One fun development to follow during the MLS offseason is expansion. Whether the expansion is roster size, league size, salary cap, or a stadium's capacity, it is noticeable progress for the league. What has been especially thrilling over the last few years, is the number of teams that have acquired their own soccer specific stadiums (SSS). The number of teams with SSS looked to grow as San Jose was poised to finally start making real progress with construction. However, some members of the community are up in arms, and have appealed the city's approval of the stadium.
San Jose is trying to build an 18,000 seat stadium. The renderings include field level box seats, a first in MLS, and other unique design features that looked to ensure a unique atmosphere for the Quakes to play in. The stadium would be a nice upgrade from the Quakes current home field at Buck Shaw Stadium with a Capacity 10,300 for soccer games.
The Quakes have been dealing with planning issues for years, and hopefully concerns of noise pollution and traffic can be easily dealt with and the process towards completion can continue.
what are the current attendance figures for SJ? do you think the new stadium will be consistently filled if built?
ReplyDeleteI'm asking around for exact figures, but I believe the average was a little over 11,000. The reason the average attendance was above capacity, is because the Earthquakes played the New York Red Bulls at Stanford's stadium, instead of at Buck Shaw Stadium and drew 41,028 fans. San Jose has soccer fans, but not many can go consistently with the limited availability of seating. The plans for 18-22k capacity should be just about right.
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