John Fisher is trying to sell his team — the San Jose Earthquakes
The San Jose Earthquakes could soon be up for sale by John Fisher, a league source confirmed to the Bay Area News Group Tuesday evening.
Fisher has hired investment bank Moelis & Co. to help him sell a controlling share of the Major League Soccer club. An announcement could come as soon as Wednesday.
Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen was first to publish the news Tuesday night.
Fisher also owns the former Oakland Athletics, whom he moved out of the East Bay and to a Triple-A ballpark in Sacramento last offseason after failed negotiations to build a new stadium in Oakland. He plans to relocate the A’s to a new park in Las Vegas, where a groundbreaking on the site is planned for next week, more than a year after the team announced its relocation.
The cost of the park is estimated at $1.75 billion park and Fisher’s statement noted that his family will contribute $1 billion to its completion. Sportico valued the club at $600 million in January, 20th in MLS. Forbes valued the Quakes at $540 million, 22nd in the 30-team league.
Fisher and Lew Wolff paid a $20 million expansion fee when they were awarded the club in 2007, a year after the previous iteration of the Earthquakes relocated to Houston and became the Dynamo.
The Earthquakes own PayPal Park, their home stadium where Bay FC also plays home games in the NWSL. The stadium was privately funded and opened in 2015.
The Quakes had been near the bottom of the league in payroll in recent years, but underwent a significant makeover last offseason. They signed former MLS champion and U.S. men’s coach Bruce Arena as manager and technical director, then brought in a pair of star strikers in Josef Martinez and Chicho Arango, as well as several players from Arena’s days in New England.
The move comes at an interesting time for soccer in Northern California. PayPal Park on Sunday hosted a U.S. men’s national team match in the Gold Cup that saw low attendance, but matches in the region are on the rise between PayPal Park, where the NWSL will play its championship in November, and Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, which will host men’s World Cup matches next summer.