The Official John J. Fisher ownership thread

You’re more down on the team than most.

There’s way more than 100 season ticket holders. As bad as the team is, you don’t imagine that we have 13k walk up ticket buyers per game? And there’s SUM income. And jersey sales, and parking, and concessions. Yes, the team needs some investment. But, anyone with the sort of money to buy a $585M property can afford to invest in it too. The team is expensive, but it generates revenue. A savvy owner could make money on the deal. And anyone with that sort of money thinks they are savvy, whether they are or not.

Yes, an academy facility will be expensive, but most teams, will have some sort of expense like that. And the Quakes cost a lot less than most sports teams, and there aren’t a lot of sports teams for sale. The sort of person who wants to buy a team doesn’t have a lot of teams to choose from.

But there might not be enough interested buyers in the Bay Area.

Or maybe, RottenFish is putting some sort of conditions on the sale that are unacceptable. Or maybe the buyer is just doing their due diligence on the sale?

Go Quakesfans!!

 

Am I though?

And this is just the last few pages, of this very thread.

 

Brother! I’m right there with you! I’m really, really peed at OUR team.

But they are drawing decent crowds, they’re selling merch, I think they are doing alright.

BUT! My point is that a new owner could make the team much more valuable. It’s an underperforming asset that could be made better with some investment, and it’s nothing like as expensive as say an NBA team.

Assume that sports team ownership is at least in part a vanity project. This is a cheap, and ready to be improved, vanity project.

Drink with me!!

We’re getting new owners!!
(At least, I hope and believe so.)

Go Quakesfans!!

 

The luxury moat is sold out on multi-year packages. So the 100 remaining STH estimate might need to be adjusted slightly.

 

And when I decided to relocate my seat for this season I was surprised with how limited my choices were. Granted, they likely keep a lot of seats only available to potential new season ticket holders.

 

There we go! Actual knowledge, or at least partial info on the circumstances.

But, the club and stadium are in the Bay Area. The team *should* be worth more than it is, and an intelligent person should be able to correct that.

Go Quakesfans!!

 

Can I scratch my head now?

I saw the $585M number here a few days ago and thought it must be an update. Forbes says $550 and their valuations have been really close to the actual sale price of some clubs, yes?

So let’s go with Forbes’ $550M valuation. Doesn’t that sound like a bargain? For a sports team in the Bay Area?

I really want to hear good news on the sale front soon. We had heard rumors of February. Fingers crossed, but anytime before the end of the season would be good.

Go Quakesfans!!
Go Buyers!!

 

Per Forbes

"Some league insiders say an Earthquakes deal hasn’t materialized because of a disconnect between the asking price for the club and the capital expenditure that would be required to improve or replace its stadium."

A. The stadium could use some upgrades, but I would be surprised if a new owner felt they had to replace it already. What would a new owner need to spend to improve it? $50M? Are they implying adding seats at the open end? Not sure what improvements are required.

B. How badly does Fisher want to sell? If someone offered $450M, does that get it done? We have no way to know what Fisher's minimum acceptable price is.

 

How or why is PayPal considered to be a bad stadium?

Maybe it isn't like the new Miami Staduim but for San Jose and the entire Bay Area for that matter, I think it's actual;ly the best avaialble.

For the amount of money that was spent on it, Levi's in my opinion kind of sucks and when comparing it to other stadiums in the SF Bay Area , I actually think PPP is great for soccer.

 

No improvements to PayPal Park are required. And the Quakes are already discounted in value relative to the rest of the league, and especially considering their market. Fisher is correct to drive a hard bargain, much as we would like to be rid of him sooner than later.

 

PayPal Park holds up well for watching soccer compared with many, maybe even most, stadiums in MLS. It's hard to expand the luxury moat, though. They're not concerned with building a bigger supporters section.

 

By comparing all the stadiums the Bay Area has had, in my opinion PPP is the best for soccer.

PayPal Park
Levi's Stadium
Buck Shaw Stadium
Spartan Stadium
Stanford Coliseum
Stanford Stadium
Kezar Stadium
Candlestick Park

Stanford is not good for soccer , Oakland is too big and Buck Shaw was a makeshift park.

Spartan was fun to attend and nostalgic but it was an old relic and not comparable PPP.

As for the SJ mayor building a new downtown stadium, I’ll believe it when I see it.

 

I think there's the 'customer facing' aspect of the complex which most people would say is decent to good. There are luxuries we can argue over like a better roof and supporters' section, but overall the stadium is far beyond bad. THEN there's the non-customer facing things like locker rooms, offices, weight rooms, etc. I'm sure there's minimal of all those things, but if you want your players happy they need to be up to a certain standard. My understanding is that's where it's never been up to par.

 

I also agree that PayPal Park needs to be upgraded way up to modern professional MLS SSS standards.

That is true of most stadiums in today’s sports market.

Even Levi’s who spent $1.3 billion in 2014 construction costs is now did or doing upgrades for the Niners , the Super Bowl and the upcoming World Cup games.

Building a new downtown soccer stadium as the SJ mayor suggests however, will probably cost taxpayers or a new owner anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion dollars by 2026-2028 costs and it’s just not a reality.

Also, hypothetically, even if it were to happen, other than being newer, I don’t see a huge change from PPP.

Are they going to build a 20k, 30k or 40k seat stadium and again, what is so great about having a stadium in boring Downtown San Jose and most importantly, who will pay for it?

It will never happen.

 

That reminds me — whatever happened to the tram dining hall? I thought it was supposed to go into that years-empty retail area directly across the street (Earthquakes Way) from the main entrance? Did they implement that plan?

 

The only improvement needed is a better team to play in it.

 

You said it.

No one cared how bad Candlestick Park was when the Niners won 5 Super Bowls in 14 years.

It's all about winning and the stadium is secondary.

 

You can control the stadium. Wins and losses, not so much. You can try harder than we are. You can do your best. But not every season will be great. On the other hand, not every season should be crap either.

Go Quakesfans!!

 

Ultimately they did care, which was why they left.

 

A place like Candlestick comes down to an aging stadium with high expected maintenance costs and also the prospect of a lot more revenue/corporate money with something newer and up to date. So, yes, 'they' did care if 'they' are the owners. You aren't going to get a lot of extra revenue with replacing PPP unless you improve your product substantially.