San Jose Earthquakes Coach Luchi Gonzalez speaks to the community during an announcement that the soccer team will be building public soccer fields and a new training facility at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, in San Jose, Calif. (Grace Hase/Bay Area News Group)
After several years of discussions, Santa Clara County announced Wednesday that it will lease 30-acres of the county fairgrounds to the San Jose Earthquakes to build eight soccer fields as well as a training and practice facility for the club.
Located on an undeveloped part of the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds near Umbarger and Monterey roads, 16 of the 30 acres will be dedicated to four public, lighted turf fields that the entire community can access. The remaining 14 acres will accommodate four professional fields and a 35,000 square foot training and practice center for the Earthquakes’ pro and youth teams in the Earthquakes Academy. The facility will include locker rooms, a weight room, dining hall, theater, medical treatment center, hydrotherapy equipment, laundry rooms and office space for staff and more.
“This is a community place,” Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez said during a press conference announcing the partnership between the county, the Earthquakes and the city of San Jose. “So putting this project there is so important because it demonstrates to the public that this area really does belong to everybody and to the neighborhoods surrounding this community how important it is to have recreation that’s safe and healthy for our kids.”
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said that “there has never been a better time to be a sports fan in the South Bay,” referencing the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2026 Super Bowl, both of which will take place in Santa Clara County.
He called the plans for the new fields “a community resource that’s badly needed in San Jose.”
“When I was a middle school teacher in the East Side, I coached soccer and I saw how transformative it was for my students to be part of a team, to learn how to communicate on and off the field, how to overcome adversity together,” Mahan said. “But far too often we struggled to find playing fields. That was 15 years ago and still the kids of San Jose today struggle to have access to adequate playing fields.”
The closest public soccer fields to the fairgrounds are about a mile north on Monterey Road at The Park San Jose. However, it costs almost $100 to rent. Solari Park is three miles to the south, but requires permits for soccer games.
Mahan said the city currently has a deficit of nearly 50 soccer fields relative to the need. He hopes they can expedite the permitting process to ensure the development is completed before the 2026 FIFA World Cup comes to Levi’s Stadium in neighboring Santa Clara.
Earthquakes head coach Luchi Gonzalez said the team wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the community. The Earthquakes are the professional sports team with the longest tenure in the South Bay, celebrating its 50th anniversary in San Jose next year.
“I am the product of the community,” he said. “I got to play, fall in love with this game and play on community fields. I got to be a youth coach on community fields. I wouldn’t be able to be focused on my school work, stay away from distractions, get an education in college and play the game that I love if it wasn’t for community fields.”
Soccer isn’t the only sport expected to make a debut at the county fairgrounds. The county has been negotiating with Major League Cricket to bring a $50 million, 15,000- seat stadium that would occupy a tenth of the 165-acre fairgrounds.
Originally published at Grace Hase