The Earthquakes‘ crucial home match Saturday against rival Los Angeles FC will have plenty of flavor — sporting and otherwise — as they seek to hold onto the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The game (5:30 p.m., Apple TV+) will be played at Levi’s Stadium, where the Quakes have sold more than 45,000 tickets as they seek to solidify their playoff standing. They expect to break their franchise home attendance record of 50,850, set in 2019 when they hosted the LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium.
These matches outside PayPal Park offer the Quakes an opportunity to draw larger crowds, as the 10-year-old stadium in San Jose has a listed capacity of 18,000, while Levi’s can host approximately 68,500 fans. The Quakes hosted the Galaxy in the California Clasico at Stanford Stadium in June, drawing more than 42,000 fans.
The match is also the final soccer event scheduled at Levi’s Stadium before it hosts six World Cup matches beginning next June.
Quakes president Jared Shawlee said the Quakes and Levi’s Stadium officials have been swapping notes with FIFA via the Bay Area Host Committee as the South Bay prepares to host the world’s biggest sporting competition.
“The impetus of doing the Levi’s game back in 2023 was the World Cup,” Shawlee, a member of the BAHC board, said. That doesn’t mean the Levi’s Stadium series will stop after next summer, though.
“This thing just kind of keeps growing and getting bigger,” he said. “It’s just helped fuel the rivalry with LAFC as a newer team.”
San Jose currently sits in ninth place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference, the final position in the playoff picture, with 35 points. The eighth- and ninth-place teams face off in a wild-card match, with the winner moving on to face the conference’s top side in a best-of-three series.
The Earthquakes have five matches left in their regular season, four of which come against teams among the West’s top six clubs. Winning points at home this week against fifth-place LAFC (41 points) and next week against lowly St. Louis FC (22 points) will be key to making the playoffs.
San Jose stabilized in August, going 2-2 last month after a stretch that saw the Earthquakes win just one of their prior 10 matches across all competitions. LAFC lost to West-leading San Diego last time out
INTERNATIONAL DRAW
Mexican fans who saw El Tri play Japan to a scoreless tie in Oakland last Saturday have reason to head south to Levi’s Stadium for this match as the Quakes are hosting Mexican Heritage Night in advance of the nation’s independence day Sept. 16. Recording artist Edgardo Nuñez will play the halftime show, and the pregame Fan Fest on the Faithful Mile outside the stadium will include lucha libre.
Shawlee said that after the Quakes scheduled their initial few Mexican heritage celebrations around Cinco de Mayo, they received feedback that Mexican Independence Day — Sept. 16 — may better suit fans.
It has worked out the last two years with the 49ers playing their Week 2 games on the road, a gamble that the parties involved took planning the match before the NFL schedule was released.
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Mexicans won’t be the only fans flocking to the match.
Former Tottenham Hotspur star Heung-Min Son joined LAFC early last month on an MLS-record transfer worth $26.5 million. The 33-year-old forward has a massive global following from his time in the Premier League and his place as one of South Korea’s most visible athletes, so his arrival surely hasn’t hurt the Quakes’ quest for more tickets, even if it may dilute their homefield advantage.
Shawlee acknowledged that the Quakes saw an increase in tickets around Son’s signing.
Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. and with the large crowd expected, Shawlee advised fans to arrive early and take VTA light rail, which has a stop at Great America right near the stadium.