The Official 2021 San Jose Earthquakes related Blogs/Press thread

Whether it's Spartan or Buck Shaw or Quakes Stadium (PayPal Stadium? Sigh...), I think we've always struggled getting much above that 10-12k number consistently. I don't think we really had an appreciable attendance bump when we were a very good, championship level team, let's say 2001-2005. So I'm a little skeptical of the argument that if you're just consistently good, people will come. I still think that soccer in the Bay Area is a tough nut to crack, though certainly a bona fide "star" player would help. Why is that? Off the top of my head, I would guess:

1) Fans who like soccer tend to be europhile or mx-ophile, and MLS doesn't rate

2) Tech-dominated work culture in the bay area is nuts. People are working crazy hours, and now work can be seamlessly done at home. Little time for entertainment activities, and when there is, the entertainment itself tends to be tech heavy (games, movies on big screen at home, etc.)

3) Lots of teams / entertainment options: 2 MLB teams, NFL team, NBA team, NHL team, and of course great weather for all kinds of outdoor activity that say a place like Houston might not have in the summer.

The Sharks are a good example of a Bay Area team that's done well with a consistently good team, but they started with a bang in a well-established league. The Quakes OTOH were an upstart team in a fledging league, and I think the Mickey Mousedness of the league at that time set a certain perception of the product in the market and it's hard to shed that (and the Mercury-News "helped" to sell the Micky Mouse perception). If the Quakes want to try to emulate the Sharks, they need a reset / big bang. Again, the stadium opening was the time to do it, and unfortunately it didn't really happen.

 

it didn't happen and it was a big miss. that was their big shot to change the culture, good will was in abundance and season tix were completely sold out, apparently, and we did nothing to build on that momentum.

I think @Goodsport makes an important point about our 2004, 2005 attendance numbers in that rumors of the team leaving were already beginning to swirl and that, I expect, didn't do much to inspire loyalty and drive season ticket sales.

On your other points, 1) valid, I have a friend like this and have met others as well who follow Euro leagues and laugh at MLS, although I'm convinced that if the Quakes were playing at 2005-level or better, fans could be lured based on the quality. Adding a big DP doesn't mean he would have to be a Euro or Latin-American star, could be a returning US players (like Pulisic who's struggling these days at Chelsea) but Quakes are rather unimaginative and haven't built a culture that would appeal to a young rising star. 2) I think this could be overcome if we had stars and a better track record and, if somehow Quakes soccer became a cool, hip thing to do...yes, people are working too hard, struggling to find work/play balance, but, as you say, these same locals fill up the Shark Tank consistently (17,500) and had an incredible run of sell-outs. And 3), yup, so much to do, so much to see, from Big Sur to Mt Tam to Mt Diablo, SF...Oakland, the Fox Theater...so many entertainment options which is why it's so important, critical even, for the Quakes to actually be entertaining. The Fish model has been an exercise in what not to do if you hope to capture imaginations, inspire excitement and passion, and sell tickets. I've never understood how Fish thought his model of small team flat frugal ball could ever actually succeed.

 

AEG having one foot out the door in 2004 and 2005 didn't help, but we had those years from 2001-2003 when the team was really, really good, and we had a big American soccer star with teen idol looks, and we still couldn't really move the needle.

 

I don't want to discount this because I do remember crazy, inexplicable fluctuations in attendance throughout the Spartan years, and yes, we had the kid, with his blond curly locks but I remember the support being pretty good, especially for weekend games during that period, so I would quibble a little in that the needle did move, maybe not consistently but it seems like that period was better for attendance than say pre-2001 or post 2003...but it's been awhile, my memory is a little fuzzy...

...these days though, it's going to take some work to change the culture. I feel like Matias will push Fish a little, and he's squeezed a few new signings out of him, the initial take on these guys hasn't exactly been hot...but who knows, maybe that intangible chemistry factor kicks in and 2021 is our comeback year.

 

I'm sure the needle moved a little in 2001-2003, but not really all that much I don't think. And we had everything - championships and a star player.

If we are really "done" with respect to new signings of significance, then my prediction that Fish could go into a kind of pandemic-inspired "austerity mode" could be proving out. We've dropped from our roster:

Vako - $1.5 mil
Hoesen - ~$0.5 mil
Kashia - ~$0.5 mil
Eriksson - ~$0.5 mil
Lima - ~$0.25 mil
----------------------------
Total: ~ $3.25 mil

We've acquired:

Chofis - ~$0.5 mil(?)
Remedi - ~$0.3 mil (based on previous MLS salary)
Abecasis - ~$0.4 mil (just a guess)
Benji - a pack of Pop Tarts
-------------------------------------------
Total: ~ $1.2 mil + pack of Pop Tarts

So Fish has dropped something $2 mil from our roster expenditure, which I think is around a 20% drop. There could of course be more signings in the summer, and there could be more to come before season start, but time's running out.

 

it was more likely that a certain former president would humbly accept defeat than Fish boosting player spending during the pandemic. it was always wayyyyy more likely that we would see a Fish yard sale this year...and he has absolutely delivered! Offense gutted - check! Hope level for 2021 at all time low - check! Starting with Magnus, Fish has fully embraced austerity mode, moved in and furnished the place. Chofis better be a goal scoring machine (and Vega a flub-free goal stopping machine) or we're in for another loooooooong season of barely watchable Fishball.

 

Yep, that's why I never bought into the "board group think intelligentsia" that claimed that Almeyda and Wondo staying meant that now surely Fish was truly "committed to winning". Of all years, not going to happen this year.

 

Well Fuentes has never featured in league play so he would be considered "new"

 

I will buy one of those. If I can get long-sleeve, all the better!

 

Clearly, no one took a course on how to write a questionnaire. Start with the critical questions, get to the demographics last.

Were these checkbox questions? Or did you have the ability to write stuff? It's harder to tabulate open-ended questions, but you can do it. Certain trends emerge in the answers and you categorize those.

And on-location, if they ask for your zip, what's with the urban or rural description? They should know where you live and they should know what they consider it. Also, what does it matter?

Go Quakesfans!!

- Mark

 

I think it is a survey from MLS and not the team per se. After I submitted the survey, the thank you page sported the MSL logo and not the Quakes logo.

 

Hey, we are orange tier now, so 33% capacity. You think the e-mail would have been updated for that.

 

I'm told:
"Even though the CDC has reduced social distancing limits to 3ft, the state of California is continuing to enforce 6ft of distance at all sporting events. The first two home matches will be limited to 20% total capacity. We will review any updated health and safety guidance before the following three home games with the hopes that these restrictions will ease, but TBD on if we’re able to expand past 20% capacity in May."

 

Even though Santa Clara County is in the orange tier, the requirement of 6 feet distance between groups necessitates limiting stadium capacity to 20%. Also, the team is basing the "exclusive" window times on price paid for season tickets with all renewing STH's getting a shot before new STH's. Some other MLS teams are prioritizing STH tenure over STH payment amount, but not the $J Earthquake$.

 

The email didn't mention it (it was probably written before yesterday), but the website announcement did:

Fan attendance for the beginning of the 2021 season will be limited to 20 percent in order to follow social distancing protocols set in place by local and state guidance. While Santa Clara County has moved into the Orange Tier, which allows for 33 percent capacity, the capacity will still be limited to 20 percent to allow for appropriate social distancing.

https://www.sjearthquakes.com/post/2021/03/24/news-earthquakes-announce-2021-regular-season-schedule

 

Jared Shawlee answers Twitter questions here (Click on "Ask Jared"):

We publish the kickoff times with 15 minutes of buffer + the TV start time. If it’s a local game, we publish 6:45 for 7:07. If it’s a national game we publish 6:45 for 7:23. #AskJared

— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) March 26, 2021