A's Owner to Bring San Jose Quakes Back with No Stadium

• Bloomberg News, Friday, May 25, 2007 3 PM

Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff is still on the case for bringing the San Jose Earthquakes back to Major League Soccer. In an interview with USA Today, Wolff said he would like to have the team registered for the 2008 season-with or without a new stadium. Wolff and John Fisher, heir to the Gap, Inc. fortune, own an option to bring a soccer team to the Bay Area through 2009. MLS plans to expand the 13-team league to 16 by 2012.

"We would like to get in now, we think it's a healthy business," Wolff said, adding that the team would begin the 2008 season with plans to build a new stadium near the San Jose airport, after talks with San Jose State University broke down. The league mandated that each MLS team have its own soccer-specific stadium.

The original San Jose Earthquakes, a two-time MLS champion, moved to Houston in 2005 after it failed to generate enough interest, drawing some of the smallest crowds in the league. Because the Earthquakes were unable to secure a soccer-specific stadium deal, team owner Anschutz Entertainment Group decided to move.

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