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November 29, 2005
It's time to tell the Council
For those of us who are planning to take advantage of the Open Forum section of the December 6 San Jose City Council meeting, it's time to map out what we're going to say with our two minutes at the mic. (Yes, that's how much time is allocated for each individual to speak.)
It's not hard to think of things to say. We all know that the soccer community adds a lot to the quality of life in Northern California. A stadium for the Quakes would be the jewel in that crown—a place for professional and international matches, a place where young players could tether their dreams of stardom and international fame.
Here are a few other points that could be made about the Quakes and what they bring to the community, courtesy of SSV founding member Mike Turco:
- They play the world's game in a world-class city
- They are the original San Jose professional sports franchise
- They put San Jose on the map for teams like the Sharks and, who knows, maybe even the A's
- They have won two national championships in five years, a feat most cities would envy
- The Quakes are community-friendly, with players active in teaching our local children
- The players are role models for children (friendly, accessible, playing for love of the game).
So, what have we missed? What else should we all be telling the City Council? Leave your comments here and let's make our best case next Tuesday night.
Posted by Jay at 07:54 PM | Comments (7)
November 25, 2005
George Best, Rest in Peace
George Best, a player who will be remembered as one of the best ever to play the game, has passed away today. While he is best known for his seasons with Manchester United—he was named European Footballer of the Year in 1968 as he helped ManU win its first-ever European Cup—he stated in his autobiography that the best goal he ever scored was this one, scored for the Earthquakes. (Click on the link for video of the goal.)
Best spend five seasons in the NASL, playing from 1976 to '81 in the league. He had 21 goals and 21 assists with the Earthquakes in 1980 and '81 and scored his last professional goal with the team.
(For more on Best, see his Wikipedia entry.)
Posted by Jay at 07:06 AM | Comments (1)
November 23, 2005
The Merc weighs in: Save the Quakes!
Our hats are off to San Jose Mercury News columnist Ann Killion, who this year has shown that she has her finger on the pulse of Quakes fans better than anyone in either the mainstream or specialized soccer press. She weighed in yesterday with a wonderful column summarizing why the Quakes are worth saving. Well done, Ann. We share your sentiments—it's time to get the deal done.
The Merc didn't stop there, however. The paper's op/ed page also spoke up on the matter, stating "San Jose needs to find a way to keep the Quakes." While this particular article gets the team's 2005 average attendance wrong—see Killion's article above for the correct figure—we're glad that the Mercury has joined us in the growing chorus of voices that recognize the value of the Earthquakes to the community.
Posted by Jay at 07:37 AM | Comments (7)
November 17, 2005
Proposed DC United stadium is more than an investment in bricks and mortar
With Chicago's stadium well under construction and recent announcements from Denver, Salt Lake City, and Toronto coming within weeks of each other, it seems like a soccer stadium is becoming the must-have accessory for any growing metropolis. There have been so many new stadium announcements for MLS recently that we've been getting a bit numb to them lately. But DC United's effort at Poplar Point, on the river in Washington, DC, is more than just another MLS stadium.
Throughout the world, soccer has provided a way out for underprivileged children of all races, creeds, and colors. Some of the most famous soccer stars on Earth have risen from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and the war-torn streets of Liberia, becoming beacons of hope to new generations of players. Soccer is not typically seen that way in the U.S., where the sport is viewed largely as an activity of suburban children and urban youth frequently lack the playing fields and equipment necessary to play the game.
DC United is making a bid to cross the gap between the haves and the have nots with their proposed new stadium in Ward 8, a section of Washington DC with an unemployment rate of over 13 percent, over 28 percent living in poverty, and a median household income of $28,000 (as of January, 2003). The team has proposed a 27,000-seat stadium as part of a mixed-use development that would include a hotel along with office and retail space as well as housing initiatives for Ward 8 residents. As DC United president and CEO Kevin Payne put it at a community forum on Tuesday night, "Our stadium and mixed-use development at Poplar Point will impact the community of Ward 8 and the District in a way no other project can. It will change the community for the better by providing opportunity for everyone."
The MLSnet story on that meeting continues:
Stressing dreams and opportunity, Payne ensured that the proposed development would be more than bricks and mortar. Following months of meetings and conversations with community activists, leaders and elected officials, United's president and CEO spoke of integrated facilities that would provide fields, coaching, leagues and world-class soccer—all of which would allow local children to dream of becoming the world's best.
While DC United's owners are to be commended for getting out their checkbooks to bankroll an urban redevelopment project of this magnitude, they should also be given a standing ovation for choosing to make an investment in something with an even bigger potential payoff: people.
Posted by Jay at 08:31 PM | Comments (3)
November 14, 2005
Sports Illustrated: Quakes/Galaxy among five best rivalries in world soccer
Sports Illustrated columnist Jonah Freedman took a look at soccer rivalries around the world and came up with his list of the top five:
- Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona (Spain)
- AC Milan vs. Inter Milan (Italy)
- Arsenal vs. Tottenham (England)
- Rangers vs. Celtic (Scotland)
- San Jose Earthquakes vs. L.A. Galaxy
Posted by Jay at 01:02 PM | Comments (6)
MLS to welcome Toronto and... Barcelona?
It seems like everybody wants a piece of Major League Soccer these days. The league announced over the weekend that its Board of Governors has approved Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment's application for a team, as this Toronto Star story reports.
They're not the only city that's lining up to be included in MLS, though. As has been reported widely, including this story from the Boston Herald, representatives from Philadelphia, Tulsa, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Houston and Cleveland attended MLS Cup, held yesterday outside Dallas.
Also intriguing are press reports that Spanish league giants Barcelona are looking into the purchase of an MLS expansion side. Hey guys, I know a team that's for sale right now in a city with a nice Mediterranean climate...
Posted by Jay at 09:26 AM | Comments (2)
November 12, 2005
Soccer Reaches the Tipping Point
When we heard that a web site called Football Stadium Digest had an interesting column on MLS, we figured it was a European site that had taken notice of the league. After all, the U.S. is playing Scotland later on this morning and this sort of story would make a good sidebar to the pre-game reports.
Well, it turns out that Football Stadium Digest spends most of its time focusing on stadia that teams like the Raiders and 49ers play in. That makes it even more remarkable that they've got a story about how soccer is finally reaching a tipping point in America.
As Mark Abbott, chief operating officer of MLS observes, the timing makes sense. "Those kids [from the 1970s] are now forty years old or even slightly older, and they are beginning to take positions of influence throughout American society. In politics, in the media…we didn't see that five years ago. They are now influencers in important organizations that can help the sport grow."
The author, Glen Strandberg, notes that tomorrow's MLS Cup will be played in a new stadium and that more are on the way:
So while soccer fans look forward to this weekend's MLS Cup between the Los Angeles Galaxy and the New England Revolution, there are plenty of other reasons to celebrate. A prime example showcasing soccer's growth resides in where the championship game is being played: in a beautiful stadium built specifically for soccer. It's not the first, and it will certainly not be the last.
On Sunday, November 13, the city of Frisco, Texas will host the game's biggest event in the brand new Pizza Hut Park. The 21,193-seat stadium just opened in August, but if that's not startling enough – a huge soccer complex in football crazed Texas – it will not hold its Guinness-like status for long.
In 2007, the Colorado Rapids will open their very own sports park and eclipse the size of the one outside Dallas. And these stadiums, those that have preceded them, and the ones that will follow, have everything you could imagine.
"The way I think about these facilities is that they are what you would expect to see in an American NFL stadium, but shrunk down," Abbott says. "They have all the amenities you would want when you go out to a modern sports facility."
Times have most certainly changed. Not only are these venues being built, but they are being built with public funds. Simon Borg, MLS Media Relations Director, illustrates just how far soccer has come. "It's significant when communities are knocking on our door, saying, ‘We want soccer.'"
Soccer has long been promoted as "the sport of the future" here in the U.S. and criticized for not living up to that potential. What happens if that future is today? When a publication that normally focuses on NFL stadia casts an admiring glance at American soccer, there are clearly big changes occurring.
Posted by Jay at 06:33 AM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2005
Liverpool to announce network of US youth soccer academies
Taking after Ajax, the first European team to create a presence in the U.S., it is being reported in The Liverpool Daily Post that Liverpool, current European Cup holders and one of the most storied teams in England, will open 30 youth academies across the U.S. in an effort to attract "the very best young talent on the other side of the Atlantic."
It's been a busy week for Liverpool as they've also had a representative in New England meeting with Revolution and Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who may have been approached about investing in the Reds.
Posted by Jay at 01:10 PM | Comments (3)
November 08, 2005
San Jose Inside talks up a soccer stadium
The folks over at San Jose Inside, a blog devoted to local issues written by a number of community leaders, has just published a piece talking up the need for a soccer stadium.
Check it out and be sure to leave a comment.
Posted by Jay at 10:16 AM | Comments (1)
November 07, 2005
SUM's statement on World Cup rights shows cooperation between MLS, ABC, ESPN
Our October 27 note about the competitive bidding between ABC, NBC, and Fox for English-language rights to air the 2010 and 2014 World Cups left a lot of questions hanging in the air. Chief of those was, "If the networks are bidding for these rights, what happens to SUM, the MLS spin-off that purchased the rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups?" While that question has still not been fully answered, the league has issued a statement on the issue which indicates that they should be positioned well to take advantage of the sport's increasing popularity.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber is quoted as follows:
"Given the strong interest displayed by several of the major English and Spanish-language networks and the belief that it was greatly beneficial to the value of soccer programming in this country, SUM opted to work in close partnership with ABC, ESPN and Univision throughout the FIFA bidding process.
"MLS and SUM now look forward to continuing our very positive discussions toward extending our longstanding relationship with ABC and ESPN and once again becoming part of the Univision family. These new television partnerships will provide Major League Soccer and the U.S. Soccer Federation with the most important broadcast agreement in the sport's history in America. In the immediate and long-term future, today's news will prove to be a historical turning point for the sport."
With nearly five and nine years respectively until the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, soccer's continued growth in the U.S. means that despite the $425 million in fees paid for U.S. rights, the broadcast companies stand to make a lot of money on those events. If MLS has helped those companies secure these rights, expect some of those broadcast dollars to start flowing the league's way as well. If MLS starts making money off of their telecasts instead of buying time to get soccer on the air, the light at the end of the league's financial tunnel may finally be in sight.
Posted by Jay at 03:51 PM | Comments (3)
November 02, 2005
Agoos remembers the 2001 Quakes
Longtime U.S. soccer journalist Michael Lewis has an interesting story online at MLSnet about Jeff Agoos and his five championships, still the highest total of any player in league history.
The story reveals that he keeps his championship rings in a safe in his house and that only once has he taken one out of the vault—before his championship with the 2001 Quakes.
"I wanted to show the team... what a championship ring looked like," he said. "We were playing Columbus at the time. I wanted everyone to know the end result of a season of very hard work. Again, you have to understand that San Jose went from a last-place team to a championship that year. So when I took it out, we weren't there yet. I wanted to get the team over that hump, to give them a reason to work even harder to win that championship. Fortunately, we were able to do it."Agoos showed the ring at a team meeting.
"I took the ring out for everybody to look at," he said. "I don't think the enormity of winning a championship really hit them until they saw it. The experience is real and this could be ours. We were two or three games away from actually putting this on our finger. I think it brought it a little bit more home at that point, than just saying we want to win a championship, and being an idea out there."
Landon Donovan gets a lot of the credit for the Quakes' two championships, and with all the goals he scored in the playoffs he deserves it. But we should never underestimate the value of a veteran who knows how to win if he can teach that habit to his teammates. Thanks again, Goose.
Posted by Jay at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)