Sacramento Republic Drawing Professional Sports Teams' Investment For MLS Bid
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The Sacramento Republic want to bring Major League Soccer to town, and to do that, officials say they need to build a super team of sports executives.
At Sacramento's State of the City address on Thursday, Mayor Kevin Johnson introduced San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York as the latest investor in the USL Pro champion team. That came a day after Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive announced he would be investing in the team as well.
49ers team president Paraag Marathe is still giddy about Thursday's announcement.
"There is really something special going on in Sacramento," Marathe said. "Its invigorating."
The 49ers, Kings and other investors are joining together to send a united message to MLS officials.
"We're going to be able to lend a lot of the expertise that we had in building Levi's Stadium to the Republic," Marathe said.
Johnson says it started several weeks ago with one phone call.
"Reached out and said 'do you have any interest?' and believe it or not because of what you're doing in Sacramento we've followed the basketball saga and always looked at Sacramento as a fun city and we love soccer and one thing led to another," he said.
It's a gamble, but the 49ers believe the team sitting at the table can win the hearts and minds of MLS executives.
"How neat is it the Republic win the championship this year in USL Pro. This is going to be a really successful MLS pro franchise," Marathe said.
Sacramento is one of four potential groups vying to be the 24th team in MLS. There are two rival bids from Minneapolis and one from Las Vegas as the league looks to expand by 2020.
One of the Minneapolis bids has the backing of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings ownership. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports one plan would have the Vikings' new $1 billion stadium converted from a 65,400-seat football stadium to a 20,000-seat soccer stadium with large panels and advertising boards covering the other 40,000-plus seats.
The league hopes to expand to 24 teams by 2020. Chivas USA in Southern California recently was shut down by the league, with new ownership taking over and a new Los Angeles team to start playing in 2017. Teams in Orlando and New York City will join next year, bringing the total to 20.
By the time Chivas rejoins the league in 2017, teams in Atlanta and Miami are expected to leave only one open space for a team, pending a finalized stadium plan for the latter.
The Miami ownership group hasn't been able to lock down financing from the city for a new stadium. MLS Deputy Commissioner Mark Abbott warned that without a stadium deal, the Miami bid could be in trouble, opening the door for another team to take its place.
