SAN JOSE First plan for soccer stadium bites dust Earthquakes team could be reborn if arena is built by '09 Also on Parking Sounds like SJSU was only being asked to give up the land for parking during actual events - as is the current situation. I was under the impression that Wolff wanted to pave half of South Campus.
Not to toot my own horn, but I was skeptical of the money gaurantee as being the issue the very moment it was used as the excuse. Jon Wilner is the one who made that the issue in his column and blog.
Wow. Looks like a quite a different story than what had been reported in the MN. I wonder if the MN-brewed controversy over the prospective Edenvale rezoning had something to do with it. Maybe Kassing just didn't want the university to be dragged through the mud, even indirectly.
sjo, you rule. Incisive analysis, cogent reasoning, well developed BS detector. I am impressed. But no horn tooting from me. You have to go elsewhere for that! Make you wonder what exactly Kassing's problem was? If it wasn't the money, and it wasn't that they'd have to turn over huge chunks of South Campus to Wolff, then what was it?! He'd better have another plan up his sleave. QUAKES FOREVER!! GO WOLFF!! GO SSV!! fuaeg! fumls! - Mark
Q: So what changed from the beginning of these negotiations (when Kassing wanted to do this) to the end (when he didn't)? A: The status of Muni. It became clear that the SJ Giants would have to leave. This is all a play by Kassing to get control of Muni.
Over on the Spartan board, one of the posters is saying that SJSU has a sugardaddy ready to write the big check for Spartan Stadium. Heard it before, but maybe Wolff rattled some cages with his willingness to do something. Given the number of people who have graduated from SJSU, I would think there is at least one graduate willing to step up.
Been there, done that, time to move on. Yeah, and the dog ate your homework too. This isn't even a good lie. What makes this turd think that anyone is going to believe this crap?! Wolff would build a completely new stadium. Then he'd put a parking structure where the old stadium was, thus reducing the need to park cars on the grass fields. Also, the smaller sized stadium would reduce the number of cars. AND, it's all that friggin' usage that would pay the bills. PLUS, Wolff was going to put another $20M into refurbishing and upgrading "other athletic facilities." See, this is what I mean when I say the folks who run SJSU are stupid. This statement from Carr is clearly bogus on it's face. Yet they expect us to believe it! What a bunch of turds. I hope that they do have a sugar daddy or six in the wings ready to write big checks. I'd love to see a rebirth of SJSU athletics and the prestige that would go with that. But I'm not going to hold my breath. QUAKES FOREVER!! GO WOLFF!! GO SSV!! fuaeg! fumls! - Mark
Here's a nutty idea, why not play at Mcafee stadium until the stadium deal gets ironed out? That way we can have a team back as early as '08 working together and ready for the new stadium in 2009??
Because McAfee is a horrible soccer venue, and we need the deal ironed out BEFORE the MLS will grant us the team.
If a soccer stadium is planned and ready to go, then MLS will definitely let San Jose back in and possibly play at either Spartan Stadium, Stanford Stadium, or McAfee Coliseum while the stadium is being built. MLS will do this to help San Jose bring back the market they left behind and help prepare the team for what will be the biggest stadium transition in American Soccer. The reason I say this is because the Earthquakes home has always been Spartan Stadium and just like SSV said in their newsletter, there are so many memories at Spartan. But this new stadium will build a stronger franchise (like Garber said) and a lot of benefits will happen. If they land this stadium deal in San Jose, Spartan will lose everything to the new stadium such as concerts, Supercross, monster truck rallies, anything that the stadium could be used for during the offseason).
Yeah, I've tried to make that point in the past as well. One of the spins on the failure of the deal with SJSU is that SJSU didn't want to take on the risk involved. But there's some risk in not doing the deal as well. They would likely lose a lot of these events. They have a contract with a venue management company called Global Spectrum to try to drive business to Spartan. If you lose international soccer, MLS soccer, outdoor concerts, etc. I'm not sure that there would be much left.
At least it appears the city is making some type of effort to find a home for the Earthquakes in San Jose;
One thing that I did notice is that Krutkow said that any subsidy from the city would require a vote. Does the proposed re-zoning qualify as a subsidy?
I'm starting to believe we are going to have to wait a long time before we get a team and a stadium....
I'm starting to believe we are going to have to wait a long time before we get a team back and for that matter, a new stadium....
"Any subsidy from the city, whether in cash or in the form of the use of low-cost land, must go to a vote under city law, and Wolff doesn't want to deal with a ballot measure, Krutko said." My take on that is that it is imperative that a deal like the re-zoning idea must happen. Even though the re-zoning is a defacto subsidy, it probably skirts the law as it is written right now. That's the good part. The bad part is that the door is wide open for criticism. I think the Murk recognized that from the beginning.
That re-zoning subsidy is only half of the battle, the half that says how the stadium will be paid for. The other half lies in finding land where they can put the damn thing.
The city is adamant that any "for profit" venture on county property that lies within city limits is within their pervue. I am not sure if they actually have the legal ability to that or not, given the fact that it was that very attitude that brought about the lawsuit involving the proposed concert hall at the fairgrounds (which while not technically "losing" the case, they bailed out and paid several $million to the county for their trouble). However, let's assume that the city and county agree on some sort of way to facilitate that point of view. That opens the door for something at the fairgrounds. What I did not hear in the article was any mention of Wolff talking with the county at all. I don't think that is positive news if true.
The "low-cost" land refers to if the city would purchase the land or provide land it already owns for the stadium site. There would have to be a vote for that. The only way to avoid a vote in that circumstance would be if the Quakes purchase the land from the city or lease it at market rates.