Niners are looking pretty good so far. and I’ll wager you a dinner at Luna’s that Fisher said those things and that ESPN isn’t simply squandering their journalistic integrity for no good reason whatsoever.
IMO it was a dumb design in the first place; my memory may be mistaken, but I think they figured that they would first see if they could fill the 3-sided stadium and make money. And if it was successful, the scarcity of seats in that case would enable them to raise ticket prices. After that, they thought they could always add a 4th side to it to make more money. Recall that Lew Wolff thought Buck Shaw was an appropriate place and that soccer there was a fine "family" entertainment; after all, soccer wasn't a big league sport like baseball and didn't need much more than that...
Happy to buy you dinner at Luna if you can prove Fisher said what ESPN reported he said re the Quakes.
Of course it was a dumb design. We warned Kaval. And as I recall even before the Quakes returned in 2007 SSV’s (i.e., your) stadium study assumed 25k seats, not 18k.
Not that Fish shouldn't pump some of the Coleman Highline profits back into the Quakes, but, a bit disingenuous to say Fisher "made $250 million" on the deal. That is what the properties sold for. Subtract from that all the costs to develop and build the properties and the share of profit that went to his partners in the venture. My guess what Fisher realized was a small percentage of $250 million.
It might be a "dumb design" but it's a couple of order of magnitudes better than Lew Wolff's initial vision, below...
Quakes don’t communicate much so maybe that interview gets released…or maybe there’s some other way to confirm the validity of their reporting. We’ll see.
Jared Shawlee told me years ago (the year Jessi Fioranelli was hired) that he had plans on his desk for 10K new seats. He didn't offer to show them to me
Seriously, what is wrong with PayPal Park? What possibly can they do to improve it other than adding cleaner restrooms and/or putting bleachers above or behind the bar? I mean, even if it were built today as opposed to 2015, it's only a place to watch a game so what exactly do people need when watching a game at a stadium?
Sadly in the sports landscape today it's about the "luxury" options. PPP has some but not a whole lot. Sure you can scrape some money from the rank and file but it's all about the big corporate $. I'm perfectly happy with it, more than happy.
I found it on the city website at one time. It looked like an English stadium from 1910. Posts supporting the roof that would block views, no corner seats, four separate stands. You and I heard Keith Wolff on the sidelines at Buck Shaw say how the city saw that and told them it wasn't good enough.
And Kaval told me during one of the stadium construction tours they had a design that would fill in the open end.
You can see the proposed design (posts included!) in the following Mercury News article: https://www.mercurynews.com/2011/02...f-earthquakes-stadium-triggers-minor-temblor/ Along with Earthshaker and various SSVers, I confess to being among the barking "watchdogs" cited. Woof! Woof! The most recent sketch submitted to the city for a new soccer stadium for the San Jose Earthquakes. The drawing has triggered a minor temblor because city watchdogs believe it reflects a cheaper stadium. Not true, says the president of the Earthquakes.
I think that is maybe the first or second time Fisher has spoken publicly about the Quakes since he came in with his initial ownership in 2008. As far as making money off of the Coleman Highline, he may not have made that actual amount but in equity alone, Fisher has already made somewhere in the vicinity of $700-$900 million on the Quakes and their stadium since 2008. That is a heck of a 15-year profit considering he only came in with maybe $10-$20 million and has spent very little on the club in terms of players. If and when he does in fact relocate or sell the team and stadium, he will be making a killing off the deal. I'm sure he won't get out of the deal without having profited.
Um, Andre Senior? Well, he was the anchor that read the copy, anyway. Seriously, though, when I heard that, I immediately became sad and enraged at the same time. If we lost the team again, I'd be done with MLS.