CEFCU Stadium sits in the Spartan Keyes neighborhood of San Jose, California, where it has served as the home field for San Jose State Spartans football since the stadium first opened in 1933. For more than eight decades it was known simply as Spartan Stadium, a name fans used long before the venue took on its current corporate title in 2016.
Beyond college football, the stadium carries a notable soccer legacy: it was the home ground of the San Jose Earthquakes during the formative years of Major League Soccer, from the league’s 1996 launch through the 2005 season, and it also hosted the original NASL Earthquakes decades earlier. That dual football-and-soccer history makes it one of the more layered athletic venues on the West Coast.
Stats at a Glance
- Team(s): San Jose State Spartans (NCAA football)
- Location: San Jose, California
- Opened: 1933
- Renamed: 2016 (from Spartan Stadium)
- Capacity: about 18,203
- Surface: AstroTurf Rhino Blend
- Notable Fact: Former home of MLS’s San Jose Earthquakes (1996-2005)
From Spartan Stadium to CEFCU Stadium
The venue opened in 1933 with room for just 4,000 fans and grew in stages over the following decades, peaking at more than 31,000 seats in the mid-1980s before later renovations brought capacity down to its current size of about 18,203. Through all of those changes, it remained known as Spartan Stadium until Citizens Equity First Credit Union (CEFCU) signed a naming-rights deal in 2016.
The stadium’s natural grass field, used from its 1933 opening through 2008, eventually gave way to artificial turf, and a $70 million athletics center completed in 2023 added modern locker rooms, training facilities, and football operations space alongside the historic bowl.
A Shared Home for Football and Soccer
While San Jose State football has played there continuously since 1933, the stadium also has deep soccer roots. It hosted the original North American Soccer League Earthquakes in the 1970s and early ’80s, then became the home of the MLS version of the Earthquakes for the league’s first decade, giving the venue a rare place in both college football and professional soccer history on the same patch of turf.
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For upper-deck seats. Watch line play at the stadium, or the far side of the park from the top of a lift hill.
CEFCU Stadium FAQs
Why was Spartan Stadium renamed CEFCU Stadium?
San Jose State University sold naming rights to Citizens Equity First Credit Union (CEFCU) in a 2016 deal, ending the Spartan Stadium name the venue had carried since it opened in 1933.
What is the capacity of CEFCU Stadium?
The stadium currently seats about 18,203, down from a peak of over 31,000 in the 1980s after renovations reduced the bowl’s size.
Did an MLS team ever play at CEFCU Stadium?
Yes, the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer played their home games there from the league’s 1996 debut through the 2005 season.
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Photo: Dicklyon / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.