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August 06, 2007

Alioto interviewed in Salinas Californian

The elation that came with July's announcement that the Earthquakes would be taking the field again in 2008 has started to fade a bit under the weight of a host of unanswered questions. Where will the team be playing? Who will be the technical director? Who will be coaching?

Embele Awipi of the Salinas Californian interviewed Earthquakes executive vice president David Alioto and today, his paper publishes the answers—or, more accurately, a timetable for when we can expect that these issues will be resolved.

In short, the schedule looks like this:

According to Alioto, the next 30 days will bring the announcement of the home venue for 2008.

In the next 45 days, the Earthquakes will hire their technical director and head coach.

In 60 days, season ticket sales begin in earnest. November will be the expansion draft, which the Earthquakes can pick the day because they are the only team participating. The expansion draft will allow the team to build the initial roster before the MLS draft proper happens in January.

In addition, the team plans on having tryouts for players throughout Northern California, including Salinas possibly... The tryouts would be for players aged 17 to 30 and are for a place in the Earthquakes' Academy, a key way for the team to discover and develop new talent.

...The last issue for resurrecting the team happens in October when the Earthquakes present their plan to the San Jose City Council to build a stadium near the San Jose Airport.

Alioto also spoke about the team's progress and goals in selling season ticket deposits.

San Jose has received 1,100 deposits so far. It is the first step in their timetable of recreating their own excitement for the 2008 season.

The deposit holders are the first step in establishing a season-ticket base for the reborn franchise. The aim is to surpass the 1,500 deposit goal set by Toronto's MLS franchise. Eventually, TFC had over 15,000 season ticket holders, essentially selling out every game for their first season.

So there you have it. Start your stopwatch now—we'll know where the Quakes will be making their temporary home after Labor Day weekend.

* * *

Thanks to everyone who attended yesterday's screening of "Offside." We'll have a report with photos from the event tomorrow.

Posted by Jay at August 6, 2007 10:15 AM

Comments

Besides what was already mentioned, I'm also excited about the formation of a San Jose Earthquakes Academy and, of course, the return of the 2001 & 2003 MLS Cup trophies to San José from their temporary home at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, New York. :)

Yet another reason to like this article and its author is their correct understanding that this franchise is officially a continuation of the previous one here and that its MLS records officially covers (1996-2005, 2008- ), not just (2008- ).

In any case, Earthquakes Soccer, LLC seems to be unlike any ownership the San Jose Earthquakes has ever had in the MLS era (Peter Bridgwater tried his best with a league-owned team 1996-1998 and the pre-SJSEE SVS&E of 2001 was kind of close, but as for the rest of the era...).

Posted by: Goodsport at August 9, 2007 03:01 PM

hello id like to have some info about the upcomings try outs for the team that i think will be happening in november, any info would be appreciate it.
thank you

Posted by: miguel shiell at September 30, 2007 09:18 PM

Miguel --

We don't have any information on the tryouts. Your best bet is to go to the Earthquakes' web site and sign up for their e-mail newsletter. I'm sure they'll be publicizing the tryouts as soon as they have them scheduled, but they don't even have a coaching staff hired yet.

Jay Hipps, SSV

Posted by: Jay [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 1, 2007 03:47 PM