TIX e-mail with Garber Signature

The situation in Houston is better financially. That's all you need to know. Don't worry about the specifics.

 

I would be willing to bet that Houston will average more than the Quakes did this past year. In fact, they should probably do better than every Quakes year except for 1996.

 

Oh '96. You mean our inaugural year. When there's money spent on promotion, a lot of curiosity in the market and the novelty factor. Yeah everybody's first year is good.

But Houston will have sat out the lean years. Actually, San Jose did it for them. Things are looking much better for the league now.

Don't forget Houston will come in with a World Cup bounce. And an owner with something to prove, too.

 

Bookmarked. Good luck with AEG, sucker.

 

Gee really? You really know how to go out there on a limb buddy.

Lee

 

Yep, it's not the exactly the firm of Deloite and Touche that's going to tally up the ticket sales.

 

You don't know that at all. What's it going to cost to rent the stadium there? How much revenue share will the team get? What's their break even attendance number?

Mind you, I don't begrudge Houston a team. They are a big city, the have good MLS TV numbers, and I don't think the sports market is quite so crowded as in the Bay Area. (Though I could be wrong about that.)

But the bottom line here is that AEG is starting over in a new city with no local owners lined up and no stadium solution in sight. Maybe they have some deals cooking that we don't know about yet, but they've all but killed any chance to have a team in the Bay Area. This is not a good move for MLS. They should have put an expansion team in Houston and worked out the details in San Jose. (Something AEG has only tried once.)

As for attendance, let's compare Houston's first season with RSL's first season. That's really a better barometer. Also, let's see where the Houston club is four or five years down the line. And just who is going to build that SSS for them?

If you expect Quakes fans to keep being MLS fans, you're nuts.

GO QUAKES!!

- Mark

 

You could be right. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if AEG pulls all kinds of shenanigans to make things look good. After all, that's been their MO in LA-LA-Land.

BTW, when I went to the MLS Cup in Frisco, the people around me were there with free tickets, had never been to a soccer game and some left at half-time because they were bored. All is not as rosy as MLS/AEG leads people to believe.

 

More like Arthur Andersen!

 

Did you notice what Gerber man said in that letter ?


Quote[ To be successful, all teams in professional sports need appropriate facilities and committed local owners. ]


Did our Earthquakes need to have all this in this past season in order to have the type of SUCCESSFUL SEASON that they had ?


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

He might be refering to being successful off the field. as a business.

 

Why would they move if it's not beneficial to them? It may not be a good move for the Bay Area, but it is a good move for MLS. The Quakes were mismanaged for ten years, and starting fresh would probably be the best thing for the market. 13,000 despite two championships is bad, even including the mismanagement. Other teams who draw poorly either have stadiums or are in that process. So if you're in the same situation, and you have a team that draws poorly, Houston probably couldn't do worse at the very least.

Of course, a stadium would cure everything. MLS teams need stadiums. If KC doesn't get one, then they'll move too. If the stadium deal works out, then everything will be fine.

Houston has the following things going for it:

1-bigger market
2-better tv ratings
3-better soccer coverage and acceptance
4-and, from the press in the past few days, it looks like they will be going after a Frisco-style deal with a local school district. SJ couldn't do that.

 

Wow ! ! ! I'm very impressed good luck to them

 

Add one more thing Houston has "going for it": the SAME mismanagement that it had here in San Jose for the past 4 years! See how the team is doing in four years when the honeymoon is over and if there is a SSS built by then.

 

Well duh! The team now has ownership committed to making the team a success.

 

The Houston office at that.

 

scaryice, you are acting like moving a team happens on paper. For all the supposed benefits of Houston over San Jose, why does a team need to be moved in order to receive those benefits? Why couldn't an expansion team have been put there instead? That creates positives without inflicting real damage on the league. You say this is good for MLS, but overall this move is bad when you take into account the damage it has done to the fanbase. You also seem to be very defensive about this damage, chastizing people who are angry as if they are the problem! This is what it looks like to move a team. Face reality.

Also, you characterize the San Jose and Houston situations as if they exist inately without any other parameters such as the actions of the ownership group. Every criticism you have of the San Jose market is really a criticism of AEG's presence in the San Jose market. So why don't you criticize AEG for not stepping up? Why do you assume that this is just the way San Jose is, with or without AEG? AEG's presence greatly impacted the way things played out in San Jose.

Moving the Quakes to Houston has little to do with strengthening MLS and everything to do with strengthening AEG's non-soccer-related business. AEG wants to be in Houston. They don't want a soccer team in Houston. They want access to the Houston market for all their extraneous business dealings. MLS and the Quakes were used as leverage for that. That is slimey. What is good for the league is a strong presence in the Bay Area. AEG did not contribute toward that end as it was not financially lucrative to their overall business (non-soccer-related business). An owner interested in the soccer team would have done MUCH more to create a successful environment.

- Paul