San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! This was in MLS General, but thought we could go to town on it. Here's the article from the Merc
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/soccer/13421037.htm Well we now have some details of what the plan was. Apparently the terms were not good enough for SVSE (and frankly there is a lot to be done before these funds are actually available). "The plan -- which requires voter approval -- would provide $36 million toward construction of a 22,000-seat stadium; land valued at about $30 million; and up to $14 million in operating subsidies for an expansion team while it plays at Spartan Stadium until the new facility is built." "The Sharks ultimately rejected the terms -- in part because the city wouldn't guarantee the Sharks would get their stadium investment back if the 10-year-old soccer league folded -- so city officials offered the deal to MLS Commissioner Don Garber on Wednesday." Frankly I don't think this will pass the voters without a MAJOR PR effort and even then there is no guarantee. It all sounds very nice but is this realitic or just something to sooth the pain?
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! San Jose has offered nothing - the spec sheet is just that: Speculation. There is not way in hell that this "offer" will ever actually be implemented. It's simply smoke and mirrors to shift the focus of a bunch of pissed-off earthquakes fans.
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! If this is true, then that's great...but WHY DIDN'T YOU OFFER THIS 3 ********ING DAYS AGO YOU STUPID ********S?!?!?!?!??!?!?!
Mods, please go ahead and kill this thread. Looks like I strated this thread a few minutes after someone else.
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! I think this is just a lot of noise to ease the pain. The City Council can go ahead and approve to look liek they are trying to do the right thing, knowing full well that the voters will strike it down. Is it still possible for between now and Jan 10 develop a plan that may actually have a chance of passing. Like a new plan that also takes into account money that was set aside for community fields? A location that isn't soo small? Adding more community aspectst to the plan? ....
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! Breakdown: $36M for stadium-building costs. $30M for land $14M to subsidize the potential losses incurred while expansion team plays at Spartan waiting for new stadium It. will. never. happen. Sad, but this won't pass a vote, with money desperately needed in so many other areas in SJ. Especially dubious to voters will be the proposed ~$14M subsidy for playing in Spartan while a new stadium is built. AND one of today's articles points out that this could come at the expense of some parks. This has been fun, but I believe the proposal sheet between MLS and SJ is a joke. And the involvement of Lew Wolff, the A's new owner, in these conversations is most likely a smokescreen to try and lure the A's here ("Hey, we'll let you own a soccer team and build you a stadium if you bring your baseball team here, and we'll build a stadium for them, too! [Howard Dean] YEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAAH! [/Howard Dean]"
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! But on the other hand - given that the city has now shown it is at least amenable to working with investors, I think it is highly possible that in the next year or two somebody will step forward and work with the city to formulate a deal that will bring a truly local team to the Bay Area - something we can be proud of without having the caveat we always did in the last ten years of "we love to team but hate the league-owners-operators-etc." If this happens, we'll finally have a team and an organization that fully warrants, and receives our total support. Then, the rest of the league will truly see that we have the BEST FANS IN THE COUNTRY! I guess this means I'm through the denial and anger phases....
If the goal of MLS is to have soccer-specific stadiums, and if this deal would get one built, why can't MLS pay the operational fees? Why make things harder before a public vote?
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! Someone answer me this. Any stadium built in SJ with any amount of public support requires a public vote correct? I know this currently proposed deal seems ridiculously sweet for a potentail investor, and I can't see it passing at all, but would it seem to me that any deal for a soccer stadium would be almost impossible to receive 51% of a public vote. What have we been pushing SJ City Govt. so hard for than? Is there any reason to believe SJ voters would approve any deal for a stadium?
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! The deal is bs but the fact that it's on the radar is promising. Given the rapidity at which cities tend to move, this effort should have been underway in 2000 if we hoped for a team in '06 or '07.
The Sharks wanted guarantees on their investment from the SJ government if MLS went out of business? Hahahahha What a freakin' waste of time dealing with the SJ Sharks owners was. That is the most ridiculous request I've ever heard- had no chance of passing- and the whole exercise was a complete waste of time. SJ Sharks shoulda made that point clear from the beginning- coulda saved everyone time.
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! Because even if AEG owned the team, or sold it they would require the rights to manage the SSS as part of the deal. No one in their right mind would purchase the Earthquakes then let AEG manage the SSS. AEG is now out of the picture. They are gone and have no leverage to manage the proposed SSS.
Wake Up? on't you guys get this? Its called political bullS#@ to try to quiet us disgruntled San Jose EARTHQUAKE fans. Its a way to try to appease us. The City Officials of San Jose still want us to vote for them. The MLS knows they ********ed San Jose, but can't do anything about it because AEG controls 1/3 of the voting power for the league. And they throw us some b.s. AEG wants to make more money and that more money is in Houston due to their lesser saturated Venue/Concert market. Clear Channel is based in San Antonio, TX and their biggest competitor in this market. WAKE UP!
This is simply an effort to not burn (m)any bridges in the area in case the league can procure another sucker willing to play games with that lame-ass city's politicos.
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! Yeah, this plan is clearly not going to fly. But in the MN article there were hints of some things that might help make another plan work or make more sense, like availability of the stadium for community events, some share of event revenue for the city (though the share referenced in the plan was kind of pitiful - something like 6% of revenue beyond $4 million). Unfortunately, publication of a plan like this will likely serve only to poison the waters further. People reading about it are going to form very negative perceptions about the idea of a soccer stadium plan that involves public fincancing.
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! You and I have both mentioned previously that IF a proposal like this is to pass, there needs to be extremely clear, honest advertising explaining how, while there's a cost up front, the community can benefit in the long run. (Optionally, we could do the Karl Rove thing, and run ads that state "Opponents of the new downtown soccer stadium support gay marriage and hate America." Potential landslide there.)
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! ha ha. That was funny but it just might work.
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! Doesnt AEG retain the rights to the Equakes name and colors?
Re: San Jose Offering $80 million to SJ Expansion team?! I think the subsidy is the killer here. They need to get it reduced/eliminated from the deal somehow. If Spartan Shops is willing to give a better deal at Spartan (something Purdy claims they offered) and the new team does a much better job at promotion and selling tickets, (should be easy to beat AEG's efforts here) this subsidy may not be that big, or needed at all. As far as construction costs go, they need to do some heavy lobbying of local corporations for naming rights, anything to knock the costs down a bit.