Photograph by Mark Kocina
Middle linebacker Toso Matau, 20, a sophomore art major at West Valley College, sprints during football practice.
West Valley football players want college to improve seating for fans
By Rebecca Ray
As the sun sets on a hot summer day, young men in T-shirts and shorts throw and catch passes on the football field at West Valley College. One of them, Jeremy Johnson, a 19-year-old sophomore and defensive back on West Valley's football team, describes the field as being one of the best among junior colleges in Northern California. He says he doesn't understand why nearby residents don't want permanent seating for spectators.
To watch football and track events, spectators sit on folding chairs on top of the dirt hill that surrounds the track and field. College officials have proposed adding permanent bleachers to accommodate 3,500 to 4,000 spectators. They have also discussed adding lights, a public address system, landscaping, a snack bar, restrooms, a press box and a permanent scoreboard. During football games, the college uses a temporary electric portable scoreboard at field level.
But members of the West Valley Homeowners' Association, who live near the college, say these additions would create more noise and traffic and that light would spill onto their properties. They fear that the increased noise, traffic and light would undermine the tranquil quality of life in Saratoga and lower their property value.
Sophomore center Brian Cavanaugh, 20, is accustomed to playing for a school without adequate seating. When Cavanaugh played football for Saratoga High School, the team played its home games at Los Gatos High School because the bleachers at Saratoga only seat 1,000. Los Gatos high's bleachers seat 5,800.
Cavanaugh, who lives half a mile from the college, doesn't think improvements to the West Valley facility would worsen traffic. Between 200 and 500 people usually attend home football games, West Valley College President Marchelle Fox said. Even if attendance increased 30 percent, football head coach John Hancock said, the impact on traffic would probably be minimal.
Middle linebacker Toso Matau, 20, a sophomore art major, said he thought improvements to the facility would boost attendance and bring more traffic. He said the residents' fears were justifiable. Matau added, however, that recruits would become more interested in attending the college because they would know that more spectators were watching them.
Sophomore wide receiver Brian Davis, 19, said he knew of people, including his two sisters, who would not attend home games because of the seating. "They don't want to sit on dirt," Davis said. "It kind of takes away from the whole aspect of the game if no one can come out and watch you."
Receiver Kevin Gray, 21, a sophomore communications major, said he thought some recruits might not want to play at West Valley when they come from high schools with more stadium-like atmospheres. Prospect High School's bleachers seat 3,000, and Westmont High School in Campbell has a venue that seats 4,000.
Hancock says he can survive with or without improvements to the venue. Although he'd like to see improvements, he chooses not to let the situation bother him. On the other hand, he said, if he lived near the college, he might feel differently.
When a player complained to Hancock that his grandmother had no place to sit, Hancock suggested that he attend a school where bleachers were more important.
In March 1996, the city of Saratoga sued the West Valley-Mission Community College District, claiming that the college breached its agreement with the city. When the college obtained a use permit from the city in January 1967 before moving to Saratoga, the district agreed not to build "an outdoor sports stadium designed for large-scale public attendance at intercollegiate games or events," according to the permit. The district said the permit did not equal a signed contract and, therefore, the city could not hold the district to it. The Santa Clara County Superior Court ruled in favor of the district on the contract issue in 1998.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
