News: San Jose Earthquakes Owner Hires Bank to Sell MLS Club

Feel bad for A's fans, but if this is the result of him needing cash for Vegas I am ecstatic.

 

Yeah, be careful when asking for regime change. The new owner might want to relocate the club to SoFi.

 

I came here to say the same thing. Careful what you ask for. An owner change could be a good thing, or it could be a sale to someone who wants to move the club, possibly even to Las Vegas. Or it could be a sale to an owner who's worse than Fish (yes, there are a few).

 

Whether or not Fish is selling because he needs the money for the A's (and I would question his putting so much of his eggs in the baseball basket at this time vs. a sport that's still growing), I think it's not a bad time for him to sell because:

1) He's already made like 30x on his investment. It's's already a huge rake.

2) He's "selling high", at least at a relative high, because:

• Messi is in the league (what happens when he leaves)?
• The AppleTV deal is still ongoing but with a questionable future
• The WC is coming with a lot of hope, but there's a risk it's a dud for the US, given nats team struggles, and political uncertainties
• It's getting more and more expensive to "keep up with the Jones's" in MLS. Operating costs are increasing, and I don't think he's getting revenue increases to cover.
• The stadium is still fine, but may need upgrades in the coming years.
• He's currently got the most successful ever American coach, and the team is in a relatively rare respectable state.

 

At the same time I don't know that the league would accept not having a franchise in the Bay Area. It's go big or go home time for the Quakes in any case.

 

Why wouldn't they? They've already accepted it once. And they've got 3 teams in CA now, all favorite sons.

 

There's no way SJ loses the Quakes a second time. I'm not a Garber fan, but the likelihood of that happening are zero. Hopefully some local deep pockets with ambition step up.

 

Bruce has connections.

 

Happy for Quakes Fans We are starting to see the cheap owners sell that didn't want to keep pace

 

Good luck to you guys. San Jose could be a model club in MLS with the right owner.

 

Nail-biting time. Where O Where are our Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds?

 

Let’s hope a local individual/group takes over.

 

Goddammit! We have more million- and billionaires than any other place in the world that's not on the Arabian Peninsula. With all the rich CEOs and athletes in this area it should be s cinch to put together a group.

 

Just because they’re rich doesn’t mean they have any interest in sports in general and soccer, in particular. I know many of these wealthy folks and their interests are NOT often into sports.

 

At this point we should understand, with Graber it's all about the benjamins in the end. Virtually every original MLS franchise struggles: CO, FCD, NER, DC, NYRB, etc. Even LAG struggles relative to newcomer LAFC; they were lucky to get a reprieve with their championship season (thanks to Puig). And virtually every new MLS franchise thrives. Really only one original MLS franchise has been able to appreciably turn around the fate of their franchise in the market - SKC, and that was with 1) a state-of-the-art new stadium, 2) a full rebrand, and 3) a winning team all happening simultaneously for a big bang. If you're gonna pay $600M for an MLS franchise do you really want to be in the "struggle" camp or in the "thrive" camp?

Yes, I believe someone could come in here and turn the Quakes franchise around to some degree, and I hope someone tries. But it would be very difficult. The Quakes brand is at this point, after almost 30 years, highly entrenched in the market. It's very stale. It would be a tough haul.

 

A sale is required if the Quakes are to really compete. So at least this is some level of hope.