Are the Earthquakes willing to wait a year?

Yesterday the City Council of San Jose started looking at the possibility of giving up some downtown land so the Earthquakes could build a new soccer stadium. It was some good news for fans, however there might be a bit of a snag.

By law, if the city were going to make anything more then a limited investment, like just the land, they would have to go to voters to get approval. This would require the city to conduct various studies that evaluate the effect this stadium will have on the area. This would take at least 6 months, so the earliest this could end up on the ballot would be around next November.

Would an ownership group be willing to wait till then to see if they will be able to build a home? Would they then be willing to wait two more years to move into that home? Three years of loosing money is a long time.

Of coarse a new group could side step this if they decided to fund the stadium without city money. Think of the commitment that would show to the fans and the city. It would be a wonderful thing to see, but sadly, very unrealistic. If they can't get the money out of San Jose, I'm sure they will look to get some from somewhere else (hello Houston).

The San Jose Mercury has two good articles on the new stadium idea. One wants the city to go for it while the other is a little more timid