San Jose Earthquakes March 21 home game postponed due to coronavirus

The San Jose Earthquakes and Major League Soccer announced on Wednesday the Quakes’ March 21 home game will be postponed for a later date in light of the coronavirus spread and Santa Clara County’s order to stop all mass gatherings of more than 1,000 people.

The Quakes announced earlier this week they would comply with the county’s order, but their initial statement did not explain how they would alter their gameday procedure, whether the game would be postponed or if it would be played behind closed-doors.

“We’re very supportive of the mandate by the County’s Public Health Department,” said Earthquakes Chief Operating Officer Jared Shawlee in a team statement. “We’d like to thank all of our community partners, including the City of San Jose and the County of Santa Clara, for their assistance and we would also like to thank our fans, players and staff for their patience and understanding throughout this unprecedented time. We will continue to work with local agencies and league officials and provide updates as available.”

But the postponement seemed likely and so it came to pass. The rescheduled date, against Sporting Kansas City, has not been announced yet, likely because it hasn’t been determined, but chances are it will either come on a Wednesday or during an international break.

The Earthquakes also announced that tickets purchased for the March 21 match will be honored for the rescheduled date. It’s unclear if they will honor requested refunds or not.

In the meantime, the Quakes’ game on Saturday against the Philadelphia Union in Pennsylvania is still on at this time, with San Jose taking charter flights in line with the current MLS policy to mitigate exposure to coronavirus.

Will this impact other games for the Quakes? To be determined. We’ll let you know if there are updates on scheduling and other games affected by coronavirus moving forward as we learn them.

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