Hey everyone,
A few weeks ago a made a post about my first experience at Red Bull Arena. I thought there was some good discussion there about what we would like our future stadium to include as well as the atmosphere that we'd like to cultivate in the future.
I was home for a long weekend last week and managed to catch the Quakes second game at Avaya, so I thought I'd make another post about my overall experience.
First off, I'm from the Bay Area and have been a Quakes fan for a long time. I grew up going to Clash games at San Jose State. I spent a couple of seasons photographing the Quakes at Buckshaw for a local soccer blog. Buckshaw is about as shitty of a watching experience as you can get. Everything about it is inadequate for a professional team. So you can imagine how excited Quakes fans were when the new stadium was announced. And you can imagine how bummed I was to be moving to the other side of the country right before the stadium was to open haha
I'm going to just start out by saying that Avaya is fucking awesome. When I walked in on Sunday, I nearly teared up. It's been a long time coming for Bay Area soccer fans.
Getting to Avaya is very easy. It's right off of a major highway and across the street from the SJ International airport. It is also right next to a train station, but unfortunately there is no easy way to go directly to the stadium since the tracks are between the stadium and the station. They will be building a tunnel to fix that issue.
We sat in section 121. A section near the corner and two sections over from the San Jose Ultras.
As you can see, amazing view. The seats at Avaya are VERY steep, so you stay really close to the field despite being high up. Directly behind the scoreboard there is the airport. It's actually really awesome seeing planes land and take off all game. The plane sound isn't an issue at all. The mountains in the background are obviously beautiful as well.
The stadium has a roof, but for some reason it only covers from row 15 and above. There was a little bit of rain, so we were glad that we were in the 21st row
The roof is also great for keeping in the sound of the Ultras singing.
Near the end of the first half we walked up the stairs to the concourse they have at the top of the stadium. There is a bar up in the corner and a bunch of little ledges that you can stand at and set your beer on. Another great view.
From there we headed to the other side of the stadium. If you read my post about RBA, you'll remember the nightmare picture of the crowded concourse. Avaya has a VERY wide concourse and a lot more food and beverage offerings.
That pic is from right after the second half kickoff, so it's a little less crowded than normal. But still pretty impressive. A really cool feature of Avaya is the fact that the seats don't go all the way to the ground. So if you're in the concourse during play, you can still watch the game.
During half time we went down to the famous, LOBINA™ (Largest Outdoor Bar in North America. It's pretty cool I guess. Just a big ass bar behind the goal.
Behind LOBINA is a grassy area that you can picnic in. They also bring in 5 or 6 food trucks every game and pack them there as well. They also have a bunch of bounce houses and stuff like that for the kids.
Now the next feature of Avaya is the one that REALLY makes it stand out for me. It's the amazing general admission standing sections that they offer. There is one on each end of the field. Here is the pictures from the terraced area between the field and LOBINA. Again, plenty of ledges to set your beer on.
But the best standing section is on the other side of the field. It is a general admission, "safe standing" section. Look at how close you are to the action.
It was great to be there in the second half since the Quakes were attacking that end (too bad they couldn't find the back of the net that day).
A little bit about the supporters. Like RBNY, the Quakes have several SGs that are unfortunately divided and refuse to be in sync with eachother. The FO really messed up by letting each group have SEVERAL drums. So all of the drum beats kind mix together and ruin the rhythm. The way that the SGs are situated is interesting as well. The Ultras are the biggest and loudest group and sit (well, stand) up in the seats above the safe standing section. The other two or three SGs are kind of spread through out the safe standing section. The part I was standing in had a capo trying to get people singing, but since it's general admission, it was mostly people more interested in watching the game. I kind of felt bad for him since he was really urging people to sing and get into, but it didn't catch on at all.
Here's another view of the standing terrace. You can see the flags of one of the SGs in the background (the Faultline I think). Then up above (can't really see them) are the Ultras.
All in all, Avaya is an incredibly fun place to watch a game. I can't think of one complaint. I have been to ALL of the stadiums/arenas in the Bay Area and this is by FAR the best game day experience. Not even AT&T compares (and I love AT&T).
Thanks again for the read!
A few weeks ago a made a post about my first experience at Red Bull Arena. I thought there was some good discussion there about what we would like our future stadium to include as well as the atmosphere that we'd like to cultivate in the future.
I was home for a long weekend last week and managed to catch the Quakes second game at Avaya, so I thought I'd make another post about my overall experience.
First off, I'm from the Bay Area and have been a Quakes fan for a long time. I grew up going to Clash games at San Jose State. I spent a couple of seasons photographing the Quakes at Buckshaw for a local soccer blog. Buckshaw is about as shitty of a watching experience as you can get. Everything about it is inadequate for a professional team. So you can imagine how excited Quakes fans were when the new stadium was announced. And you can imagine how bummed I was to be moving to the other side of the country right before the stadium was to open haha
I'm going to just start out by saying that Avaya is fucking awesome. When I walked in on Sunday, I nearly teared up. It's been a long time coming for Bay Area soccer fans.
Getting to Avaya is very easy. It's right off of a major highway and across the street from the SJ International airport. It is also right next to a train station, but unfortunately there is no easy way to go directly to the stadium since the tracks are between the stadium and the station. They will be building a tunnel to fix that issue.
We sat in section 121. A section near the corner and two sections over from the San Jose Ultras.
As you can see, amazing view. The seats at Avaya are VERY steep, so you stay really close to the field despite being high up. Directly behind the scoreboard there is the airport. It's actually really awesome seeing planes land and take off all game. The plane sound isn't an issue at all. The mountains in the background are obviously beautiful as well.
The stadium has a roof, but for some reason it only covers from row 15 and above. There was a little bit of rain, so we were glad that we were in the 21st row
The roof is also great for keeping in the sound of the Ultras singing. Near the end of the first half we walked up the stairs to the concourse they have at the top of the stadium. There is a bar up in the corner and a bunch of little ledges that you can stand at and set your beer on. Another great view.
From there we headed to the other side of the stadium. If you read my post about RBA, you'll remember the nightmare picture of the crowded concourse. Avaya has a VERY wide concourse and a lot more food and beverage offerings.
That pic is from right after the second half kickoff, so it's a little less crowded than normal. But still pretty impressive. A really cool feature of Avaya is the fact that the seats don't go all the way to the ground. So if you're in the concourse during play, you can still watch the game.
During half time we went down to the famous, LOBINA™ (Largest Outdoor Bar in North America. It's pretty cool I guess. Just a big ass bar behind the goal.
Behind LOBINA is a grassy area that you can picnic in. They also bring in 5 or 6 food trucks every game and pack them there as well. They also have a bunch of bounce houses and stuff like that for the kids.
Now the next feature of Avaya is the one that REALLY makes it stand out for me. It's the amazing general admission standing sections that they offer. There is one on each end of the field. Here is the pictures from the terraced area between the field and LOBINA. Again, plenty of ledges to set your beer on.
But the best standing section is on the other side of the field. It is a general admission, "safe standing" section. Look at how close you are to the action.
It was great to be there in the second half since the Quakes were attacking that end (too bad they couldn't find the back of the net that day).
A little bit about the supporters. Like RBNY, the Quakes have several SGs that are unfortunately divided and refuse to be in sync with eachother. The FO really messed up by letting each group have SEVERAL drums. So all of the drum beats kind mix together and ruin the rhythm. The way that the SGs are situated is interesting as well. The Ultras are the biggest and loudest group and sit (well, stand) up in the seats above the safe standing section. The other two or three SGs are kind of spread through out the safe standing section. The part I was standing in had a capo trying to get people singing, but since it's general admission, it was mostly people more interested in watching the game. I kind of felt bad for him since he was really urging people to sing and get into, but it didn't catch on at all.
Here's another view of the standing terrace. You can see the flags of one of the SGs in the background (the Faultline I think). Then up above (can't really see them) are the Ultras.
All in all, Avaya is an incredibly fun place to watch a game. I can't think of one complaint. I have been to ALL of the stadiums/arenas in the Bay Area and this is by FAR the best game day experience. Not even AT&T compares (and I love AT&T).
Thanks again for the read!
