Niners asking for $160 Million!!!

I think this proposal will be worth a lot of talk and ink in the upcoming months.

 

Yeah but we are talking about playing only 10-12 games a season. 8 regular season 2 possible pre-season and if they make it two playoffs and thats it....I'm sure they would have other events also but not many for American football, anyway.

 

Don't forget, the 49'ers are already a resident, employer, and business taxpayer in Santa Clara. With that, they are in the driver's seat.

I am still partial to this location at 1125 Coleman Avenue in San Jose. You can see the proximity to the airport, 880, the Santa Clara CalTrain station, and Santa Clara University. There is also room for a hotel, and housing development if San Jose could consider it.

 

With you on the first two points, but according to what I've heard, they receive numerous subsidies (including something like a $1-per-year lease for the land their facility is on) that render the last point moot. I think they are more likely to actually be sucking the teat of SC's largess at this point rather than contributing business taxes if you look at the whole picture. Of course, this is based purely on anecdotal information - I haven't seen the books!!

 

Until posted here, I had forgotten about that property. Not a bad location. As you noted, close to transportation and plenty of room for other commercial development. I used to have a business very close to that area (on Martin Ave in Santa Clara).....used to see Bradley vehicles being tested there.

 

In the Murk's defense, here is their outcry over this stadium deal

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_5745266

Just took a few hours is all. Looks like they are equal opportunity stadium haters after all.

 

This is nuts!

Kind of casts Wolff's offer to SJSU in a different light no? Lay me on some bucks, versus, I'll pay for the stadium, guarantee you some ducats, and split the rest of the income with you. Hmmmmm?

And where's the return for the city? Sure the 9ers will sell out most of their games, but there aren't that many of them. That's one darned expensive stadium. And because it costs more, there's more money at risk, the pay off needs to be bigger, and more certain. This is just crazy, especially for a profitable league and team. (As opposed to MLS which is not a profitable league.)

Whatever.

I fully expect SF to move heaven and earth to keep the 9ers.

QUAKES FOREVER!!

- Mark

 

"proximity to the airport"? Good lord, you're not kidding. A stadium at that site will probably require you to arrive 90 minutes before gametime, and 2 hours before international matches.

 

You make it sound like SJC is O'Hare or something.

 

There has been some extensive changes in the Coleman Ave/880 interchange over the last couple of years. The major access to the airport is from 87, not the Coleman side, plus it would not take much work to improve the parking access from Martin Ave in Santa Clara, with people using 101 and Trimble for that entry point. I think this location is kind of in between things, to a certain degree. I would be more worried about the Costco traffic.

 

How about making a deal with Costco where if you buy less than ten items you get tickets to a Quakes game?

 

Hey, I'm a Costco member, so why not?

Many probably don't realize just how close the old FMC property is to Santa Clara University and the Santa Clara CalTrain station....literally right across the tracks. Just as there was talk of public soccer fields around the property at SJSU, ones that could be used not only by the public, but also by the Quakes and the university for practices, intermural leagues, etc., why not think of a similar approach to the FMC/Santa Clara University area? Just some thoughts.

 

Yes, just build a pedestrian bridge over the tracks and you have instant access.

SCU has talked now for several years about building a new soccer stadium in place of the existing Buck Shaw (since the baseball field is now down the street and not sharing Buck Shaw with the soccer teams). That would be a great co-op between Quakes and SCU. But I'm not sure what would pull those two parties together.

 

The City of SC is concentrating on the 49ers. But I think this provides an opportunity for Lew Wolff that he might not otherwise have. Most stadium discussions (i.e. recent SJSU) are should we build it or not. Right now that is SC's thought process and analysis over the next few months regarding the 49ers.

Lew could provide a different sort of discussion. He can offer up an ALTERNATIVE stadium proposal. So the discussion would become 'which stadium proposal is better for SC'?

He would be asking for significantly less upfront dollars (if any, depending on what developments he can work into the deal). He should be able to show SC city manager that HIS stadium will bring in equal or higher amount of people over a larger number of events. A big stadium is only going to host so many events a year. A small stadium has the potential for a much bigger number of dates. The trade-offs of more dates/less people per event may be compelling to SC. Particularly if the upfront cash and risk are significantly less.

 

They wouldn't if history is any indicator. SCU has built a new baseball stadium, Arts and Sciences Building, Arena, Library and soon a business building all without much objection from the city. I doubt they'd object if SCU built a soccer stadium. However I don't see SCU wanting or needing a 22,000 seat soccer facility. The school would be able to fit the entire student body into such a park 5 times over. That and I'm not sure the current footprint of Buck Shaw could support a larger stadium. Add to that parking issues on the SCU side of the tracks and it seems unlikely SCU would provide any land for the stadium. If it were built over near Costco it's possible they may want to use it, but I highly doubt they'd want to build such a big park on the current campus.

 

I heard that back before AEG left town, and long before the 9ers reared their ugly head, Santa Clara was interested in using the Great America site, with subsidized play at Buck Shaw during construction... but I think we can safely say that the entire city of Santa Clara is off limits to the Quakes until the 9ers situation gets settled.

 

Not necessarily. If they can find a private site and partner then it could still happen in Santa Clara. But the G.A. site and any around it are off limits for sure. A stadium in conjuction with SCU could still work if the university were interested. But don't look for it to be a large stadium with SCU.

 

And don't forget the value of the land! (As Sparta liked to shout in our ears ad nauseum).

 

I assume that SCU hasn't come up with the funding for their planned Buck Shaw renovations? This is the most info I can find, from a 2005 article in the student paper:

http://www.thesantaclara.com/media/...s/Soccer.Takes.Over.At.the.Shaw-1628918.shtml

With no more recent news, I guess this isn't happening. I don't think SCU would want an MLS-sized stadium.