The San Jose Earthquakes may yet be back in business as early as next season, according to Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolff, who’s been planning to build a home stadium that would enable him to resurrect the two-time MLS champ. “We’re not 1,000 percent there and we don’t want to preempt any announcement from Major League Soccer,” Wolff said Monday, but the implication is that an announcement is forthcoming, possibly as early as Wednesday’s state-of-the-league address by MLS Commissioner Don Garber.
Expansion is obviously high on the league’s list of priorities. Time and again, Garber has said he wants to expand the league to 15 teams in the next two years. Wolff, who bought the rights to a Bay area MLS franchise, said the San Jose team would keep its old name and colors.
After a deal with San Jose State University fell apart, Wolff has been negotiating with city officials to build a 15,000-20,000-seat stadium (at an estimated cost of $80 million) as part of a hotel-retail complex near the San Jose International Airport. Wolff has cited the existence of “multiple, unspecified” areas where the team could play until a stadium is built.