8 hours ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
John Fisher to sell San Jose Earthquakes as A's prepare for Las Vegas move
John Fisher intends to sell the San Jose Earthquakes after hiring bank Moelis & Co. to carry out the sale, the Major League Soccer club announced Wednesday. The news comes ahead of Monday's official groundbreaking for another Fisher-owned team, the Athletics, to celebrate the start of construction for the franchise's stadium in Las Vegas.
The baseball stadium will cost an estimated $1.75 billion. Fisher's family has pledged $1 billion toward that price tag. His selling the Earthquakes appears to be a move to potentially free up additional funds. The soccer club is valued at $600 million, according to a Sportico report in January, after Fisher paid a $20 million expansion fee for it in 2007.
'The San Jose Earthquakes and PayPal Park have been an important part of our lives for nearly two decades,' Fisher said in a statement. 'We are proud of the role the Quakes have played in the growth of soccer throughout Silicon Valley. The Bay Area is a special place and we're deeply grateful to the fans, players and staff who've been with us on this journey.'
Fisher also hired Galatioto Sports to attract investors in an effort to raise upwards of $500 million, with Clark County in Las Vegas planning to contribute $350 million. The A's are expected to play at least three seasons at Sutter Health Park, home to the Sacramento River Cats, the Giants' Triple-A Affiliate.
Fisher's decision to move the A's out of Oakland has earned him widespread criticism. What he accomplished with the Earthquakes in San Jose is its own story.
In 2005, the San Jose Earthquakes, then owned by the Anschutz Entertainment Group, announced the franchise would be uprooted to become the Houston Dynamo. Fisher brought the Earthquakes back two years later as an expansion franchise and subsequently built a soccer-only stadium in 2015 that has since hosted premier soccer on numerous occasions. From selling out matches for the U.S. women's national team to welcoming international fútbol icon Lionel Messi as recently as this year, PayPal Park — previously known as Avaya Stadium before being renamed in 2021 — is among Fisher's notable achievements as the Quakes' owner.
Attendance for Earthquakes matches has paled in comparison to other MLS teams. Their average home attendance ranked third to last in MLS last season. PayPal Park is also home to Bay FC, who debuted in the NWSL in 2024 and expect to build their own stadium in the future.
The Quakes remain above the postseason cutoff in the Western Conference standings with a 6-7-5 record this season, led by first-year head coach Bruce Arena, a big-name hire.
'On behalf of Major League Soccer, I want to thank the Fisher family for their longstanding commitment to the Earthquakes and the San Jose community,' MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a statement. 'Under their leadership, the club invested in world-class facilities like PayPal Park, built a highly respected youth academy and helped grow the game in one of the nation's most dynamic markets.'
