Quakes don't appear Houston-bound

[uclacarlos]

It is true and I agree with you about SSV. I don't believe them at all!
O.k.: Go Sounders et al who always are cappin' on me about my 'tude on the Quakes boards...

Can you please admit that this is what makes my job on your guys' boards so fun. It's like playing in a U-8 league as a full adult, 6'2 and all. :D

[lperez808]

What do we think about this?

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=348222&cc=5901

are they moving or not???

[falvo]

I thought originally the Amanpour thing was a big hoax or a plant by either SSV or AEG/MLS.
My cousin's business sponsors the Quakes & he played for the WSA Quakes from 1986-1988 so he knows the story. He said that in 2004 SSV had a rally in downtown San Jose. I was at that rally & it was labeled Save the Qaukes from moving away. Ian Russel had told my cousin that the deal with San Antonio was almost pretty much done. Everyone came up to the microphone and spoke. All the NASL Quakes like Paul Child & Godfrey Ingram were there, the WSA Qaukes, former Clash and all the current Qaukes. Landon Donovan was not there. Alexi Lalas spoke about how he still couldn't understand how the Quakes were so good by looking at them especially when he was with LA.
Anyway, the vice mayors of San Jose, Santa Clara came up and said they would build a SSS. Johnny Moore spoke a lot of people spoke. I guess Tony Amanpour was in attendance and he supposedly wanted to put his name in the mix. So basically he came around at the rally.

[chapulincolorado]

In the end, it may come down like Chivas and RSL. A lot of people speculated abouut other cities. Some BS posters sweared that Rochester were the IT city. ....pow!...RSL and Chivas! For many it seemd the Chivas deal was all bluff and a web page. Expect the unexpected. :D

[Earthshaker]

O.k.: Go Sounders et al who always are cappin' on me about my 'tude on the Quakes boards...

Can you please admit that this is what makes my job on your guys' boards so fun. It's like playing in a U-8 league as a full adult, 6'2 and all. :D

Yeah, whatever floats your boat. :rolleyes:

[joebloe888]

Yeah, the people who want to place all the blame on SSV for the Amanpour episode don't really understand their role. They are essentially "facilitators".

Translation:

SSV's only mission has been and will always be to dish out as much BS as possible at AEG, in order to tie up the Quakes long enough at the end of each season, so that AEG can't move the Quakes in time for the next season.

Amanpour was the guy SSV trucked out to AEG. He was, as most of us "neutrals" observing from the outside had expected from the moment he was trucked out, a complete fraud.

After the SSV fiasco, SSV kept up its BS campaign by writing one letter after another to keep up the charade that there were prospective investors willing to buy the Quakes.

Sorry, SSV, AEG has had enough of your charade. Tim Leiweke has spoken.

AEG will get the Quakes OUT of "The Detroit of the 21st Century" by the end of the year, either via relocation or contraction.

[anderson]

What do we think about this?

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=348222&cc=5901That's basically a re-print of a section of an article last Friday in the San Jose Mercury News, about which Bernardo chased down some of the Houston-related angles for his piece in the Chron on Saturday.

Most of the information in Bernardo's piece had been previously reported in the Chron or in Rumbo, except for: (1) confirmation with another source at AEG of Tim Leiwicke's comments (always a wise move); (2) clarification from Michael Roth at AEG that "no mention was made of a potential destination" by Leiwicke on Nov. 2; and (3) Oliver Luck's statement that he was "not aware of any investor groups that AEG is talking to that are based here in Houston or that would want to move the franchise to Houston".

Luck's comments are meaningful because of his involvement in all of the discussions between AEG and several venues in Houston, as well as most other efforts to bring MLS to Houston over the last three years. Luck also usually speaks carefully when he discusses transactions (i.e., avoids conference room speak like "weeks, not months" and "at the end of the day").

Nonetheless, as the CEO of the Houston-Harris County Sports Authority, he also has to know that his comments will be picked up by the relevant local officials and parties in the Bay Area. Luck's comments may have the effect of undermining of AEG's negotiating posture with those local officials and investors. If the people sitting on the other side of the table from AEG conclude from Luck's comments that AEG has no option after all to sell the team to an investor group that would move it to Houston (the option that's been mentioned frequently in the media), then they may believe that they're now in a stronger relative negotiating position than they may have previously thought. Luck's comments give them one more piece of information - and a very credible one - that AEG is really in a much weaker position than Leiwicke or others may have indicated. Depending on what else is going on at the negotiating table, Luck's comments could complicate AEG's negotiations with those local officials and investors.

Luck may be indifferent about the effect of his comments on the parties in negotiations in the Bay Area, or he may believe that those negotiations have already reached far enough that his comments won't matter.

All that being said, he didn't completely undercut AEG. He didn't say anything about the possibility of a sale to a group that would relocate the team to a destination other than Houston, or the possibility of AEG itself (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6519072&postcount=12) relocating the team to Houston or elsewhere in the short-term until they could find some other buyer. Who knows.

[dakotajoe]

Translation:


Sorry, SSV, AEG has had enough of your charade. Tim Leiweke has spoken.

AEG will get the Quakes OUT of "The Detroit of the 21st Century" by the end of the year, either via relocation or contraction.

With a comment like that, how can you call yourself "nuetral"? Nuetered maybe, but not nuetral.

[OldFanatic]

Luck may be indifferent about the effect of his comments on the parties in negotiations in the Bay Area....

Yeah, why should he give a toss about what happens between AEG and Bay area investors, or even their welfare? He should look after his charter: taking care of Houston and whatever county he's in charge of. Let AEG look after AEG's interests, and let the investors look after theirs. Unless there was some contractual non-disclosure agreement between Luck and AEG (which I seriously doubt existed), nobody can stop Luck from speaking the truth.

[cristoforo7]

Translation:

SSV's only mission has been and will always be to dish out as much BS as possible at AEG, in order to tie up the Quakes long enough at the end of each season, so that AEG can't move the Quakes in time for the next season.

Amanpour was the guy SSV trucked out to AEG. He was, as most of us "neutrals" observing from the outside had expected from the moment he was trucked out, a complete fraud.

After the SSV fiasco, SSV kept up its BS campaign by writing one letter after another to keep up the charade that there were prospective investors willing to buy the Quakes.

Sorry, SSV, AEG has had enough of your charade. Tim Leiweke has spoken.

AEG will get the Quakes OUT of "The Detroit of the 21st Century" by the end of the year, either via relocation or contraction.You forget to take your meds, Oliver? :p

What's the matter, SSV won't return your calls?

The only contraction that's going on is the contraction of your brain cells. ;)