Two top MLS execs "got high-level briefings" from USL Pro club Sacramento Republic FC owners -- "and an earful from the team's famously rowdy fans -- as they began an on-the-ground evaluation Thursday of the region’s chances for an MLS expansion team," according to Kasler & Lillis of the SACRAMENTO BEE. MLS President & Deputy Commissioner Mark Abbott and Special Assistant to the Commissioner Charles Altchek "huddled with a variety of political and business leaders to gauge support for soccer in Sacramento." They had lunch "with Mayor Kevin Johnson and met Republic FC investors and current and future sponsors, including executives from UC Davis Medical Center, AT&T and The McClatchy Co." At a dinner, Republic FC Owner Warren Smith, investor Larry Kelley and Managing Partner Kevin Nagle "introduced the MLS contingent to a slew of new investors, including several minority owners of the Kings." They "included developers Mark Friedman and Phil Oates, and building-supply executive David Lucchetti." Kings and Republic investor Lisa Parker said that several more owners "are joining the effort." Kasler & Lillis report at one point, the dinner "was interrupted by a boisterous march up 19th Street by hundreds of members of Republic FC’s fan club, the Tower Bridge Battalion." Abbott and Altchek following dinner "dropped in on a giant block party Thursday night staged by Republic FC ... attended by thousands." Throughout the visit, Abbott was "careful not to tip his hand about Republic FC’s odds of graduating to MLS," Smith said that the majority of time during a meeting on Friday "would be about stadium plans, and his fellow investors agreed that the MLS executives are keen on learning details of the proposed facility at the downtown railyard" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 9/19).
SACTO'S SURGE: In Sacramento, Ailene Voisin writes the city "is not a sleepy little town anymore." Voisin: "The Kings aren’t leaving. The [Triple-A PCL] River Cats aren’t changing their name. And in a stunningly short period of time, Republic FC has mounted a boisterous campaign to skip a few grades and play with the big boys." Yet even a "united front comes without guarantees." Groups in Miami, San Antonio, Las Vegas and Minnesota also "are bidding for franchises, with the two Minneapolis contingents regarded as the [most] formidable opponents because of the larger population and television market, attractive and established downtown -- it’s one of the great walking cities in America -- and corporate clout" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 9/19).
AT A LOSS IN LAS VEGAS: In Las Vegas, Alan Snel reports a proposed, publicly subsidized, downtown soccer stadium "appears doomed as Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian, the swing vote on the deal, said Thursday she would vote against the proposed financing plan if the council vote were held today." If she "follows through on her opposition to the nonbinding plan at an Oct. 1 council meeting," the $200M, 24,000-seat stadium proposal for Symphony Park "would be dead." Tarkanian said of proposed co-developer Cordish Cos., "I don’t feel comfortable with Cordish as a partner. Professionally, I felt we were not treated fairly." Cordish and Findlay Sports & Entertainment "are the private team partnering with the city on the proposed stadium" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 9/19).
