The Earthquakes yesterday played their first regular-season game at Avaya Stadium, and the stadium's MLS debut "went pretty smoothly," according to Matt Schwab of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. While there were "predictable long lines entering the stadium, some fan confusion about where to park and where to enter" the venue, the "historic soccer event trumped any glitches" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 3/23). In San Jose, Elliott Almond writes the Earthquakes "got Avaya Stadium off to a festive start" with their 2-1 victory over the Fire "in front of a sellout crowd of 18,000, many of whom have waited for two decades to attend a Major League Soccer game in a permanent home" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 3/23). Earthquakes coach Dominic Kinnear said, "The atmosphere was fantastic. ... It's a wonderful place to play." Quakes D Ty Harden: "The crowd was awesome the whole time." He added, "I thought it was electric inside." Fire coach Frank Yallop said, "They did just a magnificent job on the stadium." MLSSOCCER.com's Geoff Lepper notes Yallop and MLS Commissioner Don Garber "both praised the field-level luxury boxes," while Garber also "pointed to the (relatively) lower cost as a potential blueprint for other clubs in the future." He said of the $100M cost, "I think this is going to be one of the best models for us going forward. They built it smart. ... They've built it efficiently, and that's important. Not every stadium's got to be several hundred million dollars. It's actually good to have them built in a way where the economic model makes sense, and I think that's what we have here" (MLSSOCCER.com, 3/23).
ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS: In S.F., Ann Killion reports many fans at yesterday's game "grabbed their beverages and headed to the 'party deck' a standing (or drinking?)-room-only area behind one of the goals." At Avaya Stadium, the "partiers aren't sequestered in the bowels of the stadium, but instead add to the festive atmosphere." On the closed end of the venue behind the other goal "is the supporters' section." Quakes F Chris Wondolowski "hopes it becomes the team's version of 'the Black Hole.'" Quakes G David Bingham said that it "got so loud in that end that he and his back line had some trouble communicating." Meanwhile, Garber "still sees the relocation of San Jose’s team and its replacement by an expansion team two years later as a necessary process." He said of the market's previous MLS franchise relocating to Houston in '06, "When we left, we so desperately wanted to come back to San Jose. I look back on it now with a touch of sadness. But if we hadn’t done it we would not be where we are today" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 3/23). In San Jose, Mark Purdy writes the successful opening of the new stadium proved MLS "should have never left the Bay Area" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 3/23).
