First thing said...I promise you, I am not trolling. As some of you may have heard....Mexico's Club America are in negotiations with MLS to take over The San Jose Earthquakes. I have been a Quakes fan for the last four years, and DO NOT want to see this happen! I do not say this only on a personal level, but more on an MLS level as well. If MLs is willing to sell out the current champions (not gloating, only trying to get my point across), and (IMO), one of the strongest teams in the league for the past three seasons, then they are willing to do it with any team in the league, as long as they find an investor that has the right amount of cash. I will be the first to admit that the San Jose franchise has not always been successful or lucrative, but we were on our way to fixing things with the large help coming from our General Manager, Johnny Moore. We found out about the possible Club America happenings on the 11th, and as of last night at 5pm, Johnny Moore had resigned from his position as GM for "personal reasons". I assure you that Johnny Moore would NOT have done this, if something wasn't happening that we all don't know about yet. As I said before, if the league is willing to do this to us, they must be willing to do it with any team in the league. Don't get me wrong, I am not racist in any way, but this is the United States, and The U.S. has formed Major League Soccer. Unless we want MLS to turn into the MFL, we need to do something about it. I am all for diversity in the teams, but this is the MLS, and it needs to stay the MLS! For some background info on this whole ordeal you can go to: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/merc...er/7684672.html There is another Quakes fan who is collecting e-mails as well: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/show...?threadid=91046 Or, you can e-mail me at LindseyLooh333@hotmail.com Any e-mails I recieve will be printed and sent directly to the MLS Main office within the next week. You can see other articles (such as Johnny Moore's resignation) at: http://www.sjearthquakes.com I strongly urge you to help us Quakes fans in this fight. I realize you guys don't like our team, and that is fine (lol, we don't like your either), but our team is just the starting point. Next offseason, the article could pop up in your local newspaper. Thank You for all of your help- Lindsey
I'm sorry, I left this link out. Here is the link to the thread on the Quakes forum: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=90722 In all honesty, it is all conjecture at this time, BUT it is only evident that these things will follow. We were worried at first and then came the Johnny Moore news. If you were a Quakes fan, and you knew Johnny like we do...then you would understand more of why we are freaking out now. Johnny was a manager for the club, and the fans. He loves the Quakes like they are his kids. He wouldn't leave the organization unless something was going on. For the record- we (as a collective) Quakes fans are not going to argue if the team stays the SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES, and is operated in the same manner as it always has been. That is all we are asking for. We just want to be heard so that nothing beyond what I have said above happens. We put a lot of money into this league, and we should have a say.
My brother and I were joking today that if MLS sells to Club America and changes the San Jose Earthquakes name we were both becoming Rapids fans. This is very serious news, Johnny Moore was turning this franchise around. Don't let Club America change the Earthquakes name! Help
Welcome to the real world. You win the Cup, but you still can't get more than 12,000 people at your games. We need teams in MLS that draw people and can sell sponsorships. It's great to win championships, but if you can't get butts in seats then you should be sold to someone who has a realistic vision. How long do you think AEG was going to hold on? Look what they did with the Rapids. You don't think there are going to be some changes there. Things have to change if they don't work so support whatever happens.
I think you should be happy that the team is staying in SJ. I honestly thought that the team had about two years left before it was heading elsewhere.
I support MLS and fully support this news. You guys were one of the best teams "on the field" and one of the worst teams "off the field". Having Mexican ownership is no doubt going to improve attendance, unless fans like yourselves pull out because Jonny More may have been mistreated. Bottom line, MLS needs new ownership, and with this new ownership, you will have people that know the game and are passionate about the game, and can truly reach a hispanic fan base. This is a good thing for MLS and the Quakes organization. Finally, on a global economic scale, the US loses manufacturing businesses to China and Mexico all the time. It's about time a Mexican business opens up shop here. Seriously, don't make a judgement so quickly. I think in the long run, you'll be happy. James
I agree here...MLS does need new ownership. Anschutz selling the Rapids, as apprehensive as all of us Rapids fans were, is great for the league, because it looks terrible to have one guy controlling 3/5 of the teams in the league (besides looking amateurish, no Rapids fan EVER trusts any deal that sends a player from CO to another AEG team). Yes, I am nervous about what Stan Kroenke is going to do with us, a new stadium, etc. But I feel better knowing that ownership, when thinking about Soccer, is only thinking about the Rapids. The league has really entered an exciting phase, with diverse new ownership interests coming into the league, or at the bare minimum, showing interest in the league. Afterall, if this was a flopping league, or WUSA a couple of years ago, who would want to invest in it? These guys are interested because this league has finally become a reasonably good place to put their money. The only thing I would want the league to do is not allow much movement of the teams when bought (unless the team is actually about to be folded, ala Miami or Tampa), and I absolutely do not want to see the league bending over backwards to bend the rules re: player allocations, senior internationals, etc. (that is, if they are going to change the rules, it should be done for the whole league...the league already bends over backwards to make certain things happen). Overall, I would say that this has a much better chance of being a good thing than a bad thing.
Ay yi yi. I guess that makes George Bush the real commish. The main thing MLS needs is diversity of ownership...until there are no owners with multiple teams, MLS will continue to look like professional wrestling to the rest of the professional sports business world.
Professional wrestling? I don't see how MLS looks like that, we don't fix games. I hope. The only reason the league is entering it's 9th season is the ownership structure it has. In the first few years the league would have crumbled without the support of AEG & Hunt. They are working at selling off clubs but it is not an overnight process. I think this thread is silly until we hear news that SJ is sold and Club America is changing the name of the team to Club America.