Should Sac try to get the A's to move here? (San Jose: condos, to buy)

[CeJeH]

The Kings are as good as gone. KJ says he wants an arena even if the Kings leave, but I doubt it will happen or do any good if it does happen. We have been trying ( aka arguing semantics) to get an arena for over a decade and now that our team is on the brink of fleeing we decide to kick the talks into high gear as if that will get something done? Even if we get an arena after the Kings leave we are not going to get another NBA team to fill it anytime soon. if we can't handle the Kings no other franchise will take a chance.

I think we're doing it wrong. Sacramento is a baseball town: always has been and always will be. We're not a basketball town as is we just happen to have a team (for now). The A's have been trying to leave the Coliseum for a long time. The Fremont deal fell through, and lately they have been looking to move to San Jose but it doesn't look like that will work either. San Jose is under the Giant's influence and I don't think they are going to give that up without a fight.

We have been very successful with the River Cats for the decade they have been here. I can't think of anything more awesome for Sacramento than tearing down that miserable ****ing railyard and building a big league ballpark there so I could buy season tickets and walk to A's games in the summertime. I know Serna tried to build a ballpark next to Arco in the 80's to lure the A's and failed, but what is the likelihood that we could try it again and be more successful?

The Kings haven't left yet physically but the damage has been done. Not only are they leaving but they are going to the same place that ruined our chances of becoming a basketball powerhouse a decade ago which only adds insult to injury. Losing our only professional franchise is going to be a big blow, and I don't think rushing into building a huge expensive arena is going to make them stay or convince another struggling NBA franchise to take a chance on a city that has already essentially failed it's team. Why not start over and head into a new direction?

[Malloric]

I don't know much about the business end of the A's. If it's anything like the Maloof family, no. The truth is the King's always had amazing support from Sacramento, even when they were a perennial loser and laughing stock of the NBA. Show me a NBA team that had more support than the Kings did when they had year after year of .350 performance. When the Maloofs took over and turned the Kings into a decent team the Arena was at close to 100% capacity from 2000-2007. It's not Sacramento's job to buy a shiny new Arena for the billionaire Maloofs. That isn't a failure of Sacramento. The reason to buy billionaires new stadiums for their millionaire athletes to play in is because it brings enough business to offset the cost to the city coffers. The Kings fail to do that.

Why? Because the Maloofs and their predecessors have been lousy business partners to Sacramento. They don't pay their debts, break their contracts, and have been continuously threatening to leave Sacramento if they don't get their second new stadium for the last 15 years. In the 2000s it was a little bit more of a reasonable request, but in 1996 when they started demanding a SECOND tax payer financed stadium because they didn't like the first one they built eight years ago... Expecting the city to fund the entire cost of the new stadium and hand over ownership, which is what the Maloofs demanded, was not reasonable.

Cut the losses now and get the Kings franchise the hell out. Either way, the city will end up in litigation. Better it be over the $25,000,000 interest in the Anaheim Royals and ownership of the Arena than trying to enforce the contract the Kings have with the city that may or may not preclude them from leaving until they pay their $70 odd million in debts. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Let Anaheim get bilked out of the bond money.

[wburg]

I like the idea of a major-league baseball team, and I'm with you on the idea of trying to get the A's, but it wouldn't be necessary to knock anything down in the Railyards. Most of the space is open dirt, ready to be built upon, and the remaining buildings have been mostly stabilized and cleaned up in preparation for adaptive reuse and/or use as a Railroad Technology Museum. The Railyards adds up to 240 acres of property, and you need maybe 10 of that for a stadium or ballpark.

A better spot might be in the northern corner just east of I-5, the proposed location for the Measure Q/R stadium: it is zoned for entertainment uses, close to highway access and the various light rail lines, and visible from the railroad line and the highway. Closer to the 7th Street light rail station might be good too--but that is part of the property zoned for high-rises, and the owners might want something that grants a higher return.

The city has discussed an arena on city-owned property adjacent to the existing train station and the new track alignment (due to start later this year) but it would kind of be wedged in there uncomfortably between them.

In either case, the surviving Shops buildings are about the only connection to the days when Sacramento was an industrial powerhouse--we were the only city in the western United States that built full-sized steam locomotives, for example. Having them in the shadow of a new ball field, especially if restored and active, would provide a great backdrop for a sports arena of any sort, and provide a great place for pre-game or post-game dining, visiting, or museum visits to tucker out the kids.

[NewToCA]

If you think an arena is expensive, wait until you see the cost of a major league ballpark.

[sacramento916]

Growing up as an A's fan in the bay area, I would love to see the A's come up to Sacramento. I remember when I was a kid in San Francisco (curiously grew up an A's fan although all my friends were Giants fans, got into a lot of fights that way), I heard the news that the A's may leave Oakland to Sacramento, and I was horrified because to me at that time, Sacramento might as well be the other side of the world. But now that I'm in Sac, would love to see the A's come into town.

How about converting Raley field into a larger stadium? We already have a stadium there. I think it would be a mistake to destroy the railyards, they are historic buildings and I think the current plan for that area is great, if it ever gets going.

But who am I kidding. With the state of the city's budget, nothing good will be happening anytime soon. It is really a shame that during the boom years, we were able to build whole new cities in Natomas and Elk Grove, but not even rebuild the core of our inner city.

[Mr. Ozo]

dude, nobody wants to tear the railyards, at least those with a brain don't. As mentioned the railyards are 90% vacant land.

If one was to use half a brain they would realize that the A's would go right where the rivercats are now, the stadium was built to be expanded.

[wburg]

Natomas was turned into condos because there was a lot more money in turning farmland into suburbs than in new construction downtown--both for developers (who buy cheap farmland and sell it as expensive suburbs) and government (who get higher tax rates from residential and commercial property than farmland.) As long as we allow new suburbs to be built in the region, development pressure in the central city will be minimal--as will economic and political momentum to build a sports arena of any type in the central city.

[BeauCharles]

I would love to see the A's a new ballpark in Sac. Don't think we have any local poobah capable of drawing them or the public will to help finance it.

[CeJeH]

Maybe I misspoke when I said to "tear down" the Railyards because ya, there is a lot of history there and all that jazz. What I meant is that it's time we do something there. Everybody talks about how historic and important the site is yet every time I drive by it on I-5 all I see is old abandoned buildings and dirt in the middle of what should be a bustling north end of downtown Sac. Raley field was built to be expandable to accommodate a major league team, but I would much rather see a ballpark on our side of the river because I'm selfish. I also don't think Raley Field is in the proper location to accommodate a big league team with all the bull**** going on around the stadium.

I have heard a million different ideas of what to do with the railyard and yet there it sits! Build a ballpark (they can still call it the railyard!) build a bunch of bars/restaurants and such around it and I bet it would work.

[Aquaboy]

I'm all for it, as long as the team owners pay all the expenses.