First...thanks to those who have shared the kind words about SSV and our efforts. It is greatly appreciated by all of us. Obviously I cannot share a lot of information at this time. However, we all must keep in mind that what is reported in the paper is perhaps only 5 - 10% of the story. The picture is much bigger than what is being painted in the media. SSV continues to work every angle possible, and we remain optimistic that we will be in a position to present a positive solution. Just hang in there and take everything with a grain of salt. There is much much more that isn't being reported for various reasons. We obviously hope that we will be in a position to share postive news with you all in the near future. Until then...keep your hopes high, support our boys in blue, continue to write your council members and mayors, and most of all.....NEVER GIVE UP!!!
I'm usually on the Goodsport side of the glass half-empty/half-full debate. Usually I see the glass as overflowing, one step shy of Goodsie's "Oh my GOD! It's a geiser! This glass is empty.
Wait... Am I allowed? I'm afraid that ya'll will think I've come over from the dark side. Can I get all Diva and start making demands about the glass container (please, no plastic, only glass) and the contents of the glass (premium, artesan vodka made here in the Bay Area, w/ oj, of course. And no pulp. Please. It's for the kids.)
I totally agree! Even with all the rumours this year, our attendance was UP at Spartan! Also, how would the season ticket deal work if different venues were picked? I pledged 5 season tickets this year. I can't see too many first time season ticket buyers, however, actually getting season tickets if the venues change. Anyway, I guess one hurdle at a time, huh?
My sympathies exactly, dop. And I agree with almost everything everyone is saying right now. Doesn't sound so good.
this hurts... I guess we should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Best of luck to Tony.. I hope he pulls through
Nope...that's not what I'm saying at all. Alexi is supporting us and doing what he can. I realize that a lot of that may not be seen by the masses, but he is doing a great job. Alexi is simply summing up the situation, and you can't blame him for that. Sometimes reality is a very difficult thing to hear. However, as stated before....there is much more to the story that isn't being reported. We all also must understand that this is business. There is a lot of positioning that goes on in business deals like this. The problem is the paper only reports a small portion of what is going on because only certain information can be made public at this time. There is a lot of things SSV is working on that cannot be disclosed at this time, so you won't be hearing about it until the proper time. That's why we can't drown ourselves in the gloom and doom that is reported in the press, because there is always much more going on. Again, SSV is looking into every option, and creating a few of our own along the way. Alexi, the front office, and everyone else we turn to, have been, and continue to be, very supportive and helpful in our efforts.
The Earthquakes right now really don't need another distraction to all this unsettling talk of whether they will be back next year. Can't this wait til after their playoff run for crying outloud?!?
Those latest comments by Alexi were the most "real" comments that i've heard him speak. It wasn't propaganda nor a smokescreen......It was the first time I actually felt he was being GM-ish and not just a puppet. As for Amanpour....i'm concerned about his thirst for the limelight. He definately likes the attention.......so much so that one might think he would take on a task that was beyond his means. Even if it falls through, don't we have another season now for SSV to yank a rabbit out of a hat?......They did alot in a month, imagine what they could do with six......just my lil ol .02!
This is what I was afraid of all along...we've put all our eggs in one basket. When Amanpour came along we all latched onto him as our "saviour", in spite of all the other investor sources that were supposedly being worked. Now the Amanpour deal appears to be listing...have we drifted too far from our other lifelines to be saved? I think it's time to re-open the hailing frequencies to all friendly federation craft... This is starting to remind me of the original Earthquakes. In their last season they had an "investor" that would take them to a "next level". All this "investor's" money was a paper sham and at the end of the season he bolted and left everyone holding the bills. Are we heading off a similar situation before it happens?
There is still a great deal of mis-trust with Alexi which can be rationalized only by his initial contact with the Club Quake people at the begining of the season. I think it was justifiable then but why is it that everyone who has had to deal with him personally does not share the mis-trust? Each time someone takes a jab at Alexi there is some member of SSV speaking out for him, trying to correct the situation. How can you say how great SSV is and all they are doing if you can't trust a man that they trust? The "bash Alexi" thing just makes no sense...
It's concerning about so much talk of "other options". Hopefully much will be settle this week. This is a critical time cause expansion is the perfect cover for relocation. It's cover for the bad publicity. If the SSS talks have any potential I can't imagine AEG/MLS bailing out now on such a large market. But my question is if this is really one market or 2-3 medium sized ones. How AEG/MLS views that will probably decide whether they "have" to be in the market. Soccer is doing so well in LA that I believe the same potential has to be there in Northern California. Attendance lately has been impressive. Good luck. This being dragged out is one of the worst aspects.
All of our eggs aren't in one basket. As stated...we are exploring all options available to us. Tony A is the only option that can be made public at this time.
Actually I don't think I've read anything that says he's "converting to a software business". Only that, in his mortgage business, he might have been more interested in leveraging the internet than some of his employees were, and also that he is "retooling" his business, possibly taking it in another direction. That may or may not involve a "software business".
Has Tony A. (or anyone else) tried Comcast? They own the Flyers, the Sixers and a whole assortment of minor league baseball teams. Hopefully, the bad experience with the WUSA hasn't soured them on soccer. Plus, Comcast Spectacor certainly has the marketing savvy and revenue strategies to make a local team a financial success. http://www.comcast-spectacor.com/geninfo/bios/default.asp http://www.comcast-spectacor.com/geninfo/PDFdocs/Comcast-Spectacor Insert.pdf It is a natural cross-marketer for Comcast, which owns almost all the cable systems in the Bay Area but takes a huge hit from satellite around here, and has just started Comcast Sportsnet West-- which will anchor with Sacramento Kings (live games blacked out in the Bay Area because of Warriors) but will be part of all Bay Area television lineups. And CSN West needs more sports programming/local sports team affiliates to succeed in the Bay Area and Nor Cal in general. CSN Baltimore/DC is of course the primary local television outlet for DC United. In general, Comcast has taken a very heavy sports marketing strategy for its cable business. (A big part of its HDTV strategy is local sports in HD whereas satellite doesn't yet have the bandwidth resources for this.) Seems like a natural match, as long as Comcast doesn't have any prejudices against soccer or MLS as an investment.