing. I looked at some pictures of the field, it looks quite narrow. It's a nice "pitch" but I can't see too many nice long crosses being dealt in this game.
Aw...I read the title of the thread and here I thought I might read that Chelsea had tentatively agreed to a co-operative deal with the San Jose Earthquakes should the franchise be "reborn."
The Coliseum & AT&T have baseball infields....No way would a team like Chelsea ever play in a park like that and risk injury to their players especially for an exhibition....
A wise guy eh? I should point out that I did qualify my statement by saying "big soccer game" as in needs to be played in a big football stadiums. Clearly the best place to see a game will be in our new stadium with the field slightly elevated above the front row, but we won't have the capacity to handle the "big soccer games". Now you probably could get some field level seats at Stanford by pulling the staircases and adding seats on the concrete sidewalk that rings the stadium, but that's an awful lot of work just to see a bunch of foreigners play. Can't wait for June 2nd!
I recommend the Rose & Crown pub for a pre/post pint if Chelsea do come to town. Antonio's Nut House is also nearby -