Earthquakes Are Looking at Houston

Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes could announce as early as Friday that the team will be relocated to Houston.

Tim Leiweke, AEG’s president and chief executive officer, confirmed Tuesday that a decision was very likely by week’s end.

“We petitioned the [MLS] board of governors on Saturday for the right to transfer the franchise to a different market,” he said. It won unanimous approval.

Moving an MLS team is unprecedented, but AEG is adamant.

“Everyone understands that this can’t go on,” Leiweke said.

“We’re prepared to operate it in Houston and already have some people lined up to hire who will ultimately operate this team day to day. That said, we also have a couple of people talking to us about buying into the team and being the managing partner.

“[But] it doesn’t mean that we have packed up the moving vans yet.”

According to Leiweke, AEG has been in frequent talks involving Houston, as well as San Jose.

“I would suggest that by the end of this week we have to make a decision to either pull up and move on or see if ... we can get a deal done in San Jose,” he said.

AEG has long said it would like to own and operate only three MLS teams: the Galaxy, the MetroStars and the Chicago Fire.

Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment has been in talks with AEG to keep the team in San Jose, but to no avail.

“I have seen the [financial] whipping that we’re taking up there and have been taking all year,” Leiweke said. “We jumped into San Jose as a favor [to the league]. That franchise was going to fold. The league owned it and operated it. We went ahead and stepped in and acquired it and have since spent $20 million on it,” winning two MLS titles in the process.

“Our issue is not the [fan] support or the marketplace.... Our issue was always we just never could find a facility [existing or new stadium] that allowed the team to have some shot of making financial sense.

“What we like about Houston is twofold,” Leiweke added. “One, the temporary situation there [a new 12,000-seat stadium] is better than anything we’ve seen in San Jose. Two, a permanent solution is on the table.

“We think the goal is much more achievable -- to either find a partner that operates it or to sell the team to someone who wants to own it -- in Houston compared to San Jose.”

League schedules have to be set, so a speedy decision is needed.