Will there be some bitterness? Or will the next year's Quakes be openly accepted into the community. Are we looking at an explosion of interest in the first year like other expansion teams or will this be more subdued because the city had a team already and lost it?
I'm sure that the die-hard fans will openly accept the upcoming Quakes because, quite frankly, it'll be the San Jose Earthquakes (officially still v2.0, to boot). As for the rest of the Bay Area/Northern California soccer community: it'll probably range from open acceptance to having to overcome hurt feelings. That's where Earthquakes Soccer, LLC has the chance to with them over both face-to-face and through advertising/marketing/promoting. And the rest of the Bay Area/Northern California sports fans (except for the lost-cause Joe and Jane Six-Packs who hate soccer anyway): due to the lack of advertising/marketing/promoting of the previous regimes, they've probably hardly heard of the San Jose Earthquakes or MLS in general anyway. This would the perfect opportunity for ESLLC to advertise/market/promote the team and to push PR releases to the local media like all the other pro sports teams around here do. Using the "come watch David Beckham" angle probably wouldn't hurt either in the short run , but putting a competitive team and eventually having the new stadium will definitely help for the long run. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
we're in California. everything is sorta subdued. you don't really see people get that passionate about sports, period (except Cal Football, GO BEARSSSSS, jk). it'll be a slow, catered growth, with probably the same amount of fans as before. If anything, the fanbase will be stuck in a rut, without a good stadium situation. Our owner understands the fickle market, so I'm not worried.
Dodgers vs. Giants Raider Nation Last year's playoff run by the Warriors (although a lot were bandwagon fans)
the new team will be accepted with open arms. We'll get attendances between 10K - 13K as an average and will go up by 3K once we're in the playoffs. We will get to the playoffs in our 1st saeson but will get elimanted in the first round. In the 09/10 season we will win our third MLS cup in our new stadium.
Yup. Only if the San Jose Earthquakes hardly advertises/markets/promotes as was the case before. That's a heck of a lot better than most are expecting anyway. 2009 or 2010? GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
The new team will be accepted with open arms.....well im not gonna hug them all or give them a shoulder to cry on but still, i doubt anyone who liked the old quakes wont want them. Players arent the only thing that makes a team.
Blast from the past! and still have a yellowcard? Earthquakes will be welcome by the real and true football bans.
Dodger vs Giants always seemed more hyped by the media than anything else. The Warriors playoff run was pretty exciting but deflated into nothingness as fast as it showed up. And the Raider Nation is looking pretty neutered these days. I wore a Pats jersey to a game last year with nary a comment from any Raider fans.
I think almost all Cal fans are either students or alumni of the school. You don't see people who went to other schools, or those who didn't go to college period, rooting for Cal.
The Giants - Dodgers rivalry may be the oldest in Major League Baseball. Although it is a big rivalry now, it was even more so before either team was in California.
If you've ever been to a Dodgers vs. Giants game you'll know its not all hype. It gets pretty intense. I don't go to many baseball games, but the only time I've seen a people kicked out of the stadium were during Dodgers vs. Giants games.
Well I've never been to one admittedly. Being an A's fan there is just no interest in it on my part. And to answer krudmonk's question. I'd wear a Pats jersey to a Raiders game because I'm a Pats fan. Have been for over a decade. It was the only logical choice for me. I've never been a big SF fan in any sport, and I loathe the Raiders for what they did to my once beautiful baseball stadium. The sooner they go back where they belong to LA the better. That left my grandmother's favorite local team in Boston.
Same as before... hard core fans will show up...a few ones from the A's as they will get coupons... then once we have the new Stadium, the acceptance will increase... awesome if it is like Toronto...
I will welcome the new lads with open arms, even if they stink, even if Narcissus is among them. (Though, I won't be happy about Narcissus.) I think it may take some time to rebuild the fan base, but I also expect that Earthquakes Soccer LLC know enough to market the hell out of the team, and they know how to market better than most, and we should get better media coverage because the A's and Wolff spend plenty of advertising money, no media organization will want to piss off a major advertiser. I expect several sell outs the first season back. Partly, because we will be in a small venue, partly because there will be renewed interest, partly because EQLLC will market the hell out of the team. GOOOOOOO QUAKES!!!!!!! - Mark
I am excited, but the excitement is a bit tempered. I was Cosmos fan and the league folded. I was a Quakes fan and team moved to Houston.
Dodgers-Giants is a coma fest now. Too many wine drinking yuppies with their kids at the ballpark yelling DAY-O. It was miles better at Candlestick.
Why would anyone root for a college team if they didn't have some connection to that college? I never understood college sports. Personally I hate the moniker "Cal." I went to University of California, but not in Berkeley. "Cal" doesn't represent my school (UCSC) or anyone else in California outside of Berkeley. They should have "Berk" on their damn helmets.
Exactly. When the NASL folded I felt real bad but that didn't stop me from following the sport. I was actually haapy to see in 1985 that the people in charge of US Soccer were thinking about the future and the Americanization of the sport. I was a big Quakes WSA/WSL & APSL fan of the SF Bay Blackhawks. I was also a big supporter of World Cup 1994 as well as the Clash as well as the MLS start up. Of course we are all bitter to a point about what happened but I'm sure most of us MLS soccer fans can't just turn our backs on the sport and the league. I think most of our bitterness is mainly directed toward AEG. Many Raider fans didn't do that when they went to LA and came back. Hey as long as we have a team!
I think it's an historical thing. UC Berkeley is the oldest of the UC's, and was originally the "College of California". Not sure but at one point it may have been the "University of California", and the only one. So it doesn't bother me, and I also attended some non-Berkeley UC campuses.