Sacramento Sports Scene

[innov8]

Not buying it? Well here’s a small rundown of medium size cities and how
many Fortune 500 Companies are located there. My source is www.Money.cnn.com

Sacramento – McClatchy #813

Oklahoma City - Devon Energy #221, Chesapeake Energy #324

Portland – Nike #153, Precision Castparts # 444

Kansas City - Sprint Nextel #58, YRC Worldwide #272, Embarq #381

Nashville – HCA #89

Memphis – FedEx #68, International Paper #114

Jacksonville – CSX #261, Winn-Dixie Stores #347, Fidelity National Financial #435, Fidelity National Information Services #481

Orlando - Darden Restaurants #415

This list above is only the ones ranked in the 500’s, if I were to include the
Fortune 1000’s, the list would be much bigger for most of these cities.
Sacramento only has one which is McClatchy Newspapers that made the 1000 list.

If you have ever been to any of these cities to see a pro game, these
companies have advertising in the arenas… it doe’s make a difference to
the bottom line as to weather a team will be profitable.

But like ozone said, if we can't get an arena built for are current team, what
makes you think we could do it for a dream team?

[Pistola916]

A report came out from the Sac Biz Journal in Feb. 2006 that states that Sacramento has the personal income to support more pro teams.

Report: Sacramento can support more pro sports
Sacramento Business Journal

The population of the Sacramento metro area has enough personal income to support professional football, soccer or hockey teams, but not baseball, according to research released Monday by Bizjournals.com.

The research effort looked at how much personal income was available in each of 179 U.S. markets, including Sacramento, and how much is needed to support teams in each of five major professional men's sports leagues -- the National Basketball Association, National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League and Major League Soccer.

The study looked at only economic factors related to personal income, not proximity to other markets with a team, availability of a suitable arena or other factors.

The study concluded that Los Angeles, although already well-served by pro teams, could support more -- notably, an NFL franchise. The Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg, Fla., market is the most overextended, with less personal income available than is necessary to reliably support its present teams.

Sacramento, the study found, has some $77.6 billion in total personal income. Deducting the amount needed to support the Sacramento Kings of the NBA leaves $39.3 billion, enough to support a team in any of the other leagues except baseball.

[ozone]

OK as you might know I've been somewhat supportive of the Cal Expo arena idea but I've been rethinking that and I'm no so sure now. I just don't see how they are going resolve the many obstacles and objections associated with that site.

Putting aside the questions of should we just keep the old arena and make minor improvements -meaning the Kings will fly. And how many Sacramentans care if they do? What are the alternatives? - to Cal Expo, Arco or the Railyards? Keep in mind that Thomas Enterprises (developer of the Railyards) has always been lukewarm to the idea of a sports arena in their project. Also keep in mind that Sacramentans are notorious tightwads and we are in a recession.

So what ideas do you have? Here’s my latest 2 cents:

What about a new arena at 301 Capitol Mall -the site of the defunct Towers? It’s a tight site but I believe very doable. The 301 CM site would maximize benefit to Downtown, The Downtown Plaza, Old Sacramento more than the Railyards would. It could be directly connected to the Downtown Plaza and Westfield could buy the naming rights. Light rail and Amtrak are only a couple blocks away. Even better for businesses than being directly connected. There are a number of existing parking garages in the area which could be used -thus increasing their profit. Anyway I still do not have a plan to pay for it -which is of course the biggest sticking point.

[Pistola916]

I would go with demolishing the east side of the mall and put the arena there. The footprint on 301 is small. It will take more than one city block for an arena.

[Fusey]

Sounds nice, but that's very doubtful it would work out. First you'd have to get the 301 lot from CalPERS, then ED would most likely be needed to get the east side of the mall from Westfield's.

[NewToCA]

A couple of points from my own personal experience in other cities.

As stated in other postings, Fortune 500 companies do make a big difference. I moved to Columbus, Ohio in the early 1990's, and they had no arena, except for a 12,000 seat gym located on The Ohio State University's campus. When I left 14 years later, they had built two first class facilities, Nationwide Arena near downtown and The Shottenstein Center adjacent to Ohio State. Nationwide Insurance and Value City Enterprises were the financing engines behind the two arenas, both Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Columbus (I believe Value City has since been absorbed by another brand).

In Philly, they built the Wachovia Center (Fortune 500 again) on the parking lot of the Spectrum areana.

In looking at your current situation, my advice would be to build the new arena on the parking lot of Arco.

[Pistola916]

Report: Ron Artest To Be Traded To Houston

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ― The Houston Chronicle and CBS television news station KHOU are reporting that Sacramento Kings' forward Ron Artest is set to be traded to the Houston Rockets for the upcoming NBA season.

The reports state that the Rockets will be trading guard Bobby Jackson, a #1 draft pick next season and another unnamed player, possibly the Rocket's draft pick Donte Green.

The Rockets have not commented on the trade. The Sacramento Kings' general manager Geoff Petrie denies that the deal is finalized, saying, "We have had some very positive discussions with Houston regarding Ron Artest, but no trade is imminent at this time."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
My thoughts:

Well it looks like the Kings are going to get even more younger. As a basketball fan, I would have like to keep the hard-headed Artest-when the guy gets his stuff together, he can be one of the best players in the league, and a great defender-but if the guy didn't want to be here than it was best to trade him. I was hoping the Kings could have waited a little bit longer to see what else is out there. Certainly, the Kings could have done better. I really wanted Petrie to go after Shawn Marion or Tayshaun Prince for Artest. However, this does clear some space and gives the team a first round pick in next years draft. We also get a former fan favorite in Bobby Jackson, but he is 35 years old and injury prone. B-Jax will probably back up Beno. I don't know too much about Donte Greene other than he was the second leading scorer in the Vegas summer league. The good thing about the trade is it will also give more opportunities for Salmons, who will likely be the staring small forward, and Douby, who has been impressive in summer league. The bad: Kenny Thomas is still on the team.

[Fusey]

.

[Jay916]

http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/1125575.html

Leading Off: How does 'Sacramento A's' sound?

Just a day ago, this column was about how this is a National League town.

You know how to make it an American League town? Move the A's from Oakland to Sacramento.

A's managing partner Lew Wolff opened the door with his comments in the Contra Costa Times on Wednesday.


"I don't know. I honestly don't," Wolff said when asked if Cisco Field in Fremont will be built. " … We're still under a lot of pressure to get a park that is our own. … So my hope is that we'll find a way to make it happen."

Here's a way to make it easy, Lew: Move into Raley Field. You would have to add an upper deck for seats and suites, build an outfield pavilion to bring the facility to about 35,000 seats and extend the infrastructure and parking. That could be done in an offseason.

Can the Sacramento region support a major league team? We don't have the corporations needed to buy the suites, but we have the ticket buyers. After all, the River Cats have been the top-drawing minor league franchise for eight seasons. And, before the Kings arrived, this was a baseball town.

This leads to another question: Can two pro franchises thrive in this market? Maybe the onus would be on the Kings, not the A's, to prove that.

[What is a Rivercat?]

Originally Posted by Jay916

http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/1125575.html

It could work. There are a lot more seats at a ballgame that are cheap than at an NBA game. In fact, the most expensive ticket listed on the A's site is $50.

[innov8]

Haven’t we been down this road before? Were now being used again by a bay area
sports team as an empty alternative to improve their chances of bargaining for
a better deal where they really want to be located.

I’m so tired of Sacramento being used as the second banana… dangling some
farfetched idea that they would actually consider moving here. Doe’s anyone
actually believe this hot air any more? Remember how the Raider’s got
people all excited that they would move here, but their real plan was to use
Sacramento to get a better deal with Oakland.

I wonder if the writer of this story even knows Sacramento’s history in being
used like this way back in the early 90’s?

[ltsmotorsport]

Well it would be a dream situation, but like innov8 said, the reality of it happening is pretty slim. And I think baseball could do well in this town since people are always looking for a sport in summer to relax to.

Damn, the Sacramento A's just has a nice ring to it.

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by innov8

Haven’t we been down this road before? Were now being used again by a bay area
sports team as an empty alternative to improve their chances of bargaining for
a better deal where they really want to be located.

I’m so tired of Sacramento being used as the second banana… dangling some
farfetched idea that they would actually consider moving here. Doe’s anyone
actually believe this hot air any more? Remember how the Raider’s got
people all excited that they would move here, but their real plan was to use
Sacramento to get a better deal with Oakland.

I wonder if the writer of this story even knows Sacramento’s history in being
used like this way back in the early 90’s?

On the plus side, the threat would carry no weight if Sacramento was not worthy.

[innov8]

If they start throwing around others cities too... then I would consider
Sacramento not worthy. Good point krudmonk.

[urban_encounter]

Sacramento will be hard pressed to keep the Kings.

Frankly i think Triple A is a better product than MLB (but that's only my opinion and admittedly 6 of the longest sporting months are those dominated by baseball.)



Sacramento may finally have the population and media market size and it has close proximity to an even larger market; but there just aren't enough corporate heavy weights here to make it a reality anytime soon.

[otnemarcaS]

ML baseball in Sac? Not gonna happen anytime soon. 81 baseball games plus 40 Kings games? Football and the Kings are more likely to survive here than MLB and NBA. In fact, only one market in the entire country has both MLB and NBA with no NFL or NHL. That would be Milwaukee. Sacramento may have eager, willing and ready ticket buyers but it all boils down to corporate buyers and sponsorships. Only reason teams like the Atlanta Hawks or NJ Nets have survived despite dismal attendance figures.

[sugit]

All questions regarding corporate money aside...I've always wondered by moving the Pirates from Pittsburgh has never really brought up..even it is equally as unlikely.

Since they are owned by an investment group led by Kevin McClatchy, you would think at least it would make for an interesting article.

[sugit]

Well after a bit of research McClatchy isn't the managing general partner, only a minority owner. Plus the Pirates have a new stadium only 5 years old and a big lease...there goes that.

[Fusey]

It's amazing the Pirates even got a new park since they're the butt of all jokes in Pittsburgh. PNC is a great ballpark, though...

[JeffZurn]

How great would it be to have a MLB team here in Sacramento. I know its not going to happen, but sure would be cool. Whats the deal with Fremont, I thought they had that all sewn up?