Stevens Stadium is a 7,000-seat soccer stadium on the west coast of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, located on the campus of Santa Clara University in Santa Clara,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The stadium is the current home of the Santa Clara Broncos soccer teams and was the former home of the now-defunct

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all-s ...

as well as the baseball team. The baseball team moved to their new home at

Stephen Schott Stadium Stephen Schott Stadium, or Schott Stadium for short, is the home of the Santa Clara University baseball team, a Division I Baseball team of the NCAA's West Coast Conference. The stadium, which opened in 2005, is located in Santa Clara, California ...

in 2005. The former home of the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer, the stadium's capacity was increased in the winter of 2007 from a capacity of 6,800 to 10,300. It was named Buck Shaw Stadium up until a renovation was done in 2015.

Stadium history

Buck Shaw Stadium opened its gates for the first time on September 22, 1962 when it hosted a football game between

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

and Santa Clara. Named for Lawrence T. "Buck" Shaw, a former football coach of the SCU Broncos, the playing surface still retains his name to the present day, being named Buck Shaw Field. The stadium was used for football games until 1992 and baseball games until 2005. In 2005, the venue was converted from a multipurpose facility to a soccer-only facility when the dugouts, baseball infield, and baseball backstop were permanently removed. The name was changed to Stevens Stadium following a renovation project in 2015. The stadium is the current location of the commencement ceremonies for the university. The site was first used for the undergraduate commencement on Saturday, June 9, 2001.

San Jose Earthquakes

On October 26, 2007, the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer announced that they would play a majority of their home games during the 2008 season at the stadium. Upgrades such as additional seating and bathrooms were added to the stadium in order for it to comply with MLS standards and funded by the Earthquakes organization over the last part 2008. The capacity was increased from 6,800 seats to 10,300 seats. In addition, the field was moved closer to the existing grandstand, with a small section removed from section 107 to accommodate the shift. The Santa Clara practice field between the

Leavey Center Leavey Center, also known as the Leavey Activities Center or occasionally by its old nickname the Toso Pavilion, is Santa Clara University's indoor basketball arena in Santa Clara, California. It is home to the Santa Clara University Broncos D ...

and Stevens was replaced with an "Italgrass" artificial turf surface. Drainage improvements were also made to the stadium's field in concert with the field crown being removed to produce a flat pitch. A new video scoreboard was added along with additional concession and merchandising stands. General facilities were also modernized or improved including the addition of new lighting, a TV press box, new sound system, and an additional grandstand on the stadium's west side. The new grandstand included all of the seating additions made to the stadium. About half of the new grandstand included tip up seating. Overall, the enhancements cost around $4 million. After the Earthquakes departed for their new

Avaya Stadium PayPal Park (formerly Earthquakes Stadium and Avaya Stadium) is a soccer-specific stadium in San Jose, California, San Jose, California, United States, and is the home of Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes. The stadium is located on the ...

, the university undertook an improvement project that removed the original east side press box from the stadium as well as the Earthquakes temporary bleachers on the west side of the stadium. In their place a new smaller permanent west side grandstand, press box and entry plaza were installed. Capacity of the stadium was reduced back to 7,000 permanent seats as a result.

Other sports events

Soccer

In summer of 1981 the stadium was the main venue for the

World Games 1981 The 1981 World Games were the first World Games, an international multi-sport event, and were held in Santa Clara, California, United States. The games featured sports that were not included in the Olympics, including tug-of-war, racquetball ...

. During the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

, the stadium was the official practice field of the Brazil soccer team. The Brazilians won the World Cup that year. It also played host to the Romanian national team for their practice prior to that year's quarterfinal match. Stevens Stadium holds the current record for highest attendance at a women's outdoor collegiate sporting event. In 1996 the NCAA Women's College Cup (Division I soccer finals) was played at Buck Shaw, which had its capacity temporarily expanded to 8,800 seats and sold out both days of the tournament. In 2009, the stadium also hosted

FC Gold Pride FC Gold Pride was an American professional soccer club based in the San Francisco Bay Area, which participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The club replaced the San Jose CyberRays of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association as the top-le ...

, one of the seven charter teams of

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

. However, Gold Pride moved to

Pioneer Stadium Pioneer Stadium is a soccer and track & field stadium owned and operated by California State University, East Bay in Hayward, California, United States. It currently hosts the East Bay Pioneers soccer and track & field teams. The stadium also host ...

in Hayward for the 2010 season.

Rugby

The stadium has also hosted several international rugby matches. In 2006, Buck Shaw hosted three pool matches in the

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams (originally one and later three) from a wide arr ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

competition, becoming the first U.S. venue to host matches in that tournament (all matches in the 2003–2005 editions had been in Canada). In May 2009 the stadium again hosted an international rugby match, with 10,000 fans turning out to watch the game between the

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

.ESPN Scrum, United States v. Ireland, May 31, 2009, http://www.espnscrum.com/scrum/rugby/match/91196.html

International matches

References

External links

Official Santa Clara University Site
{{Former MLS stadiums Sports venues in Santa Clara County, California Defunct college football venues Santa Clara Broncos baseball Santa Clara Broncos football Santa Clara Broncos soccer Santa Clara University buildings and structures Rugby union stadiums in California American football venues in California Baseball venues in California Soccer venues in California Sports in Santa Clara, California FC Gold Pride San Jose Earthquakes Women's Professional Soccer stadiums Former Major League Soccer stadiums Sports venues in the San Francisco Bay Area Buildings and structures in Santa Clara, California 1962 establishments in California Sports venues completed in 1962