yeah, there weren't 6000 there last night. I'd wager everything I own on it. there were 2 sections on the "new" side of the stadium that didn't have a single person in them. literally blank. zero people. the section inbetween the ultras and the KFC corner thing had like, 60 people in it. not good. re: chicken or egg....it's now too late for that. the team can't continue to play at Santa Clara and have any prayer of building a fanbase. Fisher and Wolff have to decide, now, if they want to own a successful soccer team, and thus are willing to put in the required millions in stadium, staff, players and advertising...or they need to decide they aren't willing to risk it and move on. they won't get any more answers from waiting. nothing's going to happen to make season tickets skyrocket without putting a ton of money into things coupled with a stadium announcement. which, i guess is a lot of words to say it's (past) time to shit or get off the pot.
At the start of the match, yes, but later in the match it started to fill out a bit. Not sure why - maybe this is where the folks associated with the youth soccer players sat after the youth soccer at halftime? Or maybe people moved to these seats because they were better than the seats they had. I don't think it's that simple, and it doesn't matter if we think it's "too late for that". It only matters what Lew and co. think. If you listen / read carefully what Lew has to say about the franchise, he's very clearly puzzled as to why more folks are not coming to the games. Yes, he understands the argument that you need a new venue, but I'm not sure that he's entirely bought into that as a cure-all. They have done some things over the past couple of years that you would think would bring more people to the games, but if anything, seems that attendance is on a bit of a downward trend: - playoff team - designated player - "Buck Shaw 2.0" - yes, you can chuckle, but they're trying - nods to NASL 'Quakes with George Best gate, food trucks, attempt to appeal to the area's technology geeks - concessions by phone, etc. When you are sitting on the fence trying to decide if you are going to jump in w/o the sponsorship money / investment that you expected, you are already very discouraged about the reception of the team by the market, and you are seeing declining attendance after a playoff year, and after having spent for a DP, and after getting lucky enough that a local star emerges out of nowhere, and after bringing in a young, savvy business guy to run the franchise, you may just decide to get off the fence and go home. That's the reality, folks. Time to wake up. If you want the team to stay here, and you want them to build the stadium, staying home in protest because you are not happy with the venue is not going to help.
To bring this back to Dave Kaval, I expect that one of the reasons he was hired was to generate more sponsorship money. It's a lot easier to ramp up to where you need to be if the $ are coming in with lots of 000 at the end. Even if every seat in Buck Shaw were occupied by a season ticket holder, you wouldn't have enough to make much of a dent in construction costs. My own old->new stadium experience is with RSL, where the move from a perfectly nice university stadium (much nicer, I am sad to say, than our dear Buck Shaw) to a soccer stadium made a huge difference. A market unlike ours, but I think the Sharks have proven that you can get the locals excited about a sport that isn't the big three. Even if you have the steak, you have to be able to sell the sizzle.
Well, a couple things: 1) I think the point is a presumed correlation of some kind between "reception of the product in the market" and sponsorship dollars. It's not so much about people in the seats somehow directly funding stadium construction. 2) I think most folks here are bought into the "sizzle" argument. I'm just not sure that Lew and co. are completely bought in, and they are the ones making the decision.
Unfortunately at this time we have neither. Many of us are not even sure if anyone is grocery shopping or still waiting for that Buy One Get One Free coupon to appear.
Yeah, I guess most of my post was pointless. Mainly what I was trying to say was that Kaval (since this is his thread!) is likely to be the person who helps prospective sponsors make that cognitive leap from dreary reality into a dazzling future. I can think of some up-and-coming Valley companies that might get enthusiastic about that. It's the Valley mindset -- tried-and-true is mundane, get in on the ground floor just before the product takes off. (If I more inane than usual, blame it on lack of sleep due to dying dog. Not fun.)
It's not about covering construction costs; it's about generating optimism concerning the investment. If the Quakes had 10,000 season ticketholders at Buck Shaw over the last three-plus years there would be far less hesitancy among ownership and among sponsors. Indeed, I believe we would already have shovels in the ground on a grander facility than is being planned. A half-empty stadium makes Dave Kaval's job much harder.
I think Dave Kaval got the job because of a skill set that includes the ability to transmit his vision in a way that can bring in sponsors. People are making way too much of the overstated attendance for last Sat's game. Mostly, the crowds have been good. I think what we saw (or rather, didn't see) were fair weather fans who were deterred by the 70-90% chance of rain in the forecast.
"Kaval's Kickoff: Back to winning ways" (SJEarthquakes.com - Tuesday, 5/24/11) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Kaval: "In retrospect, by far the best moment for me that symbolizes what the San Jose Earthquakes mean to the community and our fans occurred after the match. In the afterglow of the victory and after playing 90 minutes of hard charging soccer, I looked out and saw Steven Lenhart and Ryan Johnson playing an impromptu game of keep away out on the pitch with a bunch of children. In this day and age of multi-million dollar prima donna athletes (see: NBA, NFL, MLB), this is like seeing a unicorn. Almost nowhere other than the Quakes can fans have that type of genuine and sincere connection with top tier professional athletes. These are the moments that sports are made for and I was proud to see our players having fun and creating lasting memories for all the kids and their families. And if that wasn't enough, Lenny and Wondo must have signed a million autographs and posed in another thousand photos before they headed back to the locker room. My hat goes off to our players. Their true love of the game and respect for what it means to be a professional athlete makes what we do special." Amen.
Mr Kaval, Are your talking about these type of kind deeds? ... rhetorical To: Takuto Happy #8 Birthday! From: Chris Wondolowski #8
I heard the Kaval interview during halftime of the Open Cup match. He talked about the stadium the he is in process of getting the design permit from the city for building the stadium. He said progress on the stadium is being made. Sounds like some double talk but, hey its something which is better than nothing.
"Kaval's Kickoff: Demolition is done at stadium site" (SJEarthquakes.com - Monday, 6/6/11) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Another good blog entry! Keep the blog entries coming. Also, a photo gallery of the stadium site post-demolition can be viewed here. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
I will admit that Kaval has had some growing pains in his job with this and everything else, but I will respect that he's very candid and accessible when it comes to most of the updates in regards to the team. Like any top team official, I know he can't say too much because of what goes on behind the scenes, but he tries to provide some information on what's going on, especially with the stadium. This is very much the homestretch so unless someone throws a monkey wrench into the whole planning process the new stadium will happen. The buzz on the social network is that 2013 is the reported target date--but rather to get the permits and let the red tape run its course. When that steel spike gets bolted to the ground and the first stake gets dug then we can celebrate--small steps leading into the big final one!
I think Kaval is doing a great job. He's really giving it the old try. I don't give a shit if he is a baseball guy originally. He's in the process of learning.
I persinally don't believe either the permits or the red tape should be factor. I think they are using it more of excuse to begin the building. But hey slowly but surely!
Really? They should start building without permits? This isn't the same as your contractor uncle putting in a garden shed.
No because I believe the permits have been signed and are already in place. I was in charge of historical restoration project in Europe which took less time than this and the bureaucratic BS (not to mention every excuse in the book) I faced while I was there was nothing like anything Americans are use to or even begin to think of. IMHO , its just taking too long.
they are necessary .. therefore, important ... but they were never the "long pole" in us getting shovels in the ground.