Is MLS 'setting up' the San Jose Earthquakes for a move to Seattle in 2005? It must have certainly at least crossed their minds... 1. Ultra-modern stadium ready to go in major market. Stadium owners willing to drastically reduce rent for current Seattle Sounders soccer tennant. http://www.seahawksstadium.com/ 2. Team would still be on west coast. 3. MLS would likely prefer a Sounders expansion team in 2005, to balance out entry of Rochester, but...no 'big fish" owner exists for Seattle expansion. 4. Will AEG decide to cut its losses and combine with a smaller Seattle-based ownership group to get the team started? 5. Connections: Tim Lieweke, President of the LA Galaxy, is the brother of Seahawks CEO Tod Lieweke. Tod has been vocal in his support of soccer/MLS Seattle. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/128290_hawk26.html 6. Seattle's A-League Sounders and San Jose have a working relationship involving players, management and coaches. Both sides are familiar with each other, speaking on a "first name" basis. 7. San Jose's current roster is full of ex-Sounders and former Washington Huskies. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In just the last few weeks I have heard from a few posters around the net who say this is being looked at by MLS brass. They seem tobe reliable "webmasters in the know" type of people, but...Is this perhaps just an MLS/AEG ploy to help stadium negotiations in Santa Clara/ elsewhere? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would rather have an expansion team and thus enter into a league where the Earthquakes would resume their place as Seattle's rivals.
That is also my hope. I am a Sounders season ticket holder and would rather come into a league with the Earthquakes still members, and thus rivals. After hearing from the third soccer webmaster about this, I decided to post here. Of course it's all a guessing game, but somehow I think we might hear more about this during negotiations... Do I think the current Earthquakes roster could average 20,000 per game at Seahawks Stadium? Yes. Is that how I want Seattle to come into MLS? Of course not.
I doubt that there the team will have 20,000, as the roster limit is 18 (not including U-23 and P-40 players). If you mean attendance, then I seriously doubt it. Perhaps 15k-20k for the first season due to the novelty factor as happened in almost all the initial teams' first year, then it would drop into the low-mid teens - perhaps upper-teens with solid, consistent advertising/marketing/promoting - like almost every other MLS market (though a market like LA with an SSS is averaging +20k now, but just look at the size of that market...). And this will be true of any MLS expansion team... thus is the state of pro soccer in the USA and will be for some time tp come. I hope that whichever future I/O's that expand into the league realize that early on and plan accordingly. Though I do hope that the Sounders are promoted to MLS, that the San Jose/Santa Clara stadium issue is resolved for the Earthquakes and that commited ownership takes over in San Jose, so that both teams can revive their old rivalry in front of good home crowds for both teams (on different nights, obviously). GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G