This Sunday, Major League Soccer will feature Washington against San Jose — just as it did 29 years ago on the same day to kick off the inaugural MLS season.
Back in 1996, the San Jose team was called the Clash, not the Earthquakes, and there was much skepticism as to whether the 1994 World Cup could provide the necessary boost to finally pave the way for a successful soccer league in the United States.
Seeking to do something special for the league's celebration of its 30th season, the Earthquakes tried to find some of the tickets from that game, which was a sellout at San Jose State's Spartan Stadium.
A crowd of 31,683 people watched Eric Wynalda score in the 87th minute to give San Jose the first victory in MLS history.
Tickets to that first game are relatively hard to find. PSA had only graded five full tickets and three stubs.
So, the team called up former head of ticket operations John Tebaldi to see whether he had any.
“It would have been reasonable to think that these tickets would have been misplaced after 30 years and several moves," Tebaldi told cllct. "But any self-respecting ticket seller sees the value in keeping tickets. It's part of my story."
Tebaldi didn't take long to find nearly 40 tickets from the game.
"The branding looks a lot like the 1994 World Cup because frankly it involved the same business people," Tebaldi said. He gave some of the pristine tickets to the Earthquakes.
Team president Jared Shawlee said the Earthquakes are in the process of getting them graded at PSA, before auctioning them off to benefit the club's foundation.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.