Well said. If SF can find a spot where a top flight team can play, I can bet they would be well supported. IMO it is a very unique market, seperate from the East Bay and South Bay. The people are who follow and/or participate in the game are there and of course you have people flocking into SF for whatever event is going on. I've said it before but the only knock is finding a SSS. I'm honestly not keen on a team sharing a stadium with the 49ers. If there's someone with enough vision to do that, I would love to see a professional soccer team over in The City By the Bay. My thought would be something similar to the proposed stadium for the Vancouver Whitecaps. If I recall the Blackhawks played in Fremont and San Jose--someone fill me in here if they ever played in SF, but I doubt it. I do forsee the pubs and places packed all over San Francisco come June with the World Cup being played in Germany.
If I recall Winterland was an ice rink that was in the area around Geary and Fillmore. It was also known for concerts. Music Promoter Bill Graham made it famous as one of his locations where shows were held, around the 60s and 70s. Well before the lot's time here--the final event held.
They'll be packed to the gills, I'd imagine. On the wonderful night/morning of 2-0, I was in the Lower Haight and all the bars were packed, and that was at 2am.
I don't think so, as far as I recall. And in case anyone here isn't familiar with them, they were called the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks, not the San Francisco Blackhawks (just thought I'd throw that out there). -G
I thought so--I recall they played their matches in the South Bay. There wasn't much going on in San Francisco at that time, save for USF soccer.
To restate my first post - San Francisco has the nations oldest adult/amateur soccer league the San Francisco Soccer Football League. In addition to the Italians (who rarely venture far from Green St) you have the Russians/Irish/Chinese in the Richmond and Sunset and Latinos (from all over) in the Mission and surrounding areas. Many people play soccer (pick-up) recreationally in Golden Gate park year round. Putting a stadium into the park may be easier under Newsom then at any other time (parking deck and rebuilt DeYoung and refurbishing of CalAcademy of Sciences). After living in the fog for over a year the worst months to be in western SF are July/August - when just about everyone else is roasting. The weather in March-May/Sept-Nov is relatively good and the Fall is just fantastic - the best time to visit SF is in October. SF can support a team if the powers that be want to go up against the Daly and others on the city counsel, NIMBY's (and organized neighborhood committees) and have the will to fight. Putting a stadium in GGP would probably not be best for MLS (land lease) but there are other places (near Cow Palace/Candlestick point/BayView - we could even float one off a pier. MLS needs downtown stadiums and teams and hopefully Toronto/NYC proper will add to DC United (if that stadium ever gets built). The league (and we) have talked about San Jose's problems for 10 years now. Say the same are gets a team in the next expansion, do we honestly expect things to change. Are people going to wake up and see the error of their ways and suddenly surge to the phones and order season tickets en masse. I doubt it. And that is a shame for all of the hard-core Quakes fans. Nor-Cal needs a team. It is time to try it someplace else (SF, Oakland, etc.). james
And ironically, team founder Dan Van Voorhis named the Blackhawks after his Blackhawk Estates on the East Bay. -G
Yes. Stable committed ownership (finally!) and a woken-up city council can do wonders... and that's assuming that they chose to go the public-vote route for an SSS. There are other ways, but they would take an ownership actually pursuing them to be accomplished. You actually think that it'd be easier to get a soccer stadium (particulalry a fully or partially publicly funded one) in or around SF than in SJ? If so, just go speak with the much more beloved and popular 49ers and Giants. -G
Beach Chalet. I also seem to remember a tremendous amount of fog in that area. San Jose (the team) had such an entertaining style of play. I can't imagine asking a De Rosario type to become a mudder.
That's a pretty good summary. It should be noted that the Seals were slowly building a pretty loyal fan base while in D3 at USF. Competitively, they were at least an A-League caliber club, but that move up came with a heavy cost. In D3, you travel to Chico and San Luis Obispo and Orange County. In the A-League, you have to travel to Seattle, Vancouver, Texas, Rochester etc. The difference in costs is phenomenal, and I think a big contributor to the demise of the team. It also should be noted that the Seals had major problems securing a good place to play in SF. The relationship with USF was strained. Dealing with the City to play at Kezar was a nightmare, and I believe the rents were pretty high. Eventually, the team moved to Hayward and were sold (I can't recall which one happened first.) The small but loyal fan base was not going to make the trek to Hayward, so it was essentially like starting over. It's really a shame. In their prime (1997) the Seals were one of the most entertaining teams in the country with loads of offense and a couple of fast, athletic defenders (CJ Brown and Tim Weaver) to take care of things in the back. I can go on and on about that team, but perhaps another time.
ditto. the only two reasons i can think of are that (1) mls seems obsessed with bringing suburban fans in. (2) maybe buying land for a soccer specific stadium is more expensive in san francisco... though i'm not sure how true this is? silicon valley seems to have outrageously priced real estate too...
Now I know we are neighbours, we should meet up. I really want to slap some sense into you! Your summation of Oakland city politics illustrates the juvenile in you more than I had originally thought.