It kind of is. All day long today people were spreading the rumor that Alpine Meadows and Olympic Valley were going to be evacuated. After all, the flames were only 8-10 miles away, and they'd progressed 16 miles in the previous 24 hours. The fire departments had to go all over social and traditional media to squash the rumor. Some of it is the fact that you really can't go outside, everything smells like smoke, and you're effectively living in a giant ashtray. It drives you a little nuts.
So, did you all see the new addition to the expansion category? http://forums.bigsoccer.com/forums/candidate-cities.1062/ It links here. Send your thanks to @dark knight ...
First we win, now we get rain for the first time in forever. Today was good. Also, does anyone else hear the thunder?
I don't know if this is off topic or not, but I'm gonna put it here anyway. Have you noticed the love/hate relationship MLS fans have with Sacramento? People either love the idea of an MLS team in Sacramento, or they absolutely hate it. The ones that hate it go on and on disparaging Sacramento in every way they can. It's weird to me. This is sort of typical of the hate side: 513890635838140417 is not a valid tweet id 513891039627976704 is not a valid tweet id 513891291986677761 is not a valid tweet id He can't even believe the Sacramento bid is serious ... 513894091701370880 is not a valid tweet id Later he compares Sacramento to Rochester, as if they're roughly equivalent in size, even though Sacramento is more than twice the size. Yeah, I know he's just a hot-head (always has been) who used to write about DC United and now has an on-again-off-again podcast. But I'm not talking about him specifically. He's just an example of a type of Sacramento naysayer. Not every MLS market has to be New York, just like not every team in England has to be in London. The league is big enough to have smaller market teams like Salt Lake and Columbus -- especially if they can bring us much energy and interest to the league as Sacramento. I've said it before, I'll say it again -- so many people talk about Sacramento as if it's some podunk town not much bigger than Bismarck, North Dakota. I'm sick of it. Sorry for the rant. No, I'm not sorry at all.
These are people who perceive Sacramento as nothing more than a cowtown or government town. When I decided to attend college in Sacramento my high school advisor said "why would you go there? All they have is a river." I'm glad I live in Sacramento, in the 12 years I've lived here I've seen a lot of growth. Sure Sacramento might have have Fortune 500 companies to sponsor the team but there is a passionate fan base and owners who believe the team can succeed in MLS. In simplest terms - Haters gonna hate.
Wow, what the hell? That guy does realize Sacramento is roughly the market size of Portland, Salt Lake City, Orlando, Columbus, right? Is he complaining about all of them? Geeze. It's not all about local corporate partnerships. Look at everything else.
Sleep Train - operates in 6 states and just sold for $425M to become a part of a national company. Doesn't sound very local to me.
I think his main argument is there isn't the big corporate base locally, like their is in Minneapolis for example, with Target, etc. There is no Fortune 500 company here. My response to that is - so what? Sacramento for some reason has never been the benefactor of a global company setting up shop. Instead, what we see time and time again is a company growing larger and larger then eventually selling/being bought out by some other company. Sleep Train is the latest example, but we've seen it happen again and again, like with that tech gaming company that sold to EA a couple of years ago. Does that mean their would be no large corporate sponsors? No. Who cares if the stadium naming rights goes to something else? The reason Sacramento is not heavy with corporations is because we're primarily a government town, because we are located so close to the Bay Area, and the trend in business here is to focus on local/regional rather than going national/global (Nugget Markets comes to mind). Does this all mean we can't get some large company to sponsor the stadium or team? No. There is obviously lots of money here in Sacramento, enough to support the NBA, and enough to support MLS. Remember, the Bay Area is a short 1-2 hours away...
I think that's true, but I also think that's changing. I look at it like this -- you know that recent Marcos Breton piece on the changing face of Sacramento? Well, who wants to live in the kind of place like Sacramento is becoming? A lot of those people who are starting businesses and working in big companies in the Bay Area. It would not surprise me at all if some of the most interesting startups over the next 10 years are based in and around Sacramento. And, frankly, SRFC going up to MLS (and all the development downtown associated with it) would increase the pace of that transformation.
I personally think that line of thinking is in the minority. I lurk a lot of comment threads relating to Sacramento, or articles about MLS expansion, Chivas issues, etc. I would say the overwhelming majority of comments are pro-Sacramento. I do see the occasional off-comments like those above, but they don't gain much traction.
I get that, the question is whether or not those start ups last in the long run or they get bought out by some other company before they can become a giant.
I think Fairfield is often lumped with the Bay Area; I could be wrong. Either they're not a "Sacramento company" or they're not a Fortune 500 company. But hey, Jelly Belly Stadium at the railyards? I'd be all for it
I'd be happy to set straight any folks seeking answers abòut what Sacramento has to offer. Otherwise, haters gonna hate........reality is that it doesn't matter what "they" think. It only matters what we (and MLS) think, and we've made one helluva case for Sacramento! EDIT: I substantially edited my original post - it stunk.
Yeah, I think Fairfield is sort of in limbo between the Sacramento and the Bay Area. But Jelly Belly Stadium would be great. Anyway, there's always Blue Diamond.
I would think Envision Rx Field would be a possibility....given Kevin Nagle is vice-chairman, even though HQ is in Ohio now, ....and while it has limited consumer branding needs, medical is one of the big slices of the local economy so may be a good fit for corporate reasons...
It looks like KN and KJ have each other's backs. Kevin Nagle contributed $100K to the Strong Mayor proposition... http://www.sacbee.com/2014/10/07/6767969/strong-mayor-campaign-raises-large.html
just read that the USNMT's match vs Honduras has sold less than 10k tickets. That really sucks. Wish that match could have been put here in Sac-Town. I am sure we were have found a way to have more than that.
Sac just doesn't have the facilities for a national team match. I went to Raley Field this past weekend for a Liga MX friendly and the field is way too narrow and sight lines are terrible. If the new Republic stadium is built in the rail yards then I can see national team friendlies being played in Sacramento.
Still Sac-Town would get more than 10k for any venue they decided to use. I hear they will be lucky to get 10k in this match in Fort Lauderdale, FL. That is below average for a USNMT match.