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October 31, 2007

Lew Wolff to be on KQED's Forum tomorrow

Oakland A's and San Jose Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff will be appearing on KQED-FM's Forum tomorrow morning at 10:00. Listeners will be able to call in at (866) SF-Forum (aka 866-733-6786) or send questions and comments via e-mail at forum@kqed.org.

Posted by Jay at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

Corrales helps Brann to title

The LA Times is running their "This Week in Soccer" feature today, and with it comes this news:

Ramiro Coralles, a 30-year-old defender from Salinas who played 191 games in nine seasons in MLS and won two championships with the San Jose Earthquakes, this year joined Brann of the Norwegian league and, as the starting left back, this week helped it clinch its first title in 44 years.

So, we wandered over to Brann's web site and found photos of the game and the awards ceremony. We don't know any Norwegian, but it looks like they've got one game left but have clinched the championship already. Congrats to Ramiro! (Photo below courtesy Brann.no.)

Posted by Jay at 06:28 AM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2007

More from Santa Clara



(Left to right) Michael Crowley, president of the Earthquakes; Mayor Chuck Reed of San Jose; Dan Coonan, Santa Clara University director of Athletics and Recreation

We had a couple more items to share from the press conference announcing the Quakes' temporary venue at Santa Clara University. You see the photos above and below; video from the press conference is also available here.

Posted by Jay at 06:38 PM | Comments (0)

Beane to speak at "Future of Football" conference

Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A's, will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming Future of Football conference, which will be held on Tuesday, November 20 at the Marriott Hotel at Grosvenor Square in London. (Grosvenor Square? Do they decorate their rooms with bouquets of scarlet begonias? But I digress, and I suspect not many people will get that reference, anyway...)

Beane will kick off the second seminar of the day, "The American Way," in which he and his fellow panelists will consider Beane's methods, their success in baseball, and their applicability to soccer. For someone who admits to being a soccer neophyte, Beane will be hanging with some pretty impressive company — the panelists will include Sir Alex Ferguson, Lawrie Sanchez, Sam Allardyce, and Alan Curbishley, managers of Man United, Fulham, Newcastle, and West Ham, respectively, along with League Managers Association chairman Howard Wilkinson.

Posted by Jay at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2007

LA Times: Yallop likely to stay, but what about trading the DP slot for Cannon?

Grahame Jones of the L.A. Times thinks that the Galaxy need massive changes, and suggests several that may be of interest to us Earthquakes folk.

Here's a taste:

As for the front office, 18 months ago Galaxy owner AEG recruited Alexi Lalas as the team's president and general manager and it's likely he will continue in those jobs. It's also likely that Frank Yallop will remain as the Galaxy's coach, unless his former club, the San Jose Earthquakes, makes him an offer too good to turn down.

We think it's pretty obvious that Earthquakes fans would prefer either Yallop or Dominic Kinnear as coach, so this could be bad news. Jones has another idea that might appeal to fans, though:

...San Jose has a DP spot and probably would be interested in reacquiring the Galaxy's goalkeeper, Joe Cannon, whose four seasons and more than 100 games for the Earthquakes included winning an MLS title in 2001. Cannon also once played alongside defender John Doyle, now the Earthquakes' president and general manager. They aren't strangers and Doyle has twice been spotted at the Home Depot Center in recent weeks.

After seeing Cannon's performances against Pachuca in the Superliga final and last week against Chicago, it's clear that he remains one of the top keepers in MLS, if not the best. He's also a Los Altos native and was a huge favorite among fans when he played for the Clash and Earthquakes. Trading away the DP slot for a couple years wouldn't bother a coach like Kinnear at all, looking at his record in San Jose and now Houston. Besides, it's possible that the DP slot will go unused until the Quakes move into their new stadium, anyway, since it's hard to justify a big salary when you can only sell 12,000 tickets to each home game. In any case, Jones has an interesting idea here.

Posted by Jay at 12:21 PM | Comments (3)

October 26, 2007

It's Santa Clara




A picture is worth a thousand words. Click on the photo above to enlarge.

Posted by Jay at 03:35 PM | Comments (1)

October 25, 2007

Quakes to hold press conference tomorrow

This just in...

The San Jose Earthquakes are holding a press conference at 1:00 tomorrow at Santa Clara University's Leavey Center. You can find photos and a link to directions to the facility here.

(Interesting place for a press conference, huh? Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated has a few ideas about that.

Posted by Jay at 02:08 PM | Comments (3)

October 23, 2007

Philadelphia moves closer

As we noted Friday, it looks like Philadelphia is moving closer to a new team in MLS. Yesterday, a press conference was held where architectural renderings of the proposed stadium were displayed, as reported in this video clip from CBS3.com. (A shorter video with more close-ups of the stadium renderings is available here. Best of luck to Philly fans, who still need financial support from Pennsylvania's state government before they'll see the birth of a team.

Addenda: There are renderings of the stadium online here and here. Looks like they're the work of Rossetti, the same firm that is working with the Earthquakes.

* * *

We haven't talked much about Houston's MLS team this year (we've got our own team now, except for players and a coach), but we wanted to acknowledge the team's accomplishments from a defensive perspective. In short, it's been a remarkable season for Pat Onstad, Craig Waibel, Eddie Robinson, Ryan Cochrane, and Wade Barrett. The team allowed just 23 goals in 30 games for a 0.77 goals-against-average (GAA), smashing the previous record of 0.91 which was shared by the 2000 Kansas City Wizards and 1999 Los Angeles Galaxy (29 goals in 32 games).

Similarly, Onstad set a new record for GAA for an individual keeper at 0.82. He breaks the old record held by current Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who had a 0.91 GAA in 1999.

Congrats to all the new record holders, even if they all looked better in blue.

Posted by Jay at 06:29 AM | Comments (1)

October 22, 2007

Community & Economic Development Committee unanimously endorses progress on stadium deal

Back at blog central, we've just returned from today's meeting of the San Jose Community & Economic Development Committee. We've got good news for stadium fans all around — the committee voted 4-0 to accept the recommendations set out on October 12 by Paul Krutko, director of the Office of Economic Development (OED).

Lew Wolff was in attendance along with development partner Ed Storm, the latter of whom may have had the quote of the day. (More on that later.) Also in attendance were Ann Rodriguez and John Doyle from the Quakes, three members of SSV's board including president Don Gagliardi, San Jose Sports Authority chairman Gary Fazzino and executive director Patricia Ernstrom, and Marlene Bjornsrud of BAWSI.

When it came time to discuss the stadium, the first presentation was made by Krutko, who summarized the PDF linked above. Prior to the committee's Q and A with Wolff and Storm, Ann Rodriguez made a brief presentation on the team's progress, focusing primarily on the fact that the team has already received 1,500 deposits for season tickets, which they estimated as approximately 6,000 individual season tickets.

Wolff and Storm made brief statements and Storm really clicked with the crowd when he coined the term "cultural capital" to describe city resources like museums, theaters, arts facilities, and sports facilities such as the HP Pavilion and the proposed soccer stadium, and how these resources benefit a city.

Another highlight was a dialogue between Wolff and committee member Nora Campos, as Campos expressed her disappointment that the unique benefits presented in Wolff's proposal had yet to be expressed properly in the local newspaper. Wolff agreed.

A few brief statements were given during the public comment period before the committee quickly moved to take a vote on the issue, which resulted in the 4-0 verdict as its four members — councilmembers Nancy Pyle, Nora Campos, Sam Liccardo, and Pete Constant — voted to pass along the Office of Economic Development's recommendations to the full City Council for a vote on November 6.

We'll be sending out this information to our members as soon as the audio from the meeting is posted on the City of San Jose web site. In the meantime, we can say that it will be very important that we get a good turnout to the November 6 City Council meeting since it will determine the framework for the final deal. While it now appears that this will not be the final meeting we need to attend en masse, it will be a crucial step on the way to a new, permanent home for the San Jose Earthquakes.

Posted by Jay at 04:45 PM | Comments (5)

Latino Film Fest brings two soccer flicks to Bay Area; Merc is at it again

Now that the soccer season is nearly over — well, already over for the L.A. Galaxy — it's good to know that there are still opportunities for fútbol-related entertainment.

Specifically, the 11th annual International Latino Film Festival has two soccer films among the nearly 100 which will be screened at 14 locations throughout the Bay Area November 2 through 18.

On Saturday, November 10, Fútbol, el nacimiento de una pasión (Football: The Birth of Passion) will be shown at 12:30 p.m. at the Camera 12 in downtown San Jose and at 2:00 p.m. at Pickleweed Community Center in San Rafael. It's a documentary that traces the modern sport of soccer from its roots in many different cultures and was co-produced by Real Madrid. Looks like an interesting fim — check out the link above for all the details.

Also on the schedule is La gran final (The Great Match), a comedy about how even the most isolated societies on Earth will go to great lengths to see a World Cup final. This one is screening on Sunday, November 18 at 4:15 p.m. at the Century 20 Downtown Redwood City and on Monday, November 19 at noon at CSU Sacramento. The premise of this one reminds us a little bit of The Cup, a 1999 film about Tibetan monks who go to great lengths to see the '98 World Cup final at their monastery, so the idea has potential.

* * *

Speaking of potential, the Merc's Barry Witt proves again today that the toughest thing about potential is living up to it with his story today, Plan favors jobs over housing, in which he takes what might have been an interesting topic for a story and turns it into a confusing mess.

Tomorrow, the San Jose City Council is going to consider new guidelines regarding the conversion of commercially-zoned property to residential. It's an important issue for the long-term fiscal health of large cities because the businesses which occupy commercial space typically require less support from city services than residents. Cities with a high ratio of commercial to residential development can usually spend more on infrastructure, transit, parks, community services, and so forth, instead of things like police and fire service.

The importance of the commercial/residential balance is the reason that Lew Wolff is being so generous in his proposal for the new Earthquakes stadium. He owns a number of properties in San Jose, including the Fairmont Hotel downtown, so he has a vested interest in the long-term viability of the city. The conversion of the iStar property from commercial to residential use is the fulcrum for creating the new stadium, and Wolff has worked with city staff to make sure that there is no net loss of commercial capacity by increasing the allowable densities on the surrounding commercial sites. To top it all off, he is taking every cent that is generated by that zoning change and pouring it into a new stadium which the City of San Jose will own.

You would think that he would be lauded for this effort. After all, what has typically happened in the past has been an endorsement of development for development's sake, where zonings were seemingly rubber-stamped by the city and builders walked away with pocketfuls of cash. Instead of praise, however, the Mercury News seems bent on generating controversy around both Wolff's proposal and the city's newfound interest in its long-term fiscal health.

Maybe the problem really doesn't lie with either the stadium proposal or the proposed city guidelines, though. Maybe the problem is that Wolff, through this act of generosity, is creating a new awareness at City Hall that it's not necessary to roll out the red carpet for any old developer who struts into town. And maybe the rest of the developers who have worked in San Jose in the past are trying to cast a cloud over the soccer stadium because they can't come out and say, "We liked the old rules better because we made a ton of money."

Well, as they are learning, the region's soccer community is much larger than they have guessed, and we are vocal enough to make sure that City Hall knows that we will not be cast as scapegoats in this scenario. We're here, we cheer — get used to it.

Our admiration goes out to Lew Wolff, who makes it possible to use the words "generous" and "real estate developer" in the same sentence, and to the City of San Jose for taking the progressive stance that smart development is the only way forward in the dawning days of the 21st century.

Posted by Jay at 07:06 AM | Comments (1)

October 20, 2007

Philadelphia-area county pledges $30 million for stadium

Philadelphia's hopes for an MLS expansion franchise took a great leap forward yesterday when nearby Delaware County agreed to contribute $30 million towards the building of a new stadium on the waterfront in Chester, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports today. A significant contribution from the state government is still needed to finalize the deal.

The paper notes that the stadium would be the keystone to a larger development:

Kopp (an attorney for the investors group) said that the plan was to have the stadium also function as an entertainment center and that the total cost of the project, including residential and commercial development outside the stadium, would be about $300 million.

The details of the local agreement are expected to be announced Monday.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Toronto, fans are lining up for the chance to buy season tickets for 2009, even after Toronto FC's dismal debut this year. According to yesterday's Toronto Star, the team has renewals for 94 percent of its MLS-record 14,000 season orders for 2007, or about 13,100. They're beginning to take new orders for 2008 and sales are strong.

Already – with current holders also allowed to add up to four new seats – (Paul) Beirne (the club's director of business operations) figures the club has already made up the "shrinkage" on this season's 14,000 and, beginning on Monday, en route to the 16,000 or so, will begin tackling a waiting list that currently sits at about 5,000. And all this despite an average increase of 13 per cent on 2007 ticket prices.

So, 14,000 season tickets this year, 16,000 estimated for next year, and 5,000 on the waiting list? Now that's impressive. What's their secret? Judging from what we've seen on Toronto's TV broadcasts, everyone there is having a blast.

Posted by Jay at 08:15 AM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2007

Futbolitis strikes San Jose

We've noticed some, well, odd behavior around the region recently, and it looks like we're not the only ones.

Posted by Jay at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

Quakes announce Tryout Tour

Late yesterday afternoon, the Earthquakes announced the dates and locations for their Northern California Open Tryout Tour.

The tour begins on November 3 in Sacramento and continues every weekend through December 2, with stops in Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Fresno, Salinas, Oakland, Walnut Creek and Hayward. In addition to the tryout, tour stops will include a youth clinic. Viewing of the tryout and participation in the youth clinics, are open to the general public for no fee. The link above has all the details.

Posted by Jay at 07:36 AM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2007

Metro, Portland, and the potential return of Dominic Kinnear

It's turning out to be a busy day for blog items, but before we jump into that, we want to pass along the word that we have received confirmation that November 6 is going to be a very important day for the Earthquakes stadium deal, which means that it's very important that we get a strong turnout from soccer fans that night at the City Council meeting. We should have more details tomorrow and we'll pass them along then. Meanwhile...

* * *

Gary Singh has a brief piece in this week's Metro about the Quakes' move to new offices, the hiring of John Doyle, and the new unis. Not a huge story but we're always happy to show the Metro a little love.

* * *

Seattle is looking like a done deal for MLS expansion and it looks like Portland might not be far behind. The Oregonian reports today that MLS commissioner Don Garber and league president Mark Abbott had nothing but good things to say after lunching with potential Portland owner Merritt Paulson, touring PGE Park, the city-owned stadium in downtown Portland, and meeting with city officials.

"This is a soccer town, and not just because you call it that, because it truly is," Garber said before the game. "I feel it when I'm in this city. It's nice."

Portland has hosted some great games over the years, including a memorable World Cup Qualifier against Costa Rica in 1997, so we think they'd be a great addition to MLS. Plus, as soccer fans, we think a city within a day's drive of the Bay Area which is filled with brew pubs will make for great road trips. Here's hoping they make it happen.

* * *

Speaking of things that we hope will happen, Steven Goff of the Washington Post has this to say on the paper's soccer blog:

*Several sources tell me that if Dominic Kinnear returns to the Bay Area this winter and takes control of the expansion Earthquakes, assistant John Spencer is set to take over the Dynamo. With both Kinnear and Spencer in place, the number of MLS head coaches who played in the league would increase to nine (assuming no one is fired): Soehn, Onalfo, Johnston, Yallop, Morrow, Kreis, Preki, Kinnear and Spencer. The others are Arena, Nicol, Schmid, Clavijo and Osorio.

Goff forgot to add that, "With Kinnear in place, one of the two threads to all the silverware San Jose has ever won — the other being assistant coach Tim Hanley — would be back with the Quakes."

In any case, Goff is not the kind of guy who prints a lot of unfounded rumors, even in his blog, so this is very interesting news.

* * *

Jack Bell of the New York Times interviewed Barcelona's Thierry Henry, and the French superstar says he may be interested in playing in the U.S. someday. Of course, he's 30 now and his contract with Barca doesn't expire until 2011, but it's great to see a player of his caliber talking about MLS. (Did we just make an Arsenal pun? Oops.)

Posted by Jay at 05:51 PM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2007

Open thread re: November 6 meeting

Got questions? Post them here and we'll do our best to answer them.

Posted by Jay at 09:00 PM | Comments (7)

Quakes' record stands after Chivas USA loss

We noted a few weeks ago that Chivas USA needed only to win or tie their final three home games to go undefeated at home this year, matching the record set by the 2005 Earthquakes.

The Gringo Goats weren't up to the task. Despite the 46th minute ejection of Brandon Prideaux, the Rapids scored two second-half goals, the second coming in the 90th minute, to defeat Chivas at the Home Depot Center on Sunday.

As we mentioned two years ago, the Quakes' ongoing home unbeaten streak currently stands at 18 games. We look forward to seeing it continue next season.

* * *

Yesterday's story in the Salinas Californian mentioned that Ramiro Corrales' agent had already been in touch with new Quakes GM John Doyle about a potential move. Corrales currently plays for Norwegian side Brann, and according to his profile on their web site, he is under contract through the end of 2009. (If you're interested in seeing some nice shots of Ramiro playing for Brann, check out these pages. (Click on "Neste bilde ->" to see subsequent photos.)

Posted by Jay at 06:46 AM | Comments (0)

October 15, 2007

Salinas Californian interviews Doyle

Embele Awipi has already written some informative stories on the new Quakes — his August story, in which he interviewed Earthquakes executive VP David Alioto, was the first to set out a timetable for hiring new staff — and he's done it again today in a story on new GM John Doyle.

Among the tidbits Awipi reports today:

His story concludes with the news that Dominic Kinnear is due to return — sort of:

There also will be a college combine around Christmas and New Year's, a tradition with its roots back to when Kinnear and Frank Yallop were coaching.

Doyle says that since Kinnear will be back in the Bay Area for the holidays, he will be attending the camp.

Unfortunately for Quake fans, it will be in his current role as Houston Dynamo coach.

The Earthquakes will wait until the end of the season to formally call coaches and fill their staff.

Havind said all that, the most important thing in the article is that it confirms something that we at SSV have thought was true all along. From the story:

With Lew Wolff and John Fisher now running the show, Doyle said, "We have two owners that want to see soccer make it. For players, coaches and for myself, you feel you are going to have stability.

"If we can have that, then you get a great quality of person who want to come in here."

We always thought that San Jose was one of the jewels of MLS: great supporters' groups, a knowledgeable fan base, a vast community of youth and adult soccer players, a wonderful climate, a great city to live in, and so forth, and that these attributes could give the ability to compete in the world soccer market if the team's owners cared enough to give it a go.

And guess what? Now that we have those owners, people are lining up to be here and to be part of the great Earthquakes tradition. It's a new day in San Jose.

Posted by Jay at 06:43 AM | Comments (0)

October 13, 2007

Stadium negotiations to be extended?

When the Mercury News covered last week's press conference introducing John Doyle as Earthquakes general manager of soccer operations, reporter Mark Emmons left us scratching our heads a bit with this paragraph:

The Earthquakes continue to explore plans with the city for a soccer-specific stadium near Mineta International Airport that would seat 20,000. The best-case scenario would have the team playing in that facility by 2011, Crowley said.

It was the first time any of us had seen 2011 mentioned as a potential opening date for the proposed stadium, and since other stories from that event mentioned 2010 as a potential opening date for a new stadium, it was easy to dismiss the Merc's mention of 2011 as a typo. But the Merc's story today may be an indication that 2011 is the correct date after all.

Reporter Barry Witt writes that San Jose's chief development officer, Paul Krutko, issued a report late Friday that requests an additional eight months to negotiate a deal that would put a new stadium in San Jose. The story reports that Krutko, the lead negotiator for the city in the deal, is "encouraged by the talks thus far with team owner Lew Wolff and his partners," but "working out key financial details has taken longer than was anticipated when the council authorized negotiations in June."

"The opportunity that they've presented to us in terms of bringing the Earthquakes back and the development of the stadium is still a very good one," Krutko said, "and the council should allow more time to allow it to mature."

Given Krutko's optimistic assessment and the City Council's unanimous support for exclusive negotiations with Wolff and co. in June, it seems very likely that the council will extend the period in which negotiations can take place.

The Mercury News story also sheds light on elements of the funding mechanism for the project:

To avoid having to pay capital-gains taxes (on the rezoning of the Edenvale property), Wolff and his partners, including Gap heir John Fisher, would put the money into "a non-profit arm of the Earthquakes organization," according to Krutko's report. The non-profit would build the 18,000- to 20,000-seat stadium and then transfer the stadium to the city, which would lease it back to Wolff's group for 55 years.

Krutko's report also gives us an idea of what else, in addition to the stadium, is being planned for the FMC parcel: 1.2 million square feet of office space, two 150-room hotels, and 72,000 square feet of retail space, in addition to parking. Since none of that is likely to be built without the stadium, it looks to us like the city still has a great opportunity to initiate the extraordinary economic benefits the projects will bring.

* * *

A second story in the Mercury News today reports that the Quakes are negotiating with Santa Clara University for the use of Buck Shaw Stadium as a temporary venue, although the story also notes that Earthquakes executive vice president David Alioto says, "We're negotiating with more than one venue, and until we narrow it down, we have no comment."

The story also notes that the Quakes are moving into new offices. That was actually revealed at last week's press conference as well — the presentation folders that were handed out to attendees listed the team's address as 451 El Camino Real, Suite 220, Santa Clara, CA 95050. It will be a great place to watch the new stadium go up. The FMC property is directly to the northeast, across the railroad tracks.

Posted by Jay at 07:29 AM | Comments (0)

October 12, 2007

Killion profiles Doyle in today's Merc

New Quakes general manager of soccer operations John Doyle is profiled in today's Mercury News by Ann Killion. It's a solid story on Doyle, the man who was introduced as the first ever player for San Jose's MLS team way back in 1995 and has now taken the reins for the new team. (Seems like he's always around for firsts: we recall that he and Eddie Lewis modeled the new Quakes jerseys prior to the 2000 season at the press conference for the renaming of the team, and he is also the first member of the Earthquakes hall of fame. But we digress.) Killion also offers a little speculation on the team's next coach, throwing out the names Frank Yallop and Dominic Kinnear.

We'd say more, but it's better if you just go read the article.

Posted by Jay at 08:09 AM | Comments (1)

October 10, 2007

Even if Seattle's in, Portland could join the party

The league's not confirming it, and it's likely they won't until the press conferences at MLS Cup, but it's looking more and more like Seattle will be joining MLS.

The latest story pointing in that direction notes that Paul Allen, noted Northwest gazillionaire and the co-founder of Microsoft, has joined Seattle Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer and movie-studio executive Joe Roth in an effort to land an MLS expansion side. The bad news, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, is that "an MLS team would play its home games at Qwest Field with no immediate plans for a soccer-specific stadium."

The story continues:

It has long been thought the MLS would only enter a market if plans existed for a separate soccer-specific stadium with a grass field, but Qwest Field was built specifically to fit MLS standards and is fit for a club, even with FieldTurf.

We're not wild about either MLS teams playing in NFL stadiums or about fake grass, but even those particular clouds may have silver linings. With Allen's deep pockets behind the club, who knows what might be done to fill Qwest's 67,000 seats? Could one of the big names of world soccer sell enough tickets to merit his pay? A 2003 match at Qwest between Manchester United and Celtic sold out, so it may be interesting to see whether Seattle's MLS side follows the Kraft example in New England and closes off the upper tier of the stadium or if they make a big signing and try to sell out the whole place.

Meanwhile, Portland's Oregonian newspaper reports today that even if Seattle gets an MLS team, that wouldn't preclude Portland from joining the league.

Fans have speculated for years that PGE Park, Portland's downtown stadium which currently hosts the USL-1 Timbers and the minor league baseball Beavers, would make a great home for an MLS side. The sticking point has always been the fact that the stadium was shared with baseball. There may be a solution at hand, however.

Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson, who is negotiating with MLS to bring a team to Portland, said PGE Park could be updated to league standards for no more than $20 million, much less than the cost of building a new facility.

Merritt Paulson, the son of U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, also owns the minor-league baseball Portland Beavers. Henry Paulson would likely own a piece of an MLS team in Portland, should the city be granted one, Merritt Paulson said.

"Assuming a number of things fall into place, I think there's reason for optimism in terms of our chances," Merritt Paulson said. "A Portland and Seattle potential rivalry would be great for the league and the Pacific Northwest."

The Timbers, however, would most likely need to relocate if Portland were to gain an MLS franchise, Paulson said.

Sharing PGE Park with a baseball team such as the Portland Beavers "would present significant challenges," said Courtemanche, the MLS senior vice president. But Paulson said he is open to exploring the idea of building a new 8,000- to 9,000-seat stadium for the Beavers elsewhere in the city.

We saw both Portland and Seattle fans making road trips to California Victory matches in San Francisco. Bring MLS teams to those cities, and we're sure that Earthquake fans would make the trek.

Posted by Jay at 08:06 AM | Comments (0)

October 09, 2007

Lew Wolff to speak in San Francisco

Ever wanted to attend a wine and cheese reception with Lew Wolff? The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco gives you the opportunity on Monday, October 22, when Wolff will be speaking on the theme, "If You Build It, Will They Come?"

The Commonwealth Club describes his presentation as focusing on baseball, but we suspect that he'll find a way to talk about the Earthquakes, too.

Update: There's a chance that the Commonwealth Club will make audio of Wolff's address available after the event. Keep an eye on this page to find out.

Posted by Jay at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)

October 04, 2007

More about the Doyle hiring, new unis

Stories are popping up everywhere on yesterday's hiring of John Doyle to head soccer operations for the new Quakes. Here's a summary, along with the original press releases from the team:

We got a chance to talk to the man formerly known as Air Doyle and he is genuinely thrilled that the team is back and that he's involved. He's genuinely missed the opportunity to be involved with soccer at the highest level and, as a couple of the stories above noted, his son Jay pegged the day the Quakes left as "the worst day of his life" for a school assignment. (The essay was written without his dad's knowledge or input, the senior Doyle added.)

We also got some insight on the change to the uniforms. Apparently, the shade of blue that Adidas used for the 2005 Quakes shirts is no longer available. Once that became clear, they took a broader look at the shirts and ended up switching to black as the primary color.

As for the rest of the kits, we like "San Jose" in big letters across the front, although it does make sense to us to have it on the away shirts rather than the home shirts. Of course, if the San Jose city council doesn't vote the right way on the proposed stadium deal, our guess is that those bold letters proclaiming "San Jose" would disappear very, very quickly. Let's hope they recognize the value of the city's name being associated with major league sports when they tally up the pluses and minuses of the deal.

When it comes to the colors, though, we personally liked the traditional blue, but have to admit that there are a ton of blue teams in MLS. Plus, having seen them in person, the new shirts really do look great, as you can see in the picture below. In any case, after two years of mourning the loss of our team, black does seem appropriate for now.

* * *

The current issue of The Wave magazine, which seems to be available on just about every street corner in downtown San Jose, has a story on the return of the Quakes, the proposed stadium, and David Beckham's impact on American soccer. So, at least two thirds of the story is about the Quakes, but does anyone care to guess whose picture they used with the story? Hit the link and scroll down to find out. (Hey, at least they make fun of him a bit at the end.)

Posted by Jay at 06:41 AM | Comments (3)

October 03, 2007

Introducing John Doyle, general manager of soccer operations

That's the big news from the Fairmont: John Doyle is the new general manager of soccer operations for the San Jose Earthquakes.

As promised, you can find the audio of the event here (MP3, 10.2 MB).

Also, the team introduced a slightly revised logo for 2008 as well as the new black home and white away kits. Here is Earthquakes president Mike Crowley and new GM John Doyle with the '08 home shirt.

Here's one more: they brought back former Quake Ian Russell to model the new shirt.

And finally, if you'd like to see the away kit, it's here.

Posted by Jay at 03:45 PM | Comments (9)

October 02, 2007

Quakes to make big announcement tomorrow

This just in...

The San Jose Earthquakes are holding a press conference at 2:00 pm tomorrow at the Fairmont San Jose, 170 South Market Street. The public is invited to attend, so feel free to come on down.

What will they be announcing? Well, as much as we hate to do this, you'll have to wait to find out. We'll post the news here as soon as it's available.

Posted by Jay at 02:43 PM | Comments (11)

October 01, 2007

Sologate

We had a bit of a glitch with the blog software which has now been resolved (mostly), so we're back on the air.

There's no Quakes news right now (which probably means there's a lot getting done in the background, by the way), so we'll jump back into the U.S. Women's goalkeeper controversy with one tidbit.

As you might recall, one of the USA women publicly criticized a coaching decision and, by extension, one of her teammates. Specifically, she said, "I put myself into that entire game, and I've always felt — and I still feel — that if I were playing, we would have won."

Hope Solo said that, right? Well, actually no — that's a quote from Briana Scurry about goalkeeper Siri Mullinix's performance in the gold medal game of the 2000 Olympics, putting the lie to the idea that it's always been peace, love, and sunshine among the team's players. Granted, Scurry did not say this during the tournament, but it's an interesting quote in light of the scandal that has surrounded Solo since she publicly blasted coach Greg Ryan and Scurry suffered some collateral damage.

The other unfortunate thing about Sologate is that it's taking the spotlight off of a lot of other issues that should be addressed with the team's coaching and style of play. We don't have time to get into all of that right now, so we'll let Scott French, the managing editor of MajorLeagueSoccer Magazine and a former Soccer America staffer, explain it all. He's covered the U.S. Women since forever and it's also worth noting that the criticisms leveled at Ryan in the piece we've linked to were written on September 25, before it was known that Scurry would start the Brazil match.

Posted by Jay at 03:47 PM | Comments (3)