Shovels have are still not in the ground, but the San Jose Earthquakes president David Kaval is saying a new stadium could be ready for the 2012 season. Fresh off receiving a $2 million to $4 million rebate on the land where the stadium is supposed to be built and saying they are no longer awaiting outside funding, Earthquakes ownership is poised to move forward with their planned 15,000-seat stadium near the San Jose airport.
San Jose Earthquakes Stadium Could Be Ready In 2012
“I think (having a stadium in 2012) is still realistic,” Kaval told MLSsoccer.com. “We’re having all the meetings and hoping that it is going to occur.”
The Earthquakes are one of just three MLS teams without a suitable home. The Quakes have been playing in 10,000-seat Buck Shaw Stadium, a nearly 50-year-old stadium on the campus of Santa Clara University that has also been used for football and baseball, since rejoining the league in 2008. While Buck Shaw is reasonably accessible, it is small, antiquated and lacks permanent seating along the west sidelines. DC United's RFK Stadium and the New England Revolution's Gillette Stadium are the other obviously problematic homes.
While the proposed location for the stadium is not exactly downtown, it has easy freeway and transit access and is only a few minutes away from the urban core of San Jose. It was originally pitched as part of a bigger retail development, but those plans have been shelved.
“Our ownership group has the financial capability to build the stadium before we have to actually go and build all the other development,” Kaval said. “But we want to make sure we have the rights to build the other development when we think the market is calling for it.”
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