Last night the San Jose city council voted unanimously 10-0 to approve rezoning the 95-acre property near Mineta San Jose International Airport to allow development of a professional soccer stadium of up to 18,000 seats for the Quakes.

This news out of San Jose is positive but it isn’t a definite meaning that a new stadium for the San Jose Earthquakes will actually be built. But as we’ve seen in Kansas City, small steps usually go a long way in getting a deal done and dirt getting moved on the ground.

This is a positive step for the club and the league, which have had so many issues in getting a stadium in the Bay Area over the years. Even if the stadium is as small and without so many bells and whistles that say Red Bull Arena has but it will be a place of their own nonetheless.

Quakes owner Lew Wolff will privately fund the stadium build and provide $60 million to help finance the project, and pay the city $7 million for the land near the airport. He is still in the hunt for a major sponsor to help him out in terms of naming rights. The council’s zoning approval will help him out in that area too, companies are more likely to buy into this project now that it has some backing on the government level.

We all know the importance for the league to get all the clubs into their own facilities. With Houston and San Jose both close to moving dirt along with Kansas City, the next couple of years could be very promising for the league in terms of being able to work out schedules in their favor, among other things that come with these stadiums. Now if we can only get that team in Washington D.C., a stadium of their own…then we’d be set.

I love that KC is doing some fairly frequent updates on their new stadium through videos.

And a side note after yesterday’s post about the capacity of the stadium going down to 16,500 I have been told a few times today that number did not include stadium suites. I figured as much when I mentioned that yesterday. Anyways, enjoy this new update.

Mike from the always solid KC Wizards blog Down the Byline has some interesting and upsetting news about the new Wizards stadium capacity possibly being lowered yet again.

Why is it upsetting? Well if you’re a Wizards fan it has to be troubling to hear the stadium has gone from 20,000 when the first stadium site was considered to 19,000, to 18,500, to 18,000 and now down to possibly 16,500. (Big thing to keep in mind that number may not include stadium suites and the document that is linked on Down the Byline no longer works so we are taking this at his word now.)

In a way the number that is being tossed around here today isn’t all that terrible though. Even though it is upsetting to hear their capacity keeps lowering one has to wonder if the club really needs a 18-20,000 seat stadium anyways. Its not like they’ve exactly set the league on fire in terms of attendance in years past (though the argument there could be due to the two venues they’ve played in as well). But it does have to be upsetting to be promised a number and then it not be reached.

The question now becomes is 16,500 too small for a MLS club? Honestly it is but at this point beggars can’t be choosers huh? I’m curious to see if the number goes back up once the suites are included (if they weren’t already). I think if they can find a way to get the number back to at least 17,000-17,500 they’ll be fine and won’t face too much backlash for a “smaller” venue.

So what do you think? Will it be troubling if the capacity ends up being that 16,500 figure? Is that too small for a MLS club right now?

The local news man gives us a brief update on the Houston Dynamo stadium front.

According to Sports Business Journal, the Philadelphia Union have sold their waterfront stadium’s naming rights to a local power company called Philadelphia Power & Lights (PPL). The deal will be for 10 years, $20 million.

Not bad at all for the Union considering Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah was for roughly $1-2 million a year for ten years. Also not bad considering Chicago’s Toyota Park deal with Toyota was for roughly $750,000 a year for 10 years to sponsor the Fire’s home.

So far it sounds like a good deal for Union fans. A $1-2 million a year deal isn’t bad at all.

Now the question comes down to whether or not it will be PPL Park, PPL Stadium, PPL Field, etc. The deal is being finalized and should be done by the end of the week.

We’ve heard for months now about the Houston Dynamo stadium being in downtown Houston next to the baseball stadium there but now are the Dynamo looking elsewhere for their stadium?

Thanks to DyanmoPlanet.com for posting this earlier this morning (via ABC13 in Houston). The club is now looking at another possible site near the Galleria in Houston.

“We’re looking at that location, along with our folks from the city and county, trying to figure out, if it’s better than the east end site. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, we just don’t know yet,” said Oliver Luck, President of the Houston Dynamo.

Red Bull Arena. (photo via Mark Fishkin)

Saw these photos (or stadium porn if you will) from Mark Fishkin earlier. Just wow. No doubt this stadium is passing up Home Depot Center as the main soccer venue in this country.

Fishkin also points outs some really good things the Red Bulls are doing with this new venue. Something I wish other teams would do a little more of.

- Red Bull will invest nearly 20 times the 2009 marketing budget to promote the 2010 season and Red Bull Arena. The campaign will begin in early February.

- RBNY is smartly educating the Portuguese population in the Ironbound about the team.  Apparently, some soccer-mad fans there had no idea RBA was a soccer stadium.  Some mistakenly believed RBA was built for baseball.

-Full season ticket holders will have their RB tickets delivered via a smart card.  STHs will tap the card at the turnstile to gain entrance to RBA. The cards will be used at concession stands and the team store, and reward points will be awarded for purchases.  Eventually, sponsors may take part in the RB smart-card program as well.

-The RBA concourses will include panels that will block the view of the seating bowl.  Why?  Red Bull wants folks IN THEIR SEATS during play, watching the match.  This is a very smart move that will surely look great on TV.

-Why hold Big East Soccer semis & final at RBA in late 2010 and beyond? Red Bull wants to prevent local talent from slipping away to ACC schools.  If the chance of playing at RBA drives local HS stars to the Big East, fantastic. While the Big East tourney may not be a moneymaker for RBA, the relationship with local players & fans is important for the team.

Now there are other things like mention of signing a second DP an all over there too but those were points that really jumped out at me here. I love the last one about the Big East and TBA. No doubt that was a smart move on both parties part for getting that tournament at RBA each year. I do think it will help prevent quality players from going to the ACC in the long run. I mean if you can play at RBA once a year while in college instead of having to go to Cary, NC for a game you’d take RBA in a heartbeat.

I also like the smart card system they are putting in place too.

It seems like this club is finally getting a good foot on things too here. While their player choices aren’t the best it does seem like management is stepping things up a notch with this new stadium. Getting Santos in to open the venue is also a nice touch.