The Latest Stadium – Earthquakes Avaya

I attended the opening home game at Avaya stadium, a milestone for the San Jose Earthquakes, and the latest reflection of the burgeoning sport of soccer in America.

The stadium is not huge, holding around 18,000 fans, but the intimate venue is just right for San Jose.  I suspect it was hard to “right size” the stadium.  After all, Santa Clara University’s Bush Stadium held just over 10,500, and was not always sold out.

But the new soccer venue is, in fact, sold out for season tickets.  The stadium is a great success, and the team seems to be thriving in their new home environment with 3 wins, 2 draws, and only 1 loss.  That’s certainly what the fans like when they go to a match!

The American game still has a ways to go though.  I feel that the Quakes tend to play down, or up, to their opponents.  Their game is better with Dominic Kinnear, but it is still inconsistent.

Fatai Alashe scores first goal in Avaya Stadium

Possession play is better, there are more balls on the ground, and with Bingham they tend to play out of the back more often than they did with Bush (who kicked the ball into a 50/50 situation most of the time).

But back to the stadium – they had sold the tickets as being unobstructed views, but that was not the case.  Where the isle’s were there was a high “fence” that was framed with metal and wire that in fact obstructed quite a bit of the view.  I for one, complained.  And apparently so did others.  The Quakes listened, and within four weeks had a solution, and began implementing it. They removed the wire and metal frame, replacing it with all plexiglass, and it works great!  You notice it for a few minutes and then forget about it.

Kudos for the Quakes, they listened to their customers, and resolved the problem.  That’s the kind of customer service everyone should strive for!

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