Sacramento could be about to arrive on the soccer map in North America, in a very big way.
According to reports from FOX40 in Sacramento, the ownership group of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings are lining up a bid to buy the city’s USL PRO outfit and have plans to enter Major League Soccer already in motion.
The Sacramento Republic, who began play in 2014, are continuing to attract average crowds of over 13,000 in their inaugural season and sold out their former home stadium on three occasions, as more than 20,000 fans crammed into Hughes Stadium. They now play at Booney Field, which has a reduced capacity of 8,000, but fans of the Republic continue to pour onto the terraces as they smashed the USL’s previous attendance record held by incoming MLS franchise Orlando City.
Those figures point towards one thing: a hot soccer market in Sacramento.
Apparently Kings President Chris Granger has traveled to Seattle this week to meet up with Major League Soccer reps in order to chat about getting Sacramento into MLS. More details from the report suggest that Sacramento are keen to strike a deal to arrive in MLS as soon as possible as the Mayor of Sacramento, Kevin Johnson, will also accompany Granger to meet MLS reps.
Sacramento Republic’s President, Warren Smith, has stated many times that bringing MLS to California’s capital by 2016 was his goal. If the Kings ownership group gets in on this, plus plans for a 20,000 seater stadium downtown continue to develop, it’s not out of the question to see Sacramento arrive alongside Atlanta in 2017 and possibly before Miami into North America’s top-flight. A hefty expansion fee is likely, as $100 million plus change could be what a new expansion franchise is expected to pay in the current market.
Keep an eye on Northern California, something special is happening in Sacramento and the Kings want in. Should MLS jump at the chance to have Sacramento as their latest expansion franchise?
