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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;SAN JOSE, Calif. \u2013 Creating North America\u2019s largest outdoor bar at Avaya Stadium wasn\u2019t the goal. It just worked out like that for architect Brad Schrock and the San Jose Earthquakes.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CHow it became the largest bar in North America I don\u2019t know,\u201D Schrock, director of Sports + Recreation + Entertainment for HOK, told SI.com. \u201CWe didn\u2019t set out to make it that, but the nature of the size of the opening and the desire to create this really active dynamic space it turned out to be that.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With the bar playing a key role on the open end of the horseshoe at the brand-new stadium two miles from downtown San Jose and a Beers of the Worlds section at the south end, Schrock says the real focus of Avaya Stadium, though, centers around its European-style roof capturing the energy from the league\u2019s steepest seating bowl.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With a single seating bowl starting 10.5 feet above the field-level suites and party decks and at an angle of 30 degrees, no MLS stadium has a steeper rake, which means the last row of the 18,000-seat venue sits closer to the natural grass pitch than others of a similar size.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fans will experience that Sunday night (7 p.m. ET, FoxSports1), when the Earthquakes host the Chicago Fire in the stadium's grand unveiling.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWe wanted a strong, but simple solution,\u201D Schrock said.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Instead of placing the 16 suites mid-level and breaking up the bowl\u2014and fan noise\u2014he dropped the suites down low, off the concourse and pulled them toward the pitch, cranking up the rake of the bowl without going so high that fans would freak out near the top.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CAll the sightline programs all of us designers use to design these seating bowls would tell you that you don\u2019t need to be that steep,\u201D he said. But forget the programs. \u201CThe steeper it gets the more people feel like they are on top of the action.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keeping the premium seating on the field allowed the Quakes to give close-to-the-action seating for premium payers and the general bowl.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But if the Quakes can fill Avaya Stadium with 18,000 raucous fans\u2013the club announced this week that the maximum 12,000 season-ticket packages have been sold\u2013Schrock wanted that to mean something from an energy standpoint. And while the stripped-down venue (his words) was an \u201Cexercise in putting the money where the fans and players benefited most\u201D one place the ownership group did spend money on was the 90-foot canopy extending to the first row of seats.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CIt is incredibly intimate and captures the energy of the fan,\u201D Schrock said. \u201CIt harkens back to great European soccer venues, really tight, steep seating bowl with big overhangs to amplify the crowd noise.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The roof connects to the back of the seating bowl so there\u2019s no noise leakage and uses a metal deck and structural steel\u2014the angularity of the steel on the sides of the stadium are to support the roof, even if a future fa\u00E7ade will eventually put a covering on them\u2014to capture fan energy and reflect acoustics back toward the pitch.\r\n\r\n\r\n\t&lt;strong&gt;WAHL: Porter's shift in philosophy means new-look Portland&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The canopy also helps from a fan comfort standpoint, providing shade for the folks not meandering the bar.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CIt was an exercise in best value,\u201D Schrock says. \u201CWhere do we put the dollars to get the most value out of it? The return on that is going to pay dividends in terms of fan experiences. It is one of those things that a lot of stadiums have not invested in in the past. It is not an inexpensive component, so you really have to believe it creates an incredible benefit to the fan experience.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Designers kept the roof as flat as possible to capture more noise, but the roofing material pulls back at the end to ensure the entire pitch gets the sun it needs to grow.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The ends, though, that is where Avaya Stadium offers up some beer-centric culture. The south bowl has a tiered standing area for supporters near the Beers of the World concession. The first standing platform sits at field level and steps up from there.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The story behind the bar on the north end didn\u2019t start with a bar.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThe only negative with a horseshoe is without something in that end, the experience tends to bleed,\u201D Schrock said. \u201CWe proposed an LED board and a bar that stretched across from stand to stand to not only help enclose that end, but create this dynamic space that would become a focal point. It is funny, it immediately got some traction.\u201D\r\n\r\n\r\n\t&lt;strong&gt;STRAUS: NYCFC's home debut provides spark for soccer-hungry city&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The 3,647-square-foot bar was designed 55 feet behind the north goal under open slots in the underside of the scoreboard so from the view from Coleman Avenue on the outside it looked transparent, but coupled with the board and \u201CEpicenter\u201D fan space, there was \u201Cmassing\u201D in the north end that helped complete the Avaya Stadium experience.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even if it took North America\u2019s largest outdoor bar to make it happen.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tim Newcomb covers stadiums, design and gear for Sports Illustrated. Follow him on Twitter at @tdnewcomb.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;h3&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GALLERY: Soccer at baseball stadiums&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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