In what the San Jose Mercury News calls an effort to “speed along a San Jose Earthquakes soccer stadium threatened by the cratering economy — now that doesn’t sound promising — the city of San Jose has agreed to cut their asking price for the proposed stadium site from $132 million to $89 million. There are two ways to look at this, of course: as the city offering the Quakes a gift of $43 million, or as a reflection of the fact that California land isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on right now. City councilmember Sam Liccardo, whose district includes the stadium site, took the latter view: “Prices have come back to earth, and we have to face that reality. Doing something beats doing nothing in this economy.”
While the council is expected to approve the land sale next month, it’s still uncertain how the stadium would be financed; Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff (remember him?) originally proposed one of his patented development-rights swap deals, but with development not so much a going concern in California anymore, that plan is now “on hiatus,” according to the Merc News. Last word from Wolff was that “we’re trying to piece it together and I think we’re going to get there.”
In other Wolff-related news, the San Jose city council voted unanimously last night to move ahead with attempts to lure the Oakland A’s to their city, with councilmembers calling for a study group and new environmental impact report for their proposed stadium site near the Diridon rail station. San Francisco Giants exec Bill Neukom responded on a local TV news show: “Those are our [territorial] rights, and we will continue to defend them.”