The MLS Earthquakes are “exploring three Bay Area college football stadiums as potential sites to play host to the MLS Cup” in the event team reaches the league championship in December, according to Elliott Almond of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. Potential options include “Spartan Stadium, Stanford Stadium and Buck Shaw Stadium,” but team officials are working on "contingency plans because all three options have shortcomings.” MLS changed the playoff format this year “so the highest-seeded team could hold the title game in order to generate hometown interest.” AT&T Park was considered, but Earthquakes President David Kaval said they rejected it “because it’s too far out of our territory.” Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop previously has “voiced preference to play at 10,500-seat Buck Shaw,” where the team has not lost since last August. But that stadium, on the campus of Santa Clara Univ., “doesn’t have luxury boxes or adequate press facilities to accommodate MLS sponsors and national media," and would need additional seating. San Jose State Univ.’s Spartan Stadium has a capacity of 30,000, but it “lacks a grass field, which is a deal breaker for the Earthquakes.” Kaval said that the team “is working with Soccer United Marketing, the league’s group that puts on big games, to solve the problem.” The Earthquakes “need to have a plan in place when the MLS playoffs begin the first week of November” (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 10/5).
