Fisher's stadium comment takes away from big match
The talk around the San Jose Earthquakes should be about the club's playoff push as they try to earn their first home playoff match in the nine-year history of PayPal Park.
But instead, the discourse on social media last week centered on something team owner John Fisher said about the stadium San Jose helped build for his soccer team.
In an ESPN story about Fisher's other team, the Oakland A's, and its fight with the City of Oakland over ballpark issues came this passage from the author, Tim Keown:
“The comparison between the A's and the Earthquakes is `apples to oranges,' Fisher says. And, according to Fisher, the eight-year-old PayPal Stadium in San Jose is already outdated compared to newer MLS stadiums — he mentions LAFC, St. Louis and Austin — and lacks the capacity and premium seating that drives the kind of revenue needed to compete
for championships.”
It's an eyebrow-raising comment about PayPal Park, which was built for $100 million in 2015 on land that was purchased from the city of San Jose at significant discounts from initial offerings. When asked for comment on Fisher's “outdated” remark, San Jose mayor Matt Mahan didn't seem to agree with the Quakes owner.
“PayPal Park offers an incredible fan experience. My family and I love to cheer on the Quakes — and will soon cheer on Bay FC there,” Mahan said in a statement. ”I hope the stadium's ownership will continue to invest to ensure it is second to none.”
Fisher issued a similar statement the following day to the Sports Business Journal.
“As Earthquakes fans know, PayPal Park is one of the best venues in the world to watch a soccer game,” Fisher said in the statement. “The intimate nature of the stadium gives it a great feel and the sight lines are excellent from every seat. We continue to explore opportunities to invest in new enhancements to the stadium that improve fan experience and drive revenues.”
The comment from Fisher comes just as the Quakes are looking to secure a playoff spot for the first time since 2020 and just the third time since 2012.
The comment sent social media ablaze on X, formerly known as Twitter, with several posts about Fisher's comments garnering hundreds of likes, reposts and responses.
Quakes Epicenter, a prominent blog that only covers the Earthquakes, did not post about the team's on-field playoff push for more than 48 hours after the comment began circulating on social media early Thursday morning.
Still, the season will march on for the Quakes, who play a huge match today at Minnesota.
San Jose is in eighth place in the Western Conference with 41 points. In the new MLS playoff structure, the top seven teams in each conference will play in the first round, which is a best-of-three series that guarantees a home match for each team. The eighth and ninth teams in each conference will play a single-elimination match at the eighth seed's home.
For San Jose, it means finishing anywhere in the top eight will bring PayPal Park its first-ever postseason match, and the first hosted by the Quakes at all since 2012. But after Saturday's draw, the Quakes have only picked up nine points in their last eight matches and are now on the playoff bubble.
After Minnesota, which sits 11th with 37 points, the Quakes will be on the road for an Oct. 7 match against a Dallas team that is right behind them with 40 points. The regular season concludes with an Oct. 21 home game against Austin, currently 12th in the Western Conference stack with 35 points.