Unless we’re talking about the Florida Marlins or the Seattle
Sounders (darn those new-money success stories), starting an
expansion team is hard work.
Building a fan base can be equally difficult, especially during
an economic recession. Who’s willing to pay money to see the new
local team make history and finish 8-13-9?
Unless we’re talking about the Florida Marlins or the Seattle Sounders (remember when you had to start at the bottom and work your way up?), turning an expansion team into a new-money success takes years of fruitless hard work.
Building a fan base can be equally difficult, especially during an economic recession. Who’s up for paying top dollar to see the new local team make history and finish 8-13-9?
You have to like the San Jose Earthquakes’ aim-small, miss-small approach. The Cleveland Browns of Major League Soccer want your support, and they’re taking their business into a living room near you.
The club is in the midst of holding intimate fan-recruitment events hosted by season-ticket holders, who can put friends, family and soccer fanatics on the guest list. They get sales pitches from San Jose players and representatives face to face.
“It’s definitely a good way to identify with fans and expand our fan base,” Earthquakes Hispanic Marketing Coordinator Robert Graves said.
“People say, ‘Once your new stadium is built, and you start winning championships, I’ll show up. I’ll put my heart into your team.’ We’re trying to connect with those people now.”
Last Thursday, Graves and defenseman Justin Morrow visited the Morgan Hill home of Freddy and Beth Adames. Freddy, a warm 56-year-old Columbian who has tickets to the World Cup in South Africa, is a board member of Soccer Silicon Valley. He volunteered to host the party, which drew close to 30 people.
“One thing the team understands is that the South Valley, Morgan Hill down to Salinas, is a big soccer community, especially around here,” said Adames, an avid San Jose fan. “I want to help them bring interest to the area.”
The franchise wants to seal off Silicon Valley as Earthquakes territory, and for obvious reasons. It is a soccer hotbed that lacked a local pro men’s club for three years after the original Quakes, winners of the MLS Cup in 2001 and 2003, split for Houston in 2005.
That San Jose team had a strong following. This one, although similar in name, has had trouble filling the seats in 47-year-old Buck Shaw Stadium — see the Earthquakes’ 7-14-9 finish in 2009. Though the team hasn’t won a championship or opened a new stadium yet — San Jose plans to have one completed for the 2012 season — Graves and his peers are trying to bring the fans back with a different sales angle: loyalty.
“Letting people know that we’re not the Earthquakes of old; we’re a team that’s going to stick around, that’s a big challenge,” Graves said.
The players have bought in. The thought of building a brand-new team and fan base excited Morrow when he was selected out of Notre Dame in the second round of January’s MLS draft. He also liked the idea of playing his first pro game at home March 27 against defending league champion Real Salt Lake.
“I think playing for any team is always going to be fun; just getting the chance every day to play professional soccer for a living,” he said. “There’s an awesome connection between the players. Guys like Joe Cannon and Chris Wondolowski have been great to work with. We want to make a quality team.”
Morrow, a hospitable 22-year-old with fan-friendly braids, regaled his audience at the Adames’ house with a story from his first practice in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
“At the end of the day, I was juggling the ball in the middle of the field out there in front of all those stands,” he began. “The sun was shining, and I’m thinking, ‘This is amazing. I’m here. I’m doing this.’
“The only thing that can make this better is you guys. We play because we love the game, and we play for the fans.”
Of course, the Quakes would have an easier time drawing fans from Morgan Hill if they built the proposed training facility that has been in talks for more than a year. The team broke ground on a $1.2 million training field near the Mineta San Jose International Airport in January, a month after the Earthquakes extended their use permit for the Golden Oaks Restaurant site across from the Outdoor Sports Center. The team planned to install two and a half acres of natural turf for practice and convert the restaurant, which closed in 2008, into a weight and cardio facility, treatment rooms and offices.
The permit is scheduled to expire in March.
“I can’t say a lot about it, but we the Earthquakes are still interested in Morgan Hill,” Graves said.
After a brief question-and-answer segment between Morrow and the crowd, Graves and his assistants talked a few people into joining the team’s list of potential ticket buyers.
Hey, it’s a start.
