Comments on: Expansion Failure: San Jose’s New Stadium In Doubt

By: Gedichte

Gedichte — Thu, 20 May 2010 08:27:18 +0000

Hello from Germany! May i quote a post a translated part of your blog with a link to you? I’ve tried to contact you for the topic Expansion Failure: San Jose’s New Stadium In Doubt | Pitch Invasion, but i got no answer, please reply when you have a moment, thanks, Gedichte

By: MLS Attendance in Decline: The Old and the New Diverge | Pitch Invasion

MLS Attendance in Decline: The Old and the New Diverge | Pitch Invasion — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:28:25 +0000

[...] 61,572 for a “home” double-header featuring Barcelona and Chivas at Candlestick Park, and their search for a stadium goes on. It’s notable that this may be explained by an older failure, the decision by MLS and AEG to [...]

By: matt

matt — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:21:29 +0000

Is it a coincidence that Seattle has great marketing, a great stadium, an international superstar, and the highest attendance?

SJ needs a stadium worth visiting, players worth paying to see, and an on-field product worth watching on weekend nights. Everything else is there.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:16:37 +0000

They don’t even have good marketing materials on their own website. Banners with “What’s a Huckerby?” and “Where’s Salinas”? That’s supposed to get me pumped up… how? At least “Are you with us?” had a call to action.

By: yoyo

yoyo — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:10:03 +0000

good article…
as a earthquake fan i have been to most every game this season and love being at the games.
but i would have to agree with most people here the marketing is terrible.
most people that live in san jose or the bay area for that matter don’t even know that there is a professional soccer team in the area. what kind of marketing is that?
I have never heard nor seen an earthquakes ad on the radio\TV\billboard\anywhere. How are people even supposed to know that there is anything going on unless they are die hard fans?

I still don’t believe that the city is the problem. Look at New York.. the biggest city in our country and look at their attendance this year… its about the same as san jose not to mention dallas and kansas city.
and lets not forget the team is in last place for two years running now.

you put any team in last place in any league and you are going to have an attendance problem. MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:40:58 +0000

Don’t feed the @lol troll. I’m sure he won’t be back, anyway.

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:27:15 +0000

@skip, soccer is “the people’s game”. Why would you take a game that appeals to the masses and then market it to the elitists? People get so hung up on SF. “Oh we’re ‘The City’”. Give me a break. Did you see the inter vs club america friendly? I did. That place was rockin (35k people? Not too bad) and most of them were Club America fans. In fact, here in SJ I see tons of Pachuca, America, Pumas, etc badges. People here are hungry for soccer. It’s up to the management to figure out how to get them into the stadium.

@lol, well then I guess we should just give up on the whole idea of professional soccer in America because it will obviously never work. Thanks for showing us the error of our ways.

By: lol

lol — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:31:59 +0000

maybe people in the bay don’t watch to watch the Quakes, cause the level of play and refereeing in MLS is laughable compared to the teams they grew up watching and supporting. and the experience sucks unless you’re a soccer mom or a 6 yr old kid or a wannabe hooligan who learned everything you know about being a ‘supporter’ from watching Green Street Hooligans. just a thought.

By: Quakesin2kNever

Quakesin2kNever — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:13:59 +0000

DC:

Imagine DC United has Landon Donovan and wins the MLS Cup. Then imagine MLS uses some shenanigans and sends Donovan to your most hated rival, New England or New York, and you get nothing in return. Then imagine the rest of your championship squad gets moved to San Antonio and you have no team for two years. Then imagine they come back and are in last place for their first two years back. What do you think it would do to your fan base?

By: Quakesin2kNever

Quakesin2kNever — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:10:12 +0000

Re: Skip

San Jose has the largest population of any of the big 3 cities in the bay area and the highest per capita income of them. Santa Clara County has a higher per capita income than all the other Bay Area counties save San Mateo, which is equi-distant to SJ and SF. So moving to SF or Oakland wouldn’t help get any more San Mateo fans out to games. Santa Clara County also has far more corporate headquarters and business wealth than SF and Oakland. These businesses invest tons of money in buying luxury boxes and ticket packages from Sharks games. The Quakes just need to do a better job marketing to them. A new stadium would go a long way towards getting more money from the corporations.

The Sharks are the 3rd wealthiest and most attended NHL franchise in the league. There is a reason why the Niners and A’s are trying desperately to move to the South Bay. There is more money to be made here. The Quakes are just suffering from the legacy of being screwed over by AEG and being in last place both last season and this season. If you did that to Seattle or Toronto in a few years it would have the same effect on their fan bases.