The Earthquakes are back!

David Alioto, executive vice president of Earthquakes Soccer LLC, ended speculationThe lingering black eye for the league seems almost healed as it appears the San Jose Earthquakes will return to MLS play next season.

According to a source with knowledge of the deal, Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff and his ownership group will be a guest of MLS Commissioner Don Garber at Thursday's All-Star game outside of Denver, and the official announcement will likely come at Garber's annual state of the league press conference on Wednesday. Wolff can now exercise his option to start his expansion franchise for the '08 season.

This new team will result in a balanced 14-team league with seven teams in each conference.

The new Earthquakes plan on building a permanent home out by the airport, but until then, they will rove around the Bay area.

Here's the most interesting part of the plan: Until the Quakes have a permanent home, they'll be barnstormers. Wolff says his team will play in different venues around Northern California, varying in size depending on the opponent.

In other words, when David Beckham and the Galaxy roll into town, the game could be at Oakland's McAfee Coliseum (where as many as 50,000 have turned up for soccer games) or Stanford Stadium. When, say, the Columbus Crew come to the Bay, the match might be at 9,000-seat Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, or perhaps the brand new, 15,000-capacity Aggie Stadium at UC Davis, 100 miles northeast of San Jose.

This idea will make season ticket sales a little difficult, however it is all part of Wolff's plan to make Earthquakes 2.0 Northern California's team.

It is wonderful to see the 'Quakes reborn. Now I just can't wait to see the reaction when Houston rolls back into town.

By the way, Wolff says that there is no plan to rename the team the 'Google Earthquakes' as one report suggested.