Partnership between Quakes, Spurs, aims to benefit clubs both on and off the field

(Left to right) Earthquakes general manager John Doyle, executive vice president Billy Beane, Tottenham sporting director Damien Comolli, Quakes president Mike Crowley, Spurs executive director Paul Barber, Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff, and Tottenham development coach Clive Allen trade jerseys at the press conference announcing the two teams’ partnership. Photo: Joe Nuxoll, centerlinesoccer.com, isiphotos.com. 

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SAN JOSÉ — With an eye towards a variety of mutually beneficial goals, the San Jose Earthquakes and London’s Tottenham Hotspur announced a new strategic partnership Thursday at the Fairmont Hotel. The agreement will allow the two teams to exchange ideas on both the sporting and business sides of their respective operations, with potential activities including friendlies on both sides of the Atlantic between the two clubs, coaching exchange programs, Tottenham’s assistance in setting up youth development programs, and a variety of vehicles for information sharing on promoting and marketing the sport.

Listen to the entire press conference here:

“This isn’t a short-term PR stunt,” said Paul Barber, Tottenham’s executive director. “We see this for the long term benefit of the development of the franchise for the Earthquakes, but also for the development of our own franchise. We’re not totally altruistic in the way we go about these things — we want to learn, we want to develop our own fan base, (and) we’re going to try to expose Earthquakes fans to Tottenham Hotspur and Tottenham Hotspur fans to the Earthquakes.”

San Jose owner Lew Wolff was also enthusiastic about the new partnership. “The tradition of Tottenham may almost be longer than the tradition of the city of San Jose, being 126 years, and we’re trying to establish a tradition with the Earthquakes,” he said. “We couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to associate with a quality organization such as Tottenham Hotspur.”

Barber emphasized that Spurs only enters into arrangements like this after a thorough analysis of their potential benefits.  “We look very carefully at every partnership opportunity that we get, and we look at it in a variety of different ways. We look at the people involved, and the sort of people they are; we look at the culture of the operation and the club; and we look at the professionalism of the club. We look at the opportunity for sporting success as well as commercial success. We look at the support, we look at the supporters, and we look at the interest in the game locally. And, also, overall, we look at the quality of the brand that we’re looking to partner with, and I have to say that we’ve been delighted at what we’ve found here.”

Barber reiterated the idea that Spurs was looking to create a lasting relationship with the Earthquakes. “When we commit to partnerships, we do it for the long term. We’re not in this for a quick game of football, a bit of razzmatazz, and then get the hell out of here. We want to be a partner with the Earthquakes for some time to come, and we want to see the franchise develop, and we want to help it develop in any way that we can…

“We’re not into one-off exhibition matches. Some of our rivals have come, played games, and disappeared. We don’t want to do that. We want to play some games, but we want to get involved with the development of the franchise — the coaching, the players — and try to help out as much as we can, where that help is needed.”

Wolff agreed that friendlies were “a specific objective” for the Earthquakes, but agreed that the work of the two teams would extend far beyond that. He explained, for example, that the first item on the teams’ mutual agenda was to send San Jose’s coaching staff to London to get a first-hand view of Spurs’ facilities and techniques, which will happen “as soon as we can get our schedules together.” He also voiced admiration for Tottenham’s “fantastic youth program,” saying that the Earthquakes will “be looking into the format that they use, which we’ll be very proud to copy if we can.”

Executives from both clubs also expressed interest in sharing information on the commercial side of the sport. “Some of our sponsors aren’t theirs and some of theirs aren’t ours,” said Wolff, with Barber adding that “You know how to market sport probably better than anyone in the world, so we’re hoping to pick up some thoughts on that side of things.”

The relationship between the two teams grew out of a friendship between Tottenham sporting director Damien Comolli and Oakland A’s general manager (and now Earthquakes executive) Billy Beane, who was cited by Wolff as inspiring the interest in soccer which eventually culminated with Wolff’s investment in the Earthquakes. “This all started when I kept listening to Billy and his associates at the A’s talk about soccer all the time,” Wolff said. “We finally went over to the World Cup, and Billy introduced me to Damien… The whole genesis of getting into soccer in the first place and also getting associated with Tottenham started with our baseball general manager, and has continued at a high level. He was right about it; I wasn’t sure where we were going, but this has been a two-year evolvement to a relationship that I’m very pleased to be a part of today.”

For his part, Beane admits that he still considers himself a fan and says that prefers to “leave it to the experts when it comes to actually analyzing the game.” He credits Comolli, his counterpart at Tottenham, with helping to nurture his interest on both the sporting and business sides of soccer.

“I think it’s just a spectacular sport, phenomenal athletes, and I think (through) my association with Damien and even getting to know John a little bit, I’ve really come to appreciate the athleticism, the strategies, everything that goes into it,” he said. “I really think that the more the American public is exposed to it, as they have — as you can see, the Euros were on all summer, and there’s more and more soccer on television — that at some point we can’t avoid the collision between what I think is the world’s greatest country and the world’s biggest sport. So it really became a sports interest and a business interest as well.”

“The key word in this partnership is sharing,” noted Comolli, “and we are ready to share anything that we do and we know. (San Jose general manager) John (Doyle) visited us last year and Billy has come to see us a couple of times, and I was very clear with them that me and all the coaching staff, anything you want to know, anything you want to discuss, we’re happy with it. You can send your coaches to London, we can send our coaches to San Jose, and I think the collaboration, sharing knowledge, will be very helpful for both clubs.”

While no specific events resulting from the new partnership were announced Thursday, Tottenham’s Barber mentioned that he hoped fans of both clubs would take the opportunity to visit their new transatlantic brethren.

“We hope to see some visits between fans here and also fans back in London wanting to come to California,” he said. “I’m not sure which is the better swap there — coming to London on a cold, wet November evening to watch us play, or coming out here to California on a nice, sunny evening to watch the Earthquakes play. But there will be plenty of people who want to do both, and we’re looking forward to that.”