The canal idea was scrapped pretty quickly. Here's the approved general plan for the Railyards:
http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/...rdsSPFinal.pdf
Pages 50-52 or so have maps of land uses. The parks Serg mentioned are a bit like the grass medians on Capitol Mall, or the medians with trees on them on T Street in Elmhurst, except instead of office buildings or single-family homes they are supposed to have mixed-use buildings flanking them (think 17th and L.) The "sports and entertainment facility overlay" is just east of the Shops long 7th Street.