"Money woes plague Earthquakes"       Umm, note to the author: almost all of the MLS teams are still "in the red", and that won't change until all MLS teams either have their own SSS or take full control of their current stadiums. That being said, it's good that the author at least understands that taking control of Spartan would mean netting the incoming stadium revenues, thus easing a lot of pressure off of depending on ticket sales alone.       Johnny Moore was right on the money on some of the reasons why the attendance has been poor, and it's nice to see that the front-office has finally picked it up as far as going out there and getting new clientele instead of just sitting back and doing nothing. After all, the average attendance for the last six home games of the regualar season was 12,577... imagine how much more it could be when the Earthquakes have a full offseason (for the first time in four years) to mount a season-ticket sales/renewal push much like what Kansas City did last year!       GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Confused.... I'm confused, why is it that the Earthquakes haven't had a full off-season in the last four years? I just am not understanding what you mean.
Re: Confused....       The last offseason that San Jose had an open and active front-office was between the 1999 and 2000 MLS seasons. In every offseason since then, the front-office was "frozen" (i.e. stuck in limbo) for most of the offseason from conducting trades/acquisitions, spending any money on advertising/marketing, mounting a major push for season-ticket sales/renewals, etc. The reason for this per offseason: 2000-2001 offseason: The Krafts leave town shortly after the 2000 season ends. The front-office is stuck in limbo while a new investor/operator is found (apparently, interested parties such as Dan Van Voorhis and Yahoo! are eventually scared off by the Single-Entity System, where they would lose money due to league losses even if the team earned a profit). The San Jose Sharks' SVS&E finally signs a one-year deal to run the team. Due to the delay, the search for a new head coach starts late, with Frank Yallop being hired only two days prior to the 2001 MLS SuperDraft. 2001-2002 offseason: SVS&E hesitates on renewing its investor/operator status. It takes almost the entire offseason for them to finally reach an agreement to co-run the team with AEG (thus, the front-office was once again in limbo). 2002-2003 offseason: The ownership change for the Sharks (from the Gund Brothers to SJSEE) once again freezes the Earthquakes' front-office... the Sharks' new ownership decides to concentrate solely on cleaning its own house. AEG takes full control of the Quakes near the end of the offseason.       Thus, three offseasons in a row of no front-office action at the most crucial of times for front-office action.       GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Message received.... I understand, thanks for setting it straight. I would have to agree with you on this. An off-season with a functioning front office should pose very well for the Quakes. Hopefully they'll take advantage of it. It would be nice to see more people in Spartan. Does the GM in San Jose talk to the supporter groups often?
Re: Message received....       I'm glad I could help!       I believe that the GM here does talk to the supporters group often, but I suppose that members from the supporters groups would know more about that.       GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
I am really excited about the partnering with the youth soccer leagues (For those who believe in voodoo and such things, note that the Mutiny and Fusion had a similar program in the state of Florida during the last year of existance.) This puts the Quakes in the center of soccer-playing youth in Northern California and probably provides a wonderful marketing opportunity to develop profitable soccer camps during the off-season. The team really does need to be marketing to the soccer fanatics in places like East San Jose, too - but that's a tale for another thread. As usual, great work, GS in bringing us the news.
Re: Message received.... The GM is also known to answer questions and clear up issues right here on BS on occasion. Really helpful to get an authoritative answer when everyone's speculating. The concerted effort to partner with youth soccer leagues is a fantastic plan. These soccer-playing kids bring their parents and will one day drive themselves to games. Huge market. If each of the 250,000 kids were to attend just one game (even without parents), the Quakes would more than double their season average...
Re: Re: Confused.... My concern is with the rumor that the Quakes may be sold to Club America or a local investor, we could be faced with another off-season of front office turmoil. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Does this have any relation to those rumors I read on this board about Spartan possibly being remodeled?
The headline is a total bummer. It could have read: Attendance up as Earthquakes head into playoffs It would have been every bit as correct and probably more informative. Notice, the Quakes are drawing a season average of over 10,000. Last week's game drew over 16,000. The Warriors for their season opener last night had over 15,000. But the Warriors also had about a million $$ in free publicity from all the local sports press. How much would Quakes attendance rise if we got half as much free publicity? The press ought to be embarrassed. They're just pathetic. ps: Goodsport: Would you mind deleting the other thread I started on the USA Today article? I tried to delete it but it didn't work... thanks.
You guys are right, they get a tremendous advantage from the media. I think someone here once said it was not the job of the media to pump up local teams, but they sure as hell do it, and even when it is not part of the regular sports news. Just something like, "49ers kickoff tomorrow at 7, at Candlestick, etc.," is a hell of a shot of publicity. A lot has been written and said about Musselman and his record, which isn't really that outstanding in Bay Area sports, but there must a lot of fans who think so because that's all they are given to hear and read.