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

Discussion in 'San Jose Earthquakes' started by xbhaskarx, Jun 17, 2025.

  1. don gagliardi

    don gagliardi Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    Feb 28, 2004
    san jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    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.
     
    SJTillIDie, TyffaneeSue, bsman and 2 others repped this.
  2. bsman

    bsman Member+

    May 30, 2001
    MadCity
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    [​IMG]

    Wake me up when any actual names are named.
     
    Defender, Quakes05 and Goodsport repped this.
  3. Rick Kane

    Rick Kane Member

    Jul 23, 2007
    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
     
    markmcf8, RocktheCasbah4 and Goodsport repped this.
  4. QuakeAttack

    QuakeAttack Member+

    Apr 10, 2002
    California - Bay Area
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    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.
     
    markmcf8 repped this.
  5. Goodsport

    Goodsport Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 18, 1999
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #105 Goodsport, Jun 19, 2025
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2025
    edcrocker repped this.
  6. bsman

    bsman Member+

    May 30, 2001
    MadCity
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    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...
     
    TyffaneeSue repped this.
  7. TyffaneeSue

    TyffaneeSue moderator
    Staff Member

    Earthquakes and Bay FC
    United States
    Nov 15, 2003
    Upstairs
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Having just been in the Kezar neighborhood (UCSF) it's painful to crawl across half the city -- there is no fast way -- and parking is horrible. A downtown SJ stadium would be ideal. Enough with SF! Unless a stadium is walkable from the train station, only the hardest core fans will put up with the hassles.
     
    markmcf8 repped this.
  8. naopon

    naopon Member+

    Jan 2, 2007
    California
    Club:
    Kawasaki Frontale
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    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.
     
  9. don gagliardi

    don gagliardi Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    Feb 28, 2004
    san jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    The Niners used to draw 50k+ at Kezar.
     
  10. davez

    davez Member+

    Aug 10, 2000
    Mountain View, CA
    A different age, a different century.
     
    markmcf8 repped this.
  11. Earthshaker

    Earthshaker BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 12, 2005
    The hills above town
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Those two bought a 5th tier team for $2 million.
     
  12. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    But why bother splitting hairs? :)
     
  13. nivla

    nivla Member+

    Jan 17, 2003
    Milpitas
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    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.
     
    QuakeAttack, markmcf8 and bsman repped this.
  14. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    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.
     
  15. TyffaneeSue

    TyffaneeSue moderator
    Staff Member

    Earthquakes and Bay FC
    United States
    Nov 15, 2003
    Upstairs
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Last game in 1971 -- over a half century ago. That was before my time, but I'm sure traffic was not a nightmare as it is now. And note this (from Wikipedia)

    Kezar had a poor reputation among NFL players. In his 1987 memoir, Hall of Fame defensive tackle Art Donovan recalls the "look of dread" worn by visiting teams arriving at the stadium, owing to its inadequate dressing rooms, long, dusty tunnel to the field, shredded turf that was a byproduct of rain and overuse, and "god damned seagulls" that would arrive in the fourth quarter and "start shitting on you like they were aiming.

    So bsman's observations are hardly new!
     
    Defender and markmcf8 repped this.
  16. don gagliardi

    don gagliardi Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    Feb 28, 2004
    san jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    In other words, a fortress.



     
  17. TyffaneeSue

    TyffaneeSue moderator
    Staff Member

    Earthquakes and Bay FC
    United States
    Nov 15, 2003
    Upstairs
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    kezar.jpg
    The upside of visiting the UCSF neuro-oncology unit: the views. I would have brought my camera had I known.

    Kezar looks really nice in this picture! I still don't know what you'd do about parking. Pave over GGP?
     
  18. don gagliardi

    don gagliardi Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    Feb 28, 2004
    san jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    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.
     
  19. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    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.
     
    Defender repped this.
  20. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    FTR, that was not a typo, it was intentional. We don’t need to wait for his name to change to make puns.
     
    markmcf8 repped this.
  21. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    luckily Fisher can throw in the nice new training center at the fairgrounds as a deal sweetener for any potential new buyer. :rolleyes:
     
  22. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    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.
     
  23. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    I don't see how this makes sense with a 10yo SSS just 5 minutes from there. o_O
     
    Mr. Bandwagon and don gagliardi repped this.
  24. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    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. :thumbsdown:
     
  25. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    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.
     
    TyffaneeSue repped this.

Share This Page