For those who don't already know: the lines on the field are superimposed in that particular pic, which was posted on the official site some time before lines were actually drawn for the soft opener (notice how there aren't even any goals in this pic). Already having that sponsor-less player image on the team store window is a stark indication that the San Jose Earthquakes likely won't have a jersey sponsor anytime soon. -G
"10 minutes with San Jose Earthquakes' Shea Salinas on opening Avaya Stadium, playing for Dominic Kinnear" (MLSsoccer.com - Thursday, 3/19/15) (USA Today Sports) -G
"After many years, San Jose Earthquakes have found their home at Avaya Stadium" (MLSsoccer.com - Thursday, 3/19/15) (USA Today Sports Images) -G
Gary Singh article on same subject a decade ago: http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/01.12.05/quakes-0502.html Also, Gary's Quakes history book was just published a book a couple of days ago, : http://www.amazon.com/San-Jose-Eart...TF8&qid=1426910865&sr=1-1&keywords=gary+singh
It does indeed look like the playing field was narrowed quite a bit from the soft opener's 74 yards width. -G
From the latest Kaval's Kickoff article: For those watching the regular season home opener on TV wondering why there are old field level static ad boards instead of field level LED boards: The field level LED boards apparently will be in place by the Sunday, April 5th home game against Real Salt Lake. And for those attending the regular season home opener wondering why the Devotion Wall isn't up yet: -G
The Galaxy did the same thing with the SHC. It was super wide when it opened and then narrowed significantly later.
Did the same thing happen with the Rapids? In any case, the difference is that while the Galaxy and (possibly) the Rapids started with super wide fields that were later shrunk to the normal 74-75 yards width range, the Earthquakes started their new stadium's field with the normal 74-75 yards width range in the soft opener and have now shrunk it to something too narrow. -G
I believe Galaxy had the width at 80 yards and shrunk it to 75 yards, not sure if Colorado did the same. Here is says it's going to be 115 x 75.... http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2015/03/20/avaya-stadium-becomes-15th-soccer-stadium-mls
However, that same linked graphic shows that PPL Park has only a 72 yards wide field, which it definitely doesn't. In fact, I suspect that whoever created the graphic accidentally switched the widths for PPL Park and Avaya Stadium (not that the latter can't accommodate a 75 yards wide field as the soft opener demonstrated, just that for whatever inexplicable reason Dominic Kinnear chose to shrink the playing field to 72 yards wide for the regular season). -G
They did after the first two seasons (2009). It was spun as a strategic move by Gary Smith to match the team he had, but it just coincidentally happened right before the Rapids started offering field side seating tickets for the 2009 season.
Sorry if it was mentioned and I just missed it.... but wasn't SHC field narrowed after Beckham left? Coincidence?
For those who didn't see it in the in game thread.... At Avaya Stadium during the San Jose Earthquakes - Chicago Fire opening game.....
Jussen had told me some things about AEG that actually made me rethink and somewhat change my opinion of them. When I re-read all this stuff though, somehow I still feel this whole thing could have transpired back in December 05 before the team moved to Houston. Lew Wolff came forth publicly with his wanting to invest in the team the day after the team moved saying "that ship has sailed". Maybe looking back things could have gone differently and seeing how Dom Kinnear is back in charge and how he and many players (back then) never really wanted to move to Houston, even today I can't help but think what or where this team could have been if the team were sold to Lew. Anyway, we got the team back and finally got a new stadium so I guess all is well.
Indeed. The pic even shows where the corner was for the soft opener (74 yards wide) and where it was for the regular season home opener (72 yards wide). Just imagine if Dom had narrowed it even further to 70 yards like he did in Houston. He very well may have wanted to, with the team higher ups possibly denying that request, already worried (and rightfully so) that the field-level fans who paid more money to be closer to the action would be that much further from the action than they expected. -G
Wasn't it bsman on the Quakes forum, (who does some job on the sidelines for the Quakes, maybe ref liaison?) who said the field was definitely shortened to 72 yards? If it was 74 for the soft opening they did a good job of scrubbing out those lines, you really couldn't see any remnants of them.