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March 29, 2007

¡Qué partido! ¡Qué fiesta!

It was just about 12 hours ago that Mexico was scoring an equalizer against Ecuador after falling behind 2-1, giving the 47,000-plus in attendance an opportunity to scream and yell, whether in agony or celebration. After Mexico scored two more in the dying minutes of the game, those celebrations carried on well into the night as fans of both teams came together in a long salute to the world's sport.


Cecilia Naranjo of the Ecuadorian Consulate, Freddy Adames of SSV, and Bruno Figueroa, consul general of Mexico.

A good time was had by all in the SSV box, where representatives from the consulates of Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia enjoyed the match with Josue Garcia of the Santa Clara & San Benito Building & Construction Trades Council, Hugo Varela and Jon Vicente from Casa Do Benfica, San Jose State assistant soccer coach Chris Behler, former Earthquakes Troy Dayak, Jeff Baicher, and Easy Perez, and SSV board members Don Gagliardi, Jay Hipps, Freddy Adames, Lori Hibbett, Mike Turco, and Ned Zuparko. David Alioto and Ann Rodriguez of Earthquakes Soccer also stopped by to greet our guests.

The Earthquakes duo were also seen at the Club Quake tailgate before the match, saying hello to the blue-clad throng. Their choice of section 122 as a seating area for Earthquakes fans proved to be a good one—it took less than a minute for the predicted TV coverage of cheering Quakes fans to take place. What a game! What a party!

Posted by Jay at 09:27 AM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2007

Mexico/Ecuador generates impressive pre-game press coverage

After taking a look at the media coverage of tonight's Mexico/Ecuador game, we've reached the conclusion that the big match is the hottest ticket in town. The sold-out partido is generating headlines throughout the Bay Area and even in Sacramento! Here's a brief list of stories:

Posted by Jay at 08:59 AM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2007

Club Quake announces tailgate info for Mexico/Ecuador

Club Quake has announced tailgate info for Wednesday's match:

Fellow Earthquake Fans, Club Quake will be holding their usual tailgate before the Mexico vs. Ecuador soccer match at the Oakland Coliseum.

We will be holding the Tailgate in the B Parking lot of Oakland Coliseum (see attached map) (PDF). The parking lot gates open at 3:00 PM. The B Parking lot is on the south side of the stadium.

If you would like to join us, please look for the Blue Banner and a lot of people wearing Earthquake Blue. We will have a grill for burning what ever you brought to grill. We will also bring the Magic Cooler, so feel free to come share what we have and bring something to share with others. All beverages and foodstuff welcome. The tailgate queen has asked that you try to bring something other than chips, we seem to get more chips than any other item.

At approximately 6:45 we will all meander over to gate MM, this is the gate directly across from the Bart Station. We will then parade in to the stadium and go to Earthquake Section 122. Be sure to wear your best and brightest Blue.

Patrick Perfecto Bernal
Events Co-Ordinator

And this from me...........

We will be entering the stadium as a group, a sea of blue together. WE will be entering at gate mm at 6.45 so if you wish to enter with us please be at the tailgate by 6.30, we are a VERY large group.

MOST IMPORTANTLY PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE WEARING BLUE, WE ARE AT THIS GAME FOR A REASON AND THAT IS TO SHOW THAT THE EARTHQUAKES AND THEIR FANS ARE STILL ALIVE. MANY IMPORTANT PEOPLE WILL BE THERE AND WE NEED TO SHOW THEM THAT THE SUPPORT IS STILL HERE.

See you on Wednesday

Michelle Selincourt
President
Club Quake

Posted by Jay at 07:22 AM | Comments (0)

March 26, 2007

David Alioto appears on KNBR

As we notified our members last night, David Alioto of Earthquakes Soccer was on KNBR this morning to talk about Wednesday night's sold-out clash between Mexico and Ecuador as well as the progress being made towards bringing MLS back to the Bay Area. If you slept in or were otherwise occupied, no worries—you can listen to it here.

Posted by Jay at 08:30 AM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2007

Take a peek at Red Bull Park

It's taken years and years of "60 to 90 days" announcements, but they've broken ground in Harrison, NJ, on the stadium for the Metrostars... er, the Red Bulls. Take a peek on their construction web cam.

Posted by Jay at 04:27 AM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2007

Quakes to take regional focus?

The Sacramento Bee checks in today with a story on the sold-out Mexico/Ecuador match, including a number of quotes from Earthquakes Soccer head David Alioto, who sounds pretty pleased with their first effort at putting on a match.

"Mexico draws pretty well in the Bay Area, but we had no idea we would sell out so far in advance," he told the Bee. "We probably could have sold another 50,000 tickets. We had to turn away fans in droves."

(It's true — we've even seen tickets for sale and "tickets wanted" ads on craigslist.)

Alioto continues:

"Northern California loves soccer. More kids play youth soccer here than anywhere else in the country. About a quarter million kids play soccer here on any given Sunday. That's pretty significant."

In addition, there's a lot of interest in international soccer, thanks to the area's rich diversity, he added. "We're in the melting pot of soccer, from Salinas up to Redding."

This is the first time we can recall hearing any Earthquakes exec (or Clash, for that matter) talk about the soccer community in those regional terms. We may be reading too much into this, but we certainly hope that this broad perspective is part of the team's focus going forward.

Posted by Jay at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2007

Toronto FC cuts off season ticket sales

2007 has already been an interesting year for MLS: David Beckham was signed to the Galaxy, two MLS sides are still in the running for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, and Toronto FC has just cut off season ticket sales.

The reason for the move by Canada's first entry into MLS is the fact that they've already sold 14,000 of them, and they need to reserve some seats for group sales, mini-packages, and single-game sales.

The story continues:

Toronto FC will play its home games at the new BMO Field at Exhibition Place. The BMO Field has sold out its executive suites.

"It speaks volumes for the people and the interest in Toronto for the soccer," Toronto FC midfielder Carl Robinson said at the team's training camp here.

No kidding. Selling 14,000 season tickets for a 20,000-seat stadium—and all the luxury boxes—is impressive in any sport. Toronto, welcome to MLS!

Posted by Jay at 02:52 PM | Comments (0)

March 18, 2007

The latest from Lew Wolff

In a piece published yesterday, Mychael Urban of MLB.com interviewed Oakland Athletics owner and managing general partner Lew Wolff, who is as we all know the man behind Earthquakes Soccer as well.

Most of their discussion was about the A's upcoming season, but Urban also asked Wolff about soccer and their progress towards securing a stadium deal for the Quakes:

MLB.com: Your ownership group is involved in Major League Soccer now, trying to bring the Earthquakes back to San Jose. Why? Are you a big soccer fan, or is this strictly business?

Wolff: That's an excellent question. I'm a soccer fan, but again, not like guys who know every player on Argentina's B team. We have a lot of soccer fans in the organization. Billy, [president] Mike Crowley, Farhan [Zaidi, baseball operations analyst]. We all went over to the World Cup in Germany, and I was amazed at how much knowledge our baseball people have of soccer. Just amazed. ... I have a good friend who was the head of soccer for the World Cup in L.A., and he's been soccering me to death for three decades. I think we're finally reaching the point where soccer is at that platform where you can field a team, make money and start to be more competitive. It's a business transaction, but I also think it'd be great if I could be associated with keeping the Earthquakes in San Jose.

MLB.com: To that end, you're working with San Jose State on a new stadium on campus that the Earthquakes would use. Where does that stand?

Wolff: We're hoping to do that, and San Jose State's been very cooperative. It's a big deal because we'd be doing a venture that would last 50 years there. And they do need a new football venue, but it's a process that's sort of like Fremont. It's complicated. So far everybody's been fine, but we'll probably know in another month or so if we can pull it off. It's not because people don't want it, but all the intricacies of dealing with the university takes some time. We think we have a good program for it, but if we don't do it at the university, we have some other options there.

Posted by Jay at 07:13 AM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2007

Mexico/Ecuador sold out!

Yes, the word from Earthquakes Soccer, LLC, is that the Mexico/Ecuador match is a sellout! This is a remarkable feat and a credit to the soccer fans of the Bay Area, since the conventional wisdom says that Mexico games rely on a big walk-up crowd for the majority of ticket sales. Two weeks before the match, all 47,416 seats are gone.

We know that Club Quake and Earthquakes Soccer are working on arrangements for a special tailgate area for Earthquakes fans, but we have some other details about the game that we can share now. Parking lots at McAfee Coliseum will open at 3:00 p.m. and parking will cost $20. Gates to the stadium open at 6:30 p.m. The Earthquakes are advising fans to use the BART to access the stadium in order to alleviate congestion.

Stadium Lot A will host Fútbol Fiesta, an interactive festival that opens to the public at 4:00 p.m. The festival includes free live music, interactive games and gifts from official Mexican National Team U.S. Tour 2007 sponsors. Also, the first 10,000 fans entering the stadium will receive a free drawstring bag from AT&T.

The Earthquakes' press release also mentions the following:

The match, the 20th for Mexico in the Bay Area, will establish two new attendance records for Bay Area soccer. First, the match will set a new attendance record for soccer at the Oakland Coliseum by beating the previous mark of 36,240 set on February 7, 1998 in a 2-0 victory for México over Honduras in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The match will also establish a new record for a Mexican National Team match in the Bay Area, thus surpassing the previous mark of 44,729 set January 25, 2006 for a match between México and Norway at Monster Park.

So, a record-setting match right out of the gate! Not a bad way to start!

Posted by Jay at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)

March 14, 2007

Mexico/Ecuador tickets going, going...

Just wanted to offer up a little tip to SSV blog readers. If you've been putting off buying those Mexico/Ecuador tickets, better hop to it — they're going fast.

Posted by Jay at 08:32 AM | Comments (0)

March 09, 2007

SF Chronicle reports on stadium progress, potential women's team

News of the potential Quakes stadium deal has finally reached San Francisco, so the Chronicle is checking in with their own story on the issue. While not exactly prompt, we have to give them credit for getting some quotes out of Lew Wolff that add a bit more to what is publicly known about the proposed deal:

Wolff would raise the required funds in a deal with the city of San Jose. The city would rezone land that Wolff and the A's either currently control or will control from commercial to residential so he could sell it at a large profit. The group would use $80 million-$90 million of the profits to build a stadium for the Earthquakes next to the home of the old team, Spartan Stadium on the university's South Campus.

"The way that land values are in the South Bay,'' said Paul Krutko, San Jose's chief development officer, "when a parcel that's zoned for industrial is rezoned for residential, its value goes up by a (factor) of four.''

According to Wolff, the new value depends on how many housing units the city would allow per acre. But he wouldn't comment on where the land is or whether he owns it.

"We're trying to use entitlements as currency,'' he said. "One of the powers that cities and counties have is invested in their ability to provide entitlements. Usually the benefit of that entitlement goes into the developer's pocket. In our case it would go into the development of soccer. We're not residential builders.''

The university would get a new 23,000-seat facility that could be upgraded to 30,000 for football -- for free. And the city would get pro soccer back without having to get a ballot measure passed for a new facility because no public money would be involved.

That sounds like a win for everybody involved. There's one thing that may raise eyebrows among Quakes fans, though:

"Once we know we have a path to a stadium, we'll buy the franchise from MLS,'' Wolff said. "It's not a done deal. My goal is if we can make a transaction work with the city and the university, we could buy the franchise and start playing in 2009.''

Yup, 2009. What do you say, readers? What are the pros and cons of coming back then instead of '08, if that option was available?

The Chronicle also reports on the revitalized women's league which is scheduled to begin play in six cities next year:

...league organizer Tonya Antonucci said her group has been having "meaningful discussions'' with A's owner Lew Wolff, who is trying to bring Major League Soccer back to the South Bay and is close to a deal with San Jose State for a new stadium that would be built next to Spartan Stadium...

Antonucci said she has talked with other potential investors in the last week about putting an expansion women's team in the Bay Area in 2009.

"We think it's a fantastic market for soccer and for women's soccer in particular,'' said Antonucci, 38, a former Stanford player who served as an assistant coach at Stanford and Santa Clara.

Interesting to note that not only Wolff but other potential investors see the Bay Area as a great market for soccer. Quick, somebody tell AEG!

Posted by Jay at 08:01 AM | Comments (2)

March 08, 2007

Killion weighs in on potential successor to WUSA

In a column headlined, "New women's soccer league has realistic vision - including a Bay Area team," Mercury News columnist Ann Killion talks to Women's Soccer Initiative president Tonya Antonucci and offers her own hopes that this time, a sustainable business model for a women's league will be put to use.

Once again, the man in the middle of the speculation regarding a Bay Area franchise is Lew Wolff, who is currently hard at work crafting a stadium deal which would bring back the Quakes. But Killion's column notes he may have some competition:

A Bay Area franchise is very much in the works, Antonucci says. She is talking with A's owner Lew Wolff, who has the rights to an expansion Earthquakes team. Wolff's priority is bringing back a Major League Soccer team, a move dependent on getting a venue built (yes, soccer fans, it always comes back to the stadium). According to a Mercury News report, Wolff and San Jose State University have agreed on the framework of a deal that would put a new stadium next to Spartan Stadium.

So is a women's team predicated on the Earthquakes' return, which is predicated on a new stadium being built, which is predicated on big-city and university politics? That seems like an awful lot of predicateds to be realistic.

But Antonucci said new and intriguing potential investors have stepped forward in recent days and all options - including playing at Stanford or Santa Clara - are being explored.

"We're very optimistic about a team in the Bay Area," Antonucci said.

We're going to take this opportunity to editorialize a bit ourselves. First of all, if anyone should be given the first opportunity for a women's team, it's Wolff and the folks at Earthquakes Soccer, who have already shown a strong commitment to the sport and the Bay Area. Secondly, as Killion notes, "This proposed league plans to partner with MLS, both in some ownership groups - such as AEG in Los Angeles - and league-wide for marketing and sponsorship deals. That is a smart move, one that will help contain costs and avoid duplication. In the four years since the WUSA died, there are new soccer-specific stadiums, which need to be filled." All that leverage disappears if the two teams have separate owners, separate front offices, and separate sponsors, so let's hope that professional soccer in both leagues is brought forth under one big umbrella. Right now, it's the best thing for the sport here in the Bay Area.

P.S. We also wanted to give a quick shout-out to Ron Gilmore, who has been instrumental in putting together the Earthquakes reunion events that we've seen over the years. He's mentioned today in an Arizona Republic story about an investor who is trying to put together a stadium deal for an MLS expansion team in Phoenix. Inspired in part by SSV, Ron is leading the formation of a new group, MLS Phoenix Rising, which is working to organize soccer fans in the area to give them a more prominent voice in the community.

Posted by Jay at 08:10 AM | Comments (1)