News: In bid to preserve Earthquakes stadium plan, San Jose agrees to revise land deal

i hope your just kidding

 

I hope you're kidding about not being able to tell the he's kidding.

 

If you think those are jokes you have a twisted sense of humor and they will tell you, you need help.

 

Make sure you get a roof Quakes !!

 

I'm not sure that the Quakes are anywhere close to being able to consistently sell out a 20k venue so I think Wolff and company are being pragmatic instead of just assuming that attendance at regular matches is suddenly going to double.


I've been saying this for years. The Bay Area is NOT a mature MLS market. YET. It's ok as far as a soccer market goes. It has a bigger than average pan-asian demographic ( not ideal) and is much more rooted in american football historically. The large Latino fanbase has not been won ever yet. It will be eventually. Really fantastic (predecessor) Earthquake teams from the past never got the kind of support they would have anywhere else. Part of that was due to management. Also, the Bay Area just has this big event mentality. So if Wolff is smart, he will keep the facility small but not cheap. Cover the stands, all seater ( except for his berm), suites, tight finish, pretty to look at. etc........ It will sell out consistently and create buzz, much like Pac Bell park did for the Giants for many years. Later on his successors can "finish" the open end of the facility.....

 

The Bay Area compares to the NYC market vis a vis MLS.

Bay Area sports goes like this:

49ers & Raiders, Giants & A's, Warriors & Sharks, Cal & Stanford, High School, other.

MLS would be part of "other" mixed in with snow skiing and lacrosse and hunting and fishing. This is how the local papers rank soccer on their websites (the SJ Mercury just upgraded us in the last month so that we're above high school sports now), and it's how the new cable sports network considers the team heirarchy (article from yesterday's Chronicle).

MLS has a lot of work to do to make a dent in the Bay area sports landscape. Building a fancy SSS would help, but I think Wolff plans on something more like a scaled down version of BMO Field or PHP (i.e. no roof, no club suites).

 

A roof would be nice, but, of all the teams in the league, San Jose probably needs one the least. Hardly any rain during the season, and Saturday evenings are pretty damn nice. No need to sit in the shade. Now, if the league ever decides to go to a more european schedule, a roof would then come in handy.

 

seriously, you guys suck as fans in SJ if you can sell out a 15k stadium all the time. OVER 30 YEARS AGO the 'Quakes were draws high teens and low 20s....the population there has boomed, there are tons of internationals and high-paying jobs...I mean, c'mon!!!!

 

We suck if we can sell out a stadium all the time?

 

By your math the entire league's fans suck except for LA, Toronto, and Seattle.

 

He never said that the roof would be over the stands though......

 

Actually by his math ONLY Seattle, LA and Toronto suck because they sell out all the time. (Though LA doesn't sell out anymore so I guess they don't suck either).

 

See, you assume people can actually type coherent thoughts on the internet and not fail at basic grammar. I know what he wrote but I also know he meant the exact opposite of what he typed. I don't punish people for the grammatical errors. I will call them out on not knowing what they are talking about while using grammatical errors though (not to mention combining that with horrendous math skills).

 

As poor a post as it was, c'mon y'all. It was a typo.

 

This was in response to the proposed 15k stadium by lew wolff. Uh, wasnt a stadium this size an issue with MLS and Garber when Montreal was wanting to enter with a newly completed 13k venue? All the news stories suggest Saputo had to propose or assure MLS that a stadium expansion would occur. Why hold Saputo's feet to the fire, and not say a lick about Wolff building a stadium that is so small? People make excuses such as an "undeveloped soccer market" in the Bay area. Sign someone the likes of George Best and folks will show up in droves. Attendance has gotten smaller and smaller because the much promised improvement in play has not progressed as much as what was hoped for. Christian Vieri may be washed up, but I bet if he is signed by LA as rumored both non-Beckham games against quakes at coliseum will hit 20k.Wollf has no idea how to draw the knowledgeable soccer fan. As for the Bay area being filled with asians and that thus impacting attendance, the Inter vs America game at Stanford will sell out and so will Mexico's Gold cup game at the coliseum in June/July.

 

Good news on the land deal.

At this point, a nice, simple 15K stadium with expansion possibilities to 18k is all SJ needs. Wolf has said he is not interested in doing anything ritzy or crazy with lux boxes, but wants an intimate joint where the seats and concourses are wide enough, bathrooms and concessions are plenty, fans are on top of the action, and people can have a good time. BMO with grass, plus that hill for the overflow.

 

That's not "BMO with grass" you just described. BMO has 5,000 more seats than 15K so you'd be losing pretty much the whole second deck on the main grandstand. BMO does have tons of ritzy and crazy luxury boxes that make MLSE an absolute ton of money. In fact, I'd argue that they actually subsidize my seats to a certain extent! On the other hand BMO categorically does not have wide enough concourses or plentiful bathrooms and concessions as anyone who's tried to move around under the east or west grandstand at half time will tell you. I've always suspected that they built the place with the expectation that average attendence really would be 12 to 16K. I seem to remember them hastily adding more urinals to the washrooms after one or two games in our first season.

One thing that I think drives people's perception of BMO is that the West Stand is the most permanent structure with all the really nice facilities but it's the stand you never see on TV. Thus, those who've only seen the stadium during games make the reasonable extrapolation that what they see of the East Stand is repeated around the entire facility. BMO isn't lavish by any stretch - it was built with a more limited ambition - but it's hardly a dump either. Not that San Jose has to end up with a dump if they go 12 to 15K. At this point they just need to build something.

And really, wouldn't Colorado and Columbus both the better served by a 15K stadium? Other than U.S. games Columbus almost never draws more than that (announced) which my actually create the ticket scarcity to start pushing their season ticket numbers back to where they used to be. And their supporters wouldn't look so lonely down in the corner!

 

While I am a big fan of a nice roof over the stands, I have to say that the place that needs a roof the least in the league is probably SJ. I lived out there for the first few years of MLS and went to a ton of Clash games. I don't think there is a chance in hell that a drop of rain will ever touch a fan given the time of year MLS plays its games. The sun can be a bit hot but there are not that many day games a year (if any). Finally, sitting in Spartan in the evening from April to October presents some of the best temperatures you can imagine. As for noise, the roofless Spartan was a great place when there were 15,000+ inside. Would a roof make it louder? Maybe, but probably not by much.

My point is, a roof would be great, but I wouldn't loose any sleep if they get a beautiful 15,000 seat roofless stadium.

 

I obviously agree with what you are saying, but, it did rain during the season opener against New England.

No, it would not make it louder. Countdown to MM10Shirt appearing...5....4....3...2......

 

I told you before Goodsie, Alioto promised you a roof, but, he didn't say what it would cover.

 

I disagree. It sounds like he won't be pouring money into things like extensive luxury boxes. If done right, it could be an incredibly beautiful stadium for that amount. It's all in the design and if the GAME is the focus of that design.

 

Neither would I. Right now the most important thing is to get the Quakes in their own home stadium that they control the revenue streams (and that ensures their future in the area). Everything else is gravy.