Earthquakes Stadium

Stadium site before construction.

The proposal for the new stadium for the Earthquakes was brought before the San Jose City Council in June 2007. The proposal called for the city of San Jose to rezone a parcel of industrial land in the city's Edenvale district to residential uses. The parcel is owned by iS tar Financial, but members of the Earthquakes ownership group own an option to purchase the land. Rezoning the parcel would increase the value of the property by approximately $80 million. The site's industrial capacity would be transferred to surrounding properties allowing those sites to increase the density of the developments on their land, eliminating early generation single level developments. This would also preserve the industrial capacity for the city in the Edenvale area. The option on the land would then be sold and the proceeds would be used to construct the soccer-specific stadium on the Airport West site (formerly the site of an FMC Corp. facility) at no cost to the city. Additionally, Wolff and his partners will be funding and building the mixed-use development adjacent to the stadium out of pocket.

On April 15, 2008, it was revealed that a deal to sell the Airport West site to the group headed by the Earthquakes ownership had been reached. The ownership group would pay $132 million for 66 acres (270,000 m²) of the Airport West site, land San Jose purchased for $81 million in 2005. The deal was approved after the May 21 vote by the San Jose city council.[14][15] The purchase price was renegotiated between the city and ownership group in April 2009 to account for the lost value of the land due to the economic climate change since the original deal was struck. Additionally, the Earthquakes and their partners have reduced the purchased land size from the full 75 acres (300,000 m²) of the Airport West site to a smaller 65-acre (260,000 m²) parcel further reducing their purchase price to $89 million.

Lewis Wolff's ownership group's purchase of the Airport West site from the city of San Jose also alleviated the city of $7.5 million in tax service the city was paying on the site annually. The Airport West site had previously been purchased by the city for a possible expansion to the San Jose International Airport infrastructure. However, as of November 2007, the airport had indicated that the land is no longer needed in any current or projected developments.

The city estimates that the total development of both the Airport West and iStar site would bring approximately $1.3 billion worth of capital investment to San Jose and would bring in millions of dollars in tax revenues. The development would also provide new research and development, retail, and hotel jobs to the city. The iStar site would be developed with a mix of residential and commercial uses, while the Airport West site would be developed by Wolff with two hotels, as well as residential, research, and retail developments.

In a San Jose Mercury News article in August 2009, Lew Wolff backed off from publicly claiming a definite 2012 opening date for the stadium until a naming rights sponsor could be found and signed.[16]

The first official public renderings of the stadium were released to the public on September 19, 2009 by team owner Lewis Wolff. The rezoning of the property was approved March 16, 2010 to allow for the construction of the stadium.[17]

In April 2010, the Earthquakes completed construction and opened the Nutrilite Training Facility, including a training field adjacent to land intended for the new stadium.[18]

In November 2010, Earthquakes ownership requested the City of San Jose for another amendment to the purchase option for the stadium site. The amendment reduces non-refundable option payments to the City by $2 million to $5 million as well as extends the option period from 2013 to 2015. If Earthquakes ownership closes on the property earlier, a reduction of $4 million in non-refundable option payments will occur. If the economic climate continues to preclude the implementation of the stadium, the option includes provisions for the City to consider allowing retail on the stadium site.[19]

On January 20, 2011, the Earthquakes submitted an application to the city for a development permit.

The San Jose Earthquakes held a demolition ceremony at the stadium site on March 3, 2011 to kick off a 12-week demolition in advance of construction. On December 14, 2011, the planning commission approved the permit for stadium construction, which was subsequently appealed by residents nearby the site. On February 22, 2012, the commission heard the appeal and voted unanimously to reject the appeal and finalize the approval of the construction permit. The team organization stated they still planned to open the stadium in 2014.

The groundbreaking of the new stadium occurred on October 21, 2012,[1] with 6,256 participants on hand digging into the ground, smashing the previous world record. An official Guinness World Records adjudicator was on site to verify the record.[20][21]

Earthquakes President Dave Kaval stated in a February 2013 interview that stadium construction would begin by February 26, with the stadium on track for completion by early 2014.[22]

However, while construction crews demolished and prepared the site for construction, they discovered three underground concrete bunkers and several hundred concrete pilings from the previous FMC factory. These obstacles caused the completion date for the stadium to be pushed back to July 2014.[12] This was later revised to a scheduled completion date of early 2015. Demolition, grading, and the site utilities were installed by the middle of September 2013. The next steps in the process were the pouring of the foundations, followed by the steel erection.

The first steps taken in building the actual structure of the stadium occurred on September 27, 2013, when concrete pouring of the team building and locker rooms took place.[23] This was followed by the stadium foundations. The first steel beams for the stadium were laid on November 5, 2013, and on March 28, 2014, the final beam was hoisted in place.[23]

The first of the 18,000 seats were installed in the stadium on September 23, 2014.[24]

On November 19, 2014, Avaya was confirmed as the stadium sponsor for the Earthquakes' new stadium, officially called Avaya Stadium, paying $20 million over a 10-year deal.[25] The company filed for bankruptcy and initially planned to keep the naming rights, but later requested a federal judge in December 2017 to reduce the naming rights deal.[26] The team was unable to find a new naming rights sponsor and renamed the stadium to "Earthquakes Stadium" in 2020.[27]

Sunset during an Earthquakes match in 2017

Earthquakes Stadium's first-ever match was the San Jose Earthquakes' final 2015 preseason game against the Los Angeles Galaxy on February 28, 2015, followed by the Earthquakes' 2015 regular season home opener against the Chicago Fire on March 22, 2015.

On May 10, 2015, the United States women's national soccer team played its first send-off series match ahead of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, defeating the Republic of Ireland 3–0.[28]

In 2016, Earthquakes Stadium hosted the MLS All-Star Game between the MLS All-Stars and the English Premier League's Arsenal, which the latter won 2–1.[29]

Earthquakes Stadium was also designed to host rugby matches.[30] The stadium's first rugby match was a double-header for the 2015 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup on July 18, 2015, between Canada and Japan, followed by the United States and Samoa.[31]