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January 22, 2007
Marin columnist offers a take on Beckham
We last heard from Marin IJ columnist Dave Albee in May, when he offered up a plea for a new soccer stadium just north of San Rafael to house the Quakes. On Sunday, he provided his take on the American arrival of David Beckham, along with comments from former local player Calen Carr (now a forward with the Chicago Fire) and former Quake Chris Ronér. We got a smile out of this observation from Ronér:
"It will be interesting to see if (Landon Donovan) stays in L.A." said Chris Roner, former Terra Linda High star who was Donovan's teammate on the San Jose Earthquakes until an ankle injury forced Roner to retire in 2005. "He will be completely overshadowed (by Beckham) and I don't know if the golden boy will like that."
Golden Boy meets Golden Balls — that does sound like it could get messy. Overall, a solid column from Albee, who seems to be making a bid to be the best soccer writer for a daily paper in the Bay Area.
Posted by Jay at 09:52 AM | Comments (1)
January 20, 2007
News on Ching, Davis
We noted last month that eight former Earthquakes had been called into Bob Bradley's first U.S. National Team camp, adding, "If Bradley had added Brad Davis and Brian Ching, he could have started former Quakes in almost every position."
Well, it turns out that Ching and Davis were invited but declined. It was mentioned on today's US/Denmark broadcast that Ching is recovering from injuries and Davis had a wedding to attend, or we would have seen 10 former Quakes in camp. That's either impressive or depressing, depending on how you look at it. (We are optimists so we'll say "impressive" for now. At least only two of them play for the Galaxy now.)
Posted by Jay at 05:30 PM | Comments (1)
January 19, 2007
Wizards move forward on new stadium
The Kansas City Business Journal reports that the Wizards have hired David Ficklin, formerly of HOK Sport and a long-time friend of SSV, as vice president of development for the team. That puts Ficklin on the front lines in the team's work to build a new stadium/youth soccer complex in the Kansas City area, and they couldn't have made a better choice.
As mentioned, Ficklin is no stranger to us at SSV. A San Jose native, he managed marketing and advertising for the Clash in the team's early years, then became venue director in San Jose for the 1999 Women's World Cup. At HOK, one of the top stadium design firms in the world, David provided a great deal of assistance to SSV in our own efforts to secure a stadium for the Earthquakes, donating a great deal of his time over the course of a year to help us meet with city officials in Santa Clara, Milpitas, and San Francisco.
SSV wishes him the best of luck in Kansas City, and we look forward to seeing the Earthquakes take on the Wizards in their new stadiums in the coming years.
Posted by Jay at 06:08 AM | Comments (3)
January 16, 2007
Soccer stories everywhere (and, of course, more on the Beckham signing)
Boy! The blog tries to take a couple days off and suddenly Lew Wolff and MLS are the talk of the town. There's been a media avalanche the last few days as everyone wants in on the latest stadium scuttlebutt, and the Beckham deal is still getting ink. Here's a wrapup:
- The San Jose Business Journal published a story on Friday headlined "Talks on 'joint use' soccer stadium may bear fruit in 60-90 days." We at SSV, who remember well the series of "60 to 90 days" announcements MLS and the Metrostars made over the course of several years about a New Jersey stadium deal that was perpetually almost complete, apologize for not instructing Lew Wolff to avoid use of the phrase "60 to 90 days" in association with a soccer stadium.
- KTVU (they go by "channel 2" among friends) sent reporter Diane Guerazzi to the South Bay to do a report on the San Jose State/Earthquakes stadium story. San Jose vice mayor Dave Cortese is interviewed, as is SSV's own Don Gagliardi.
- Finally, Ann Killion of the Mercury News checks in with a column chiding MLS for pursuing the David Beckham deal. Normally, we agree with Ann—we remember clearly how she supported the fans as AEG carried out their threat to move Dominic Kinnear and the boys to Houston—but in this case, we have to disagree.
We'll address her column point by point:
His arrival will do little for the development of soccer in this country, which was the mission statement of MLS. And which some of us still believe is the key to building long-term interest in the sport.A lot of American soccer fans would like to see some of that $250 million plowed into player development, such as finding a better way to spot and develop players who aren't products of our elitist youth soccer system.
First off, only a small percentage of that $250 million will make up his playing salary. As this Reuters story says, "MLS sources say his annual playing income is only in the 'single-figure millions.'" The rest is coming from sponsors like adidas and Gillette, who will be paying Beckham big bucks for endorsements.
Moreover, MLS and its sponsors aren't offering Beckham the potential to earn $250 million because they like him—the money is an investment. They expect to make more money on the deal than what they're paying. Since the league's mission is to develop soccer in the U.S.—no, it hasn't changed despite Killion's use of the past tense above—some of the anticipated profit from the deal will go into the league's efforts to develop new American talent. The best example of this, of course, is the November directive from MLS for each team to develop its own youth academy:
The league announced its youth development initiative... Each MLS team will be required to set up a youth academy separate from the senior team and will be able to add to its academy youth players who live within that team's designated "home territory." After a player has been with an MLS youth team for a year, he may be signed to the senior club without having to enter the MLS SuperDraft. From 2008-2010, each team may sign up to two players from its youth academy."This vertically integrated player development system will strengthen our player pool and provide greater levels of on-field competition," (MLS Commissioner Don) Garber said. "We're going to have these young kids nipping at the heels of veteran players and pushing that competition.
"The first step is giving our teams the incentive to invest in these facilities so that ultimately we're building the infrastructure of not just the game professionally, but from a youth perspective, as well."
It's also worth noting that adidas already sponsors one of the league's most important youth development programs, Generation adidas.
Back to the column:
Here's one way his arrival is different than that of Pelé three decades ago: The New York Cosmos hired the best player in the world, whereas the Galaxy has hired the most famous player in the world.
Uh, no. Pelé came out of retirement at age 34 to join the Cosmos. He was the best in the world at one time, one of the best ever, but not at that moment. Pelé's status then would be analogous to an MLS signing of the recently retired Zinedine Zidane now—except, of course, Pelé never earned notoriety for head-butting an opponent in a World Cup final.
But Beckham's moment as the world's most famous athlete is near its end... That's because Beckham, 31, comes to Los Angeles basically out of other soccer options. He had already lost his place in the Real Madrid side (and was told this weekend that he won't ever play again for the club). The former captain of England, he's no longer playing for his country. MLS was the only league willing to shower him with money and love.
Beckham had lots of options besides joining the Galaxy. The European press reports that Italian powerhouses AC Milan and Inter Milan were trying to sign him, as were French clubs Marseilles and Lyon. (Just found a new story—ESPN Soccernet's Phil Ball says Barcelona was interested, too. Ronaldinho on the left, Beckham on the right would have made quite a midfield.) All but Marseilles routinely compete in the UEFA Champions League, so clearly lots of people thing Beckham is still capable of competing at that level.
As for the comment that he won't ever play again for Real Madrid, it seems to us at the blog like the Spanish team's management is positioning itself for a negotiation with MLS that would see Beckham join the Galaxy for the onset of the new season in April.
Beckham's job isn't to play soccer but to sell jerseys and elevate the league. He's a soccer event, like the World Cup in 1994, which drew a lot of interest but didn't create a large, devoted fan base.
And here's the real crux of the issue. The fact is that there is absolutely nothing that MLS could do which would create "a large, devoted fan base" overnight. Nothing. It doesn't work that way.
The story of soccer's growth in this country over the last 35 years has been one of slow, incremental growth. Pelé's signing by the Cosmos and his years in the league are a great example, as kids around the country first saw the sport in all its beauty and grandeur due to Pelé's presence. Some of those kids grew up to play on the 1990 U.S. National Team, which got our country into the World Cup finals for the first time in 40 years. Many of those players went on to great careers in MLS and inspired a further generation of youth soccer players—guys like Clint Dempsey, who had just turned 13 when MLS started and has now, as Killion points out, been purchased for $4 million to play for Fulham FC in England. The fan base has grown the same way, and the 1994 World Cup was an important event in that timeline.
This is why Killion's criticism is so off-base. If MLS had been doing nothing else to grow the sport, signing Beckham would be a desperate grab at the stars, a plea for attention from a dying enterprise. But that's not nearly the case. MLS and its owners are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into stadiums, building bridges to youth soccer, and devoting substantial resources to player development. It takes all of those things to build a league and they are doing it.
Bringing David Beckham to America is the league's way of saying, 'Hey, everybody, we're ready for our close-up.' Lots of people will come to see the big celebrity player, sure, but some of them will find much more: a sport and a league that's deserving of their attention. And that's how this thing will grow.
Posted by Jay at 05:45 AM | Comments (2)
January 14, 2007
SF Chronicle profiles DC United investors
Today, the San Francisco Chronicle checks in with a profile on the local investors, Victor MacFarlane and Will Chang, who are part of the group that just purchased DC United. They offer their perspective on soccer in the U.S. in general and MLS in particular, then this bombshell is dropped:
Quakes fans might wonder where enthusiastic soccer investors like MacFarlane and Chang were when they needed them."Nobody brought that (idea) to me,'' MacFarlane said. "I didn't think about it.''
"A deal never came to the surface,'' Chang said. "Had we known about it, we might have moved on it."
The story continues to cite an SSV representative who allegedly said that AEG wasn't really intersted in keeping the team in San Jose. As someone with knowledge of that interview—ahem—I can say that it's not quite all that was said. While it's true that AEG was not interested in keeping the team in San Jose under their ownership, they were interested in selling it. They certainly had a desire to test the waters in Houston, but there was every opportunity for a local investor to step up and buy the Quakes—and for considerably less than what was just paid for DC United, I might add.
The part of the interview that didn't make the paper was this: "Well, at this point, it's their loss. Northern California is the best soccer market in the country, as evidenced by the thriving youth soccer community and the fact that you had 10,000 people watch the World Cup final last summer in Mission Dolores Park. They missed the opportunity but Lew Wolff didn't, and we're very happy with what he's done so far to bring the Quakes back."
Posted by Jay at 05:27 AM | Comments (3)
January 13, 2007
Mercury News reports potential Earthquakes/San Jose State stadium deal
The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Lew Wolff, San Jose State, and the City of San Jose are working on a stadium deal that "would change the face of South Bay sports by bringing a professional soccer team to San Jose and providing a new home for Spartan athletics."
The story continues:
If a deal is finalized, Wolff would exercise an option he negotiated last May to invest in Major League Soccer and operate an expansion franchise. San Jose State and the soccer team — to be called the Earthquakes — would operate the stadium as partners.
The story also notes that public soccer fields could be part of the project, which would come as a relief to those currently vying for time on the area's public fields, as the Merc reported earlier this week.
There's lots of interesting information in the story but the missing ingredient is a substantive comment from Wolff, who the story says "described the discussions as being 'in the embryonic stages' and declined to provide details." New San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed also adds, "At this point, I don't think I should talk about it. If it gets to the point for the city to do something or participate in something, then it will be time to talk about it."
We look forward to the day that they're willng to speak publicly about a deal. In the meantime, we'll point out that Wolff's rights cover the entire Bay Area and Sacramento, so there are bound to be other alternatives that we're not hearing about publicly.
Posted by Jay at 06:38 AM | Comments (7)
January 12, 2007
Lew Wolff talks to Ronn Owens of KGO
Yesterday, Earthquakes Soccer managing partner Lew Wolff stopped by KGO to speak with Ronn Owens and several callers. While most of the conversation focused on that other sporting enterprise that Wolff is involved with, soccer did come up frequently. Here's a transcript of the Earthquakes-related part of the broadcast:
Ronn Owens (RO): How much input do you have with the day-to-day operation of the (A’s)?Lew Wolff (LW): Well, I don’t need to have too much. We’ve got Billy (Beane) and Mike Crowley and a terrific staff.
RO: I mean, they’re not going to do some major thing without your...
LW: Oh, no no no, it’s a pretty inclusive group because we’re small. If decisions come up we all have to put in our two cents. For example, Billy is in Rome today and I’ve already had three e-mails back and forth. He actually was commenting on David Beckham and the contract.
RO: Oh, soccer—he’s coming to LA.
LW: He’s almost as interested in soccer as he is in baseball.
RO: Well, the good news is that Victoria will probably come here too. But it’s, uh, they’re not going to make a trade without getting you involved.
LW: Yeah, that’s correct, but if they did I would probably be happy with the result. It’s more collegial than it is formal.
---
Caller Greg from San Jose
Greg: As a long time soccer fan in the South Bay, I was just wondering if Lew could tell us what’s happening with his attempt to resurrect the San Jose Earthquakes, and I’ll take that off the air.
LW: That’s a good question. We’re actually making some progress, we think. We’re discussing some ideas with San Jose State and had a nice conversation with the staff at the City of San Jose and I had a nice breakfast with the new mayor. I think we are going to be able to take some steps forward but they’re measured. I don’t want to predict something we’re going to do and not deliver it, so we’re making progress. If you’ve seen our office, it’s downtown in the Fairmont. We’re as excited about soccer as we are about baseball.
---
Caller Scott in San Francisco
Scott: Lew, can you tell me why San Jose for soccer? Why not Oakland or somewhere else in the Bay Area? The Earthquakes left San Jose—what’s the attraction to go back there?
LW: I don’t think it was San Jose’s fault that the Earthquakes left, but we’re looking for sites; we’re not limited to San Jose. The question came about San Jose from one of the callers, but we’re looking throughout the entire Bay Area and San Jose is we think a pretty good market for almost anything and we think that the Earthquakes got off to a bad start. I wasn’t there for the history.
Posted by Jay at 06:02 AM | Comments (1)
January 11, 2007
David Beckham, midfielder, LA Galaxy
Every owner in European soccer whose name isn't "Roman Abramovich" has to be shuddering a bit today as the news comes from Los Angeles that David Beckham will sign with MLS in a deal worth a reported $250 million. As we surmised last April, the prospect of deep-pocketed American sports owners competing for the world's best soccer players can't be good news for cash-strapped teams across the pond.
The biggest of Europe's worries should be this, however: the U.S. is the biggest market in the world. France Football reported in 2005 that Beckham made $37 million, with nearly $30 million of that coming from marketing deals. How much more can Beckham make from endorsements in the U.S.? Europe can't compete with that—not because the E.U. isn't an economic powerhouse, which it certainly is, but because every country in Europe has a prominent domestic soccer league. The enormous market in the U.S. is not diluted in that way, so even if the number of soccer fans per capita is not as high as it is in, well, almost every other country on Earth, a world soccer star still has the potential to access all the fans in our red-white-and-blue nation.
Beckham's the first but he won't be the last. Red Bull will certainly want a prominent name or two on their team when their stadium opens, for example. This ride is just beginning. And to put this into the context of the return of the Earthquakes, we have to compliment Lew Wolff for getting in right before things took off.
This is going to be fun.
Posted by Jay at 10:30 AM | Comments (4)
January 10, 2007
Coming soon to a Coliseum near you...
Mark your calendars—Earthquakes Soccer is about to put on their first match! Earthquakes Soccer and Soccer United Marketing are joining forces to bring Mexico and Ecuador to the Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland on March 28.
We'll be sending out a notice to our members once we have a few more of the details. In the meantime, we just have one question to ask: Are you ready for some fútbol?
Posted by Jay at 05:08 PM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2007
Going to Agogo
Add Junior Agogo to the list of former Quakes whose achievements are making the news. The former Earthquakes striker scored Nottingham Forest's first goal in his side's 3-0 win over Charlton Athletic in an FA Cup third round clash on Saturday. It's a big victory for Forest, which plays in a lower division than Charlton. The drawing for the fourth round takes place next week.
Posted by Jay at 09:17 AM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2007
San Jose noted for great fan support
The oft-repeated claim that San Jose's fan support was lacking has been shown to be false thanks to the release of confidential MLS attendance figures last fall, so it's old news that attendance wasn't the reason that AEG moved the Quakes. It's something everyone should know by now.
Still, there's a difference between no longer being held as scapegoats and being praised, so it gives us a warm fuzzy feeling to read this interview with San Jose native and former Quake Kelly Gray on USSoccerPlayers.com, where author Sahar Milani asks the following:
You've played with three teams that have huge fan support -- the Fire, Earthquakes and now Houston. How does that affect you as a player when you are out on the field?
"Huge fan support" for the Earthquakes. That sounds about right. It's a bit late, but at last the press is noticing.
Posted by Jay at 07:44 AM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2007
Psst... Did you hear about San Jose?
ESPN's Ives Galarcep takes out the old crystal ball for a look at the coming year in American soccer. Near the end of the story, he addresses a question that's important to all of us here in the Bay Area: What city is next for MLS?
The story continues:
Atlanta, Cleveland, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, Rochester, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle and St. Louis are the 10 markets most frequently linked to a potential MLS franchise. Who are the front-runners? Cleveland and Philadelphia are strong while Seattle is the best candidate among the West Coast cities. One market that shouldn't be counted out is San Jose, which lost the Earthquakes a year ago but appears to have life again.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of what's happening behind the doors of Earthquakes Soccer, LLC, but Galarcep still becomes the first East Coast writer to notice that the wheels are in motion here. Is that the beginning of a buzz that we're hearing right now?
Posted by Jay at 08:17 AM | Comments (2)