Just had a sweet idea based on your post - Golden Gate Warriors. Solves the location identification problem and retains the cool sounding name! Pop the bridge & cable car numbers on that sumbitch.
The Cosmos only did it for one year, I assume because they were dealing with the issue of being the team of much-fancied NY but that actually played in the not-fancied-at-all New Jersey. For the MetroStars, I think it had to do with contractual obligations--they weren't allowed to call themselves "NY MetroStars" while renting the Meadowlands. So they flirted with "NY/NJ" for a short time, decided it was too cumbersome, and went with just MetroStars.
Just an idea for a stadium. PGE park (Jeld-Wen) was a baseball stadium before it's renovation. Could this be done to Raley Field. Jeld-Wen is a great stadium, if something like that could be done to Raley Field it might be MLS quality.
Raley Field is a huge success. Nobody is touching that thing. If MLS comes to Sacramento, it won't be at Raley Field. No way.
PGE, aka Multnomah Stadium, Civic Stadium, Jeld-Wen, nee Multnomah Field. Was never a baseball stadium. Only thing close to making it a baseball stadium was the 2000 renovation. http://vintageportland.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/west-burnside-1947/ Click on the photo for a larger image. That aint no baseball stadium. In fact, left field was never owned by the Multnomah Athletic Club as this time. Baseball moved in 1956. Stadium was built in 1926 with dog racing as the first tenant. Rectangle field sports was prime for this location, baseball was not. And certainly agree they'll never touch that boutique minor-league park built in 2000.
There is very little doubt MLS would thrive in Sac. Look at how well the Kings were supported until the infamous Western Finals when the NBA refs threw the series to the Lakers. Only top 25 market that will have zero top 4 sports. Soon. Soccer ratings for MLS are not bad either for being a neutral town. Lack of corporate sponsorship matter far less if you have guaranteed sell outs and good ratings--which are both very likely. They would draw from as far north as the Redding / Chico market down to Stockton /Modesto......... The Kings are goners. All the data (including what the Maloofs do, not what they say) indicates that will be the outcome. I do not know if the railyards are big enough for a soccer stadium, but if they are, then all Sac needs is a deep pocket because Sac has committed to the ancillary infrastructure costs at the railyards. Downtown is by far a better location than Natomas. Everyone would have to drive to Natomas and there is no upside for downtown Sac. That's why the politicians wanted the Kings at the railyards. The Fabien Nunez led group is in exclusive negotiations with the City of Elk Grove (not an ideal location). So a previously unknown ownership group would have to emerge. I have long predicted Sac will be MLS team 23 0r 24 along with San Antonio. But it could leap frog to no. 21 if an owner emerged tomorrow. The iron indeed will be very hot, very soon.
I know it's been a long time, but for a year 1990, I think, Sac drew 40K a game for Canadian Football! Sac would be one of the top drawing teams in the league, and pretty likely w/ a loud fanatical fanbase like the newer MLS clubs have.
The ref's didn't throw the series to the Lakers. Games 5 & 6 were comically biased in favor of one team or the other other. Game 7 was reffed straight up.
Agreed. To put an MLS team up north of Arco would be a waste and a travesty. If they could be put downtown. That would be huge.
You are surely wrong. I was there on 4th of July 1991. It was 117 degrees. How many days a year do Sac, Hou, & Dal get over 100 degrees? The upside is that unlike Hou & Dal, it cools off fairly significantly after the sun goes down in Sac.
Regarding the discussion comparing Stockton to Vegas, you've got it backward. Stockton is the gold standard for local economy gone to sh*t, total implosion of housing market. Repeat after me, "there is no place like Stockton, there is no place like Stockton" But, like, not in a good way. And you lurkers from Lodi, this includes you.
If some hypothetical stadium in downtown turned out be a no-go, do people feel Sac would be successful?
Could the Sac use the public money they pleged to a new kings arena to build a new SSS at the rail yards site?
But what about what former state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez said about headlining a group of investors looking to own a team.in Elk Grove?
Elk Grove would honestly be tragic. that would be like Seattle putting their team in Everett or Dallas putting their stadium in Frisco.........wait a second one of those things actually happend
Sac loves pro ball so much even elk grove would work but the game day experience would pale in comparison to downtown. That's why downtown should be thè target if the kings leave
But will they do it? I mean are there concrete offers from ownership groups to come forth with an MLS team or was it just a lot of noise?
Just noise. Anyone who seriously considers Elk Grove as the location for a stadium is simply out of touch with reality and out of touch with how big the league actually is now. When the Kings leave and there is a tremendous vacuum (Sacramento will be the largest metropolitan area in the country without a professional sports team), and if the conditions are right, the city/region could make a push to bring MLS here. But... Elk Grove is a bad location for anything that is supposed to cater to the Sacramento market. It's on the southern end of the region, making it that much longer a distance for more people in the region to get to. No mass transit. With the exception of a very small old town, Elk Grove is largely a blanket of tract housing developments and strip malls. Terrible place to put anything. It would be like San Jose building their stadium in Morgan Hill. Completely stupid. If any major league sports team were to come to Sacramento, it would come to downtown.
Just last year, Dallas had 40 straight days over 100 degrees. Alas for my poor sister who lives there. But to answer your question, based on the last 30 years, Sacramento tends to have more hundred degree days per year (11) than Houston (4) but less than Dallas (17)