What do you think of our temp homes?

Nobody is going to upgrade it to 20,000 seats. It might get a temporary capacity of 12,000. It is not going to be the location of the new Quakes home, just a place for games for a season or two.

 

OK. Last post; The San Jose Earthquakes have won 2 league titles since MLS has been in business. WE CANNOT PLAY AT BUCKSHAW. The San Jose Earthquakes as well as their fans deserve a more fitting venue justifying our return.

 

If Wolff is considering Buck Shaw Stadium, SCU officials have the leverage. They have to know MLS will never see a 12,000 seat stadium as legitmate for their marketing purposes. If Bronco Bench is smart, SCU will demand 20K permanent range or no deal.

 

Nop... it was over 100 degrees so it was a small crowd.

 

SCU isn't going to have that kind of clout with Lew Wolff. He has the option of playing all of the Quakes home games in Oakland. The baseball configuration there is much less of an issue than seats at Buck Shaw Stadium. In fact, that problem is already solved in MLS. Wolff can do what DC does....they play on a field that is also used for Major League Baseball.

Beyond all of that, why on earth would Santa Clara University want a 20K seat stadium? That's more than twice as large as it's entire student body + faculty. They do not want a large stadium. I can see Wolff helping with upgrades that are definitely needed, but the permanent stadium seating is likely to be relatively small, maybe 8K at the most (more likely in the 5-7K range).

It is not unprecedented in MLS for teams to play at temporary facilities that might be considered sub-standard. Dallas and Chicago come to mind immediately. The only way for the Quakes to return to a stadium that you seem to want is for them to wait until their new home is complete.....that would be at least 2010.

 

The Blackhawks also played at least one game at Buck Shaw Stadium. I don't think it was a league match....it was probably an Open Cup game...I remember it was against a team from the midwest, possibly even a team that usually played indoors. Pato Marjectic was on the team. I think Paul Mariner suited up for the Blackhawks in that game too.

 

Actually during the 1992 APSL season they played more than one league match at SCU. I remember Mariner on the sideline with Calloway helping out as an assistant coach. He told sweeper Derek Van Rheenen to go up on either a corner or a free kick and he scored on a header I think it was. I think that was a league match there on July 4th of that year. I think they divided the season between SCU & Spartan.

 

I believe Spartan Stadium was unavailable for a few weeks because of some sort of construction or repairs. Mariner did not suit up for too many games, and the ones where he was active were not league games. As I start to think about it, the game against the team from the midwest might have been a Champions Cup game. The Blackhawks did very well in that competition. The other time I remember Mariner in a game was a Champions Cup game at Spartan Stadium against Club America. Mariner played the last 10 minutes or so.....the Blackhawks were winning the game but they were down a goal in aggregate, so they were desperately trying to get another goal. They won the game but lost the round.

I am editing this to make a comment about the competitions available to the Blackhawks....they did not participate in any US Open Cup matches, as pro teams were not allowed in the Open Cup competition until 1995. Sorry to take this so far off topic...but the subjects seem to take on their own life sometimes.

 

Didn't the Chicago Fire play in a temp home at Cardinal Stadium in Naperville, Illinois for a while? From what I remember reading the stadium only holds 15,000 people.

 

I believe it was at a high school, as was Dallas for a couple of years.

 

If Buck Shaw Stadium is used, it will be a real effort to get 15K seats. Not impossible, but very difficult. Not only is there limited room, outdoor stadiums must also comply with local fire and emergency codes. I personally hope they can do 15K, but they have their work cut out.

 

I've been going to Buck Shaw for years, but this weekend went with the thought in mind that the Quakes might be playing there. Also there's a few misconceptions floating around in this tread that I'll address as well. Here's my thoughts, as well as some background info:

1) I know the website says Buck Shaw holds like 6500 in it's current configuration, but I really doubt it. There are only seats on one side and about 2/3 of one end line. 5000 max in my mind.

2) Field is wider than Spartan although maybe not longer.

3) I now have no expectation that ANY seats are going to be added by April 2008. Here's why. I had forgotten about the library. SCU is building a new library and it's temporarily housed in portables on the opposite side of the field between the turf and the big parking structure. That ain't gonna get moved until the library is done. I don't know exactly when that is, but just looking at it, I doubt next spring. Also the far end zone is their practice field. They won't sacrofice that. So no additional seating.

4) SCU would like to renovate Buck Shaw to make it a soccer stadium, but no way do they need or want anything close to what you guys are talking about. I think they'd be perfectly happy with a 5k stadium. I've heard that the women's coach would like to take out the existing end zone seating to move the field farther North (and I'm speculating maybe make it a bit longer).

Bottom line: many of you are going to be unhappy if the Quakes play there. But it probably does suit Wolff better than dealing with SJSU.

As a side note, I paid particular attention to airport noise. It was really, really minimal. I could see airplanes approach, but never heard them land. Occasionally I heard a plane take off, but it must have been only a few older, louder planes, because it wasn't often. I know the new stadium will be about halfway closer to the runways than Buck Shaw, but I'm convinced it's a non-issue.

 

kind of....
was used by the Chicago Fire in 2002 and 2003, when it was known as Cardinal Stadium.
Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedetti-Wehrli_Stadium

 

I took a visit to the field also, last month, and I have similar impressions. However, I'm not convinced that you can't (or you wouldn't necessarily) move the temporary library portables. Seems like there's enough space for another location, and they call them "portables" for a reason.

My main impression is that the pitch is fine, assuming the length is OK. It was in excellent condition when I saw it. Seating and concessions / bathrooms would be the main problem. And something would have to be done with that "junior high school wood shop project" press box thing. There would be a lot of work to do, and if they are going to play any games at Buck Shaw in '08, I would think that it would have to start soon.

Any chance that Wolff's "no Spartan" position is a bluff / posturing for a better deal? I think probably not, since I don't think SJSU cares enough about the money they'd make on having the Quakes back there for another couple years. You can't bluff someone when they don't really care about what it is you're bluffing over.

 

I don't think he's bluffing. The reason: When he said that he wouldn't deal with them, he didn't make much of it, just an off-hand remark, sort of. I think he'd been a little clearer if he was setting it up for negotiations. JMTC.

 

I agree.....aaaaaand, I get the feeling that SJSU has made it clear that their terms are non-negotiable......so why waste time? I like Spartan Stadium but F-them if they don't want to play nice. They are probably most of the reason that AEG wouldn't hang in there til a stadium deal was worked out. Look on the bright side....no AEG and no SJSU. Fresh start!

 

The fewer outside pressures, the better.