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

The rational actor model of gaming scenarios here is the wrong approach.

Yes, the people who run MLS are morons. They, for example, failed to perceive the promise of Columbus, and that wasn’t in the pre-recorded-history epoch of MLS (when the Mercury News didn’t send a photographer to a playoff game or even publish the score of an open cup Quakes victory). And, even Brodie Brazil can see the own-goal with Apple TV, which (predictably) walls off the league from the casual sports fan.

MLS owners as a group, like Fisher, will make the short-term play without regard to the long-term health of themselves or the league. In Fisher’s case, to obtain immediate cash to double down on his quixotic desert dream that might still never reach fruition. In MLS’ case, by approving relocation and sowing salt in the Bay Area pro soccer market yet again.

In short, they will each behave irrationally, making this situation highly volatile.

 

Wake me up when any actual names are named.

 

I guess there are some worse outcomes than fisher owning this team and continuing to run it like the Oakland a’s but I’ve been hoping for a sale for a long long time. With the right owner things could be great.

I’m hopeful

 

Don't disagree. Kezar would have been great for them. I would love to see a downtown stadium, but I don't see it getting done in the next 5 years. They are playing at PayPal for the foreseeable future.

 

Kezar needs a shit-ton of work before it's ready for anything serious. The locker rooms are horrible - unless you have a fondness for giant rats...

 

I used to live across the street from Kezar and have no idea how you would schlep 1000's of spectators there. But the actual interest level will be the real bottleneck.

 

The Niners used to draw 50k+ at Kezar.

 

A different age, a different century.

 

Those two bought a 5th tier team for $2 million.

 

But why bother splitting hairs?

 

This sale process can take a long time and will keep those interested in suspense for some time. How long did the RSL sale take? 2 years? And Vancouver Whitecaps was announced to be available for sale late last year. No news for months besides some Indy folks talking up expansion and relocating Whitecaps speculatively. Meanwhile, Whitecaps is doing well on the field this year so the news has not affected them in terms of game results for now.

Sit tight and hope for better things to come. They come when they come.

 

What!!? A potential offer from a group that wants to move the team? Such a thing could never happen and is completely unthinkable, especially to a storied franchise like Vancouver!!

Yes, it could take a long time - potentially years. And in those months / years, we'll be in purgatory, and it won't be great. Ironically, the one time we were in this situation before (2005) we wound up, against all odds, with a really great team, almost by accident. I suppose something like that could happen in these interstitial months / years, but it would have to be by shear luck or great smarts, because I don't think we'll be signing new DP's and stuff like that.

 

In other words, a fortress.

 

Isn't the whole theory behind an urban stadium that people use mass transit?

Parking can be found. I 've been many times to Kezar in the last nearly 20 years for soccer games and always found a spot. Back in the early 90s I had a friend who lived a half block away (with a better view than your photo), and, again, I always found a spot while visiting.

And, of course, there are the hordes who managed parking when the stadium had many more seats.

 

Congratulations to you guys. Fans don’t deserve a winner every year; this is pro sports, not Lake Woebegone. But they DO deserve an organization that is at least competent, and at least trying, every year.

Thank God his name is Garber and not Graber. I shudder to think of how many lame Donny Graber=Money Grabber type puns we’d have endured over the years. It’s terrifying.

 

FTR, that was not a typo, it was intentional. We don’t need to wait for his name to change to make puns.

 

luckily Fisher can throw in the nice new training center at the fairgrounds as a deal sweetener for any potential new buyer.

 

Well we now know why that whole thing went radio silent (other than Joe Simitian’s one-man wrecking crew).

We can also probably forget about any new DPs before the sale, even if we dump Hernán.

 

I don't see how this makes sense with a 10yo SSS just 5 minutes from there.

 

I never thought that was going to happen, and here we are. Too bad too, that's one of the things that's been holding the Quakes back for the entirety of the John Fisher era in SJ, and a direct reflection of his lack of any ambition to compete in MLS, whatsoever.

Good riddance John Fisher.

 

I expect bringing in Arena, Josef Martínez and Cristian Arango was more about positioning this team for sale rather than any newfound ambition Fisher had suddenly stumble upon after being worst in MLS last year.