SJ Chamber breakfast: Saint Lew talks about his stadiums

I was there and talked to Lew beforehand. He said they've hired the William Morris Agency to find a stadium naming sponsor. He said they've completed the design phase and it's a 15K with "stands as close to the action as possible." Yes, it's "no-frills" but it likely won't be used for concerts because he says there appears to be no market for that right now. He does hope it can have other uses but he's not finding them right now. Says the city is doing a great job of working with him (he's pulling his hair out over Fremont) and hopes to make some kind of progress this year but can't say anything about a groundbreaking. However, he's really excited about it.

 

Thanks for the update guys! Rep to you both.

 

Sounds like good news all around on the Quakes front. And that bit about the A's possibly providing revenue streams to the Quakes sounds interesting.

 

That's not new news though. And it's only bad if you thought we needed more than 15k (which with the grass berm we have already with space for about 18k). And as for luxury boxes, why would we need more than a few? Soccer isn't a luxury box sport, not if you're trying to attract real long term fans.

 

My guess is that this means more international soccer at the Coliseum.

Wolff's organization has found out they're pretty good at packing that place.
4 international friendlies a year could outdraw the entire Quakes season.

El Tri v Japan, Inter v Pachuca, Club America v Tottenham, Costa Rica v USA would easily draw 160K.

 

Lew wasn't talking about "few" luxury boxes. He implied there would be none. He said luxury boxes are "a thing of the past" in his words. Regarding the stadium size, he said the design is completed and it will be 15K.

 

Goodsport, out of curiousity, why would the lack of luxury boxes impact your view of the game at the new stadium? I know you wouldn't be sitting in one. So really why does it matter? And I'm being serious here, I've never understood how having X number of seats or X number of luxury boxes has any impact on how someone would view a game at the new stadium. Particularly after what we learned last year with less being more when a stadium is near sold out.

 

Half the greatness of the new stadium is having a new stadium owned by the team. It's as much symbolic as it is aesthetic.

 

I think having nice bucket seats all around and something to call our own is something to look forward to.

 

He's exactly right. I think he's been reading my posts. Luxury boxes are so 1980's. In their place: simplicity, elegance of design, practicality, modesty, efficiency, and eco-friendliness.

 

Wow, what happened to Captain Positive? The single force who said the Quakes would never move?

Sorry, I would have to say that you would be hard pressed to find pressed to find many people who think luxary boxes are in the top five (hell probably top ten) items needed in a new stadium...

 

Not to mention that a new stadium would ensure that the Earthquakes stay in San Jose. Look, as much as Wolff and Fisher may love the team and the city, they didn't get to where they are by taking losses year-in/year-out. They're not Russian oligarchs, Oil princes, or exiled Prime Ministers. They're businessmen who know a thing or two about making smart investments. Buck Shaw, Spartan, you name it, is not a smart investment. Owning all of your revenue streams is.

And really Goodsport, given your proclivities for hyperbole, this one really takes the cake. You'd take Buck Shaw over a) a larger stadium, b) a stadium the team owns, c) a stadium you can drink beer in, and d) a stadium with beautiful sightlines as close to the pitch as possible?

 

Yeah, I was also thinking the international matches at the Coliseum was "subsidizing" Earthquakes' operations.

As for international matches featuring USMNT, I doubt we'd get many of those here in the Bay Area anyways (esp. WCQ's that really mean something). It'd be tough to get a real home field advantage unless you're playing someone like Cuba, and as more our our players ply their trades in Europe it's a long haul to fly them over to California for one game.

 

Wouldn't be surpised if those plans for "boxes" at Cisco are significantly scaled back. But baseball is a dinosaur sport, so you will more likely see dinosaur things like luxury boxes in baseball stadiums.

 

Because baseball is America's "pastime".

But, seriuosly, it is probably much easier to sell luxury boxes to corporations when they know they will have at least 81 opportunities to utilize them, compared to 15 for soccer. And let's face it, baseball is still a more popular spectator sport in this country. Chances are, clients would be more interested in seeing the best baseball players in the world, as opposed to average soccer players.

 

Exactly. This will be our football ground.

 

I am just hoping Goodsie doesn't go all buddhist monk self-immolation in front of Quakes headquarters after stadium renderings come out and don't show a roof.

 

It's funny 'cause I saw some quotes from Lew recently where he was saying something to the effect that soccer's a sport that you really need to pay full attention to to appreciate, whereas baseball, not so much. I think he was mentioning that in the context of "you don't need boxes for soccer". For baseball, maybe you go mix drinks in the bar between innings or something, as the fat, out-of-shape juiced players plod to and from the dugouts.