Sacramento MLS Expansion Superthread

SAC looks to be a city ready to support a Major League Soccer club. With only the Kings who play in the opposite winter. MLS Club would be the main franchise to support come the opposite summer months.
Not the bigget TV market but if I have read right SAC is ranked something around 27-30 for metro TV and population. In a league of just over 20 clubs there will need to be metros that are not in the top 20.
SAC being around the late 20's. Advantage of being the only major level club in the summer. Also on the West Coast a top of CAlli advantage as well if Chivas should need to leave LA still keeps 3 Calli and 6 clubs in all hugging the left coast

 

See, I just don't share that overly optimistic appraisal.

MLS average attendance is what, 18,000, let say the benchmark/target is 15,000, can the Republic pull in that kind of a gate (at MLS prices) on a week in week out basis even if they are struggling/mediocre?

There is a lot of novelty factor in Sac right now what with having a brand new soccer team in town but that will, in due course wear off and when what you have left is a small market team that struggles to compete with the LA's and Chicago's and New York's of the MLS how sustainable is it?

 

About 68% of all tickets belong to season-ticket holders. I'm not surprised that they don't make it out to every game without giving their tickets to someone else. As a 'Quakes STH, I've done the same.

 

That low attendance is what would lead a new ownership group to look for better options. Also announcing the possible move generating more support of the club to keep them in SAC. Being it is the only major league sports in town the Kings now staying and adding a second major league franchise makes sense and shows a commitment.
Similar to what the Spurs started when current owner took the club to keep it in SAN Antone. Has led to the Spurs S&E with a new arena and adding two other franchises to the group in the AHL and WNBA. As well the Spurs S&E own a D-League franchise that plays outside of SA.

 

True, support for the Kings had dropped before the attempt to relocate to Anaheim, but the direction of the team (in the standings) had been obvious for a few years by then, with no indication that the Maloofs were going to right the ship.

As far as Sacramentans being a pretty fickle sports bunch, that is not a distinction reserved only for us. Sports fans, being fickle, IMO, are the norm.

 

And to add to that, SAC closely resembles Portland by both size and the market place for sports dollars. Only one major sports franchise and, on top of that, Sac has no real NCAA division 1 athletic programs in the metro area competing for sports dollars.

High television viewership for WC, tons and tons of youth soccer players, ethnically diverse population that embraces the world's most popular game, on and on and on.

 

SAC could also be better off with purchasing a current club in Chivas and move them. They are in dead last right now but would have a base opposed to new expansion from scratch

Those are obvious possibilities but could also be very successful in the long run with other factors as well.
Raley Field was built in 2000 and the AAA baseball River Rats came to SAC. There attendance has dropped off from the 10K plus to the current 8K plus. Still among the top AAA baseball in atendance. Still very strong after 15 years though.
Republic Brand could do the same

 

Sac's metropolitan statistical area is larger than both Kansas City and Salt Lake, and those are two of the leagues strongest franchises, with Real Salt Lake being one of the most consistent.

 

Two things:
1. The Republic's already charging MLS prices for single-game tickets. Most expensive tickets in the USL by a pretty big margin.
2. With Orlando getting a MLS team next year, Sacramento will be the largest media market in the nation with only one major pro sport - 20th overall according to Nielsen's most recent ranking. If it were just based on population, Sac should have three or four major pro teams.

 

@916CHELSEA, I'm glad you're on the boards. Hope you're not feeling too ganged-up on.

 

Apparently you aren't familiar with the sell out streaks/records the Kings had, or the Maloofs deliberately tanking the team in order to move them, or the fact that a huge economic recession and housing bubble burst right before and hit a government town like Sacramento especially hard. But let's just ignore all that, and also assume there is a huge overlap of basketball and soccer fans, and let's ignore the Kings attendance since the new ownership group and new arena on the horizon..

Your assessment is wrong. Betting against Sacramento is not a good bet.

 

Yes, they can pull those numbers easily. This isn't like basketball or baseball where there are multiple games a week. This is a home game every other week, in a market that doesn't have any real competition over the summer months.

As for your second part, that's a nice theory, but cities like Portland and Salt Lake City (perfectly analogous to Sacramento with 1 NBA team) have been proving that wrong for years. No, Sacramento isn't going to have a bunch of DPs and stars, but Portland and Salt Lake are perfect examples of what Sacramento can be.

 

Great example. Very similar to Portland in every way mentioned above. Also very nicely located on the West coast between Portland and San Jose.
at the moment the MLS has the most west coast franchises of all major league sports.
With Chivas being the only failing club. Should Chivas be allowed to move to SAC. Still remains 6 clubs but also covers the most ground on the coast than any other Major pro sport. Once SJ gets the new pitch and SAC adds one all of the clubs will be playing at first class venues for fans. Even the reno'd BC Place has proven, with the alterations for MLS matches, has a great atmosphere with a about the 20K seats available full and made for football. Both Soccer and Gridiron.

 

If the Republic do get a MLS club in the MLS. Would they wait for a SSS to be built? Or would having one secured be enough while playing at a TEMP site.
With the location of Raley Field would that be a better location with its soccer set up than a temp expanded Bonney SSS ?

 

Depends on when the team would be granted entry into the league.

Optimistically, the absolute earliest a new soccer stadium could be ready in Sacramento would be the beginning of the 2016 season - that is with everything falling in place, the team awarded at the end of this year, no hang ups like environmental studies/challenges, funding, site prep, etc. more realistically, a new stadium could be ready for 2017. That said, it's been said that Bonney Field can be expanded to 12 or 14,000, which would be okay for a season or two. The Earthquakes have been doing something similar until their new stadium opens next year.

 

Good point about San Jose. I agree it certainly will not be next year. After another year in 2015 without an owner for the now MLS run Chivas franchise.
Having the Kings on board with the Rebublic would give the MLS a solid ownership group. Even with a new stadium not quite ready.
SAC has the support for MLS franchise, The Owner, an expandable field in place along with a secondary Raley that does host soccer matches to the toon of 15K.
All things that would be a big positive for a lame duck franchise in Chivas being ownerless and really homeless.
LA has an NFL stadium and team that is the priority with an already very successful and supported Galaxy in the MLS. Along with two teams in each of the NBA, NHL, and MLB. All seven franchises are solidly set with venues prime veneus.
Chivas club relocated to SAC also does nothing to disrupt any plans for the future of how the MLS will have the divisions set up with the new expansion clubs. NYC, Orlando, and Atlanta are already in and on the east coast. Miami the likley fav also on the east coast.
The Galaxy has all of the support in LA. Chivas has barely any. SAC would also open up a whole new fan base in a different city nicely located in the middle of the 5 other franchises.

 

Exactly. Not every club will be paying the big name DPS. MLS is in line with the other 4 major leagues in US/Canada. With some teams shelling out for big free agents and other finding as much success building through the minor league system.

NYC and likely Atlanta will sign big money DPs. Orlando likely would not go that route

 

I think Bonney Field is a better location, except maybe during the month of July when some State Fair traffic and parking issues need to be worked out. (When we had the Rangers friendly, I got off the freeway 15 minutes before kickoff and got into the stadium in the 42nd minute.) An enlarged Bonney Field may mean needing to provide shuttles from the parking lots on the other side of the fairgrounds, but another option might be dedicated buses from downtown/midtown, with SRFC either operating the buses itself or making arrangements with Regional Transit. As long as Bonney is the venue, it'd be great to have buses from 16th and K/L/Capitol (near several parking garages) taking advantage of relatively light traffic up 16th St. and CA160 and using the back way to get to the west gate.

 

If you really think about it Orlando and Sacramento are very similar.
Both with only an NBA franchise now adding an MLS franchise.
Both have similar Metro population at well over 2 million.
Orlando is in a very crowded state with top pro and college sports.
SAC the same in CAL
The more I look at it the more SAC makes a lot of sense

 

Well, except for that Kaka guy.

 

I'd triple-rep this if I could.

 

I guess that is the $70,000,000 question, isn't it?