COMMERCE CITY, Colo. - Thanks to Lew Wolff and partner John Fisher, Major League Soccer knows the way back to San Jose.
The highlight of MLS Commissioner Don Garber's press conference on Wednesday was the official announcement that the San Jose Earthquakes will become the 14th team in the MLS beginning in 2008, under the ownership of Wolff and Fisher. Due to stadium complications, San Jose had lost its team to Houston in 2005. But Wolff and Fisher are committed to reaching a deal that will bring the club a new soccer-specific stadium, preferably on city-owned land next to San Jose International Airport.
Wolff, who was on the podium for Wednesday's announcment at Dick's Sporting Goods Park as part of the MLS All-Star Game festivities, bought the Oakland A's in 2005 and is well on the way toward finalizing a deal that would place the A's in a new stadium in Fremont, Calif. The A's currently play in Oakland's antiquated McAfee Coliseum. Major League Soccer is confident that Wolff will get a deal done for a soccer stadium as well.
"The A's are a fantastic sports group operator," Garber said. "They understand the market. They understand pro sports. They have fallen in love with the sport of soccer."
Wolff and Fisher had obtained a three-year option on an MLS club last year. MLS never wanted to leave the Bay Area market in the first place, but reluctantly had to do so largely because of issues with Spartan Stadium that could not be overcome. It was the first team move in MLS history. But the league went back to the drawing board and developed a relationship with Wolff, who shared in the commitment to make San Jose a viable expansion alternative.
"The day after we left in December 2005, we began working on a plan to return to the market," Garber said.
Garber said the league was approached by Wolff and Fisher about 30 days ago to see if it would be feasible to bring the MLS back to San Jose in 2008.
"We are very convinced that starting now and working over the next two years to have their new stadium will give us the solution that is beneficial to Major League Soccer, great for the fans in the Bay Area, great for the local community and something that will work for the sport of soccer in America," Garber said.
Wolff was focused on breaking into the Major League Baseball industry when the Earthquakes bolted for Houston and became Dynamo. But the more he eventually got involved in the possibility of becoming an MLS owner, the more excited he became about what the next Earthquakes can mean to the Bay Area sports scene.
"I have two signs over my bed at home," Wolff said. "One says 'the Earthquakes are in hibernation.' And the other says, being a real estate person, 'never exercise an option early.' I'm taking off the option one."
Rather than wait until 2010, Wolff thought it would be better to "start to have some fun" with the Earthquakes fielding a team while management works to identify a permanent venue.
If Plan A doesn't work with the building of a stadium next to San Jose International Airport, Wolff said his group has other venue site possibilities to explore.
"We have some options we can look at if something doesn't materialize," Wolff said. "We should know by September or October if the direction toward a new venue where we'd like to have it in San Jose is possible. If not, we're still going to go ahead with the new venue, but it may not be at that location."
Wolff's group has signed an exclusive right to negotiate with the city of San Jose on the proposed site next to the Airport. The land is currently owned by the city. Design studies are already underway and those studies could translate to another property if the airport-area deal doesn't work out.
In the short term, Wolff and his group have identified two high priority sites for the team's home games. Because of negotiating ramifications, Wolff declined to name those two sites on Wednesday.
"We will probably play most of the games at one site and a few of the games at another," Wolff said. "We'll be a little bit nomadic, but not too much. At the same time, we'll be able to judge the market around the Bay Area."
Robert Falkoff is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
