{"id":826198,"date":"2014-04-29T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T15:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cowbellkingdom.com\/?p=28930"},"modified":"2023-05-17T12:01:16","modified_gmt":"2023-05-17T16:01:16","slug":"sacramento-continues-to-prove-its-a-pro-sports-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/sacramento-continues-to-prove-its-a-pro-sports-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento continues to prove it’s a pro sports town"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hughes<\/a><\/p>\n

Somewhere along the fight to keep the Sacramento Kings from leaving town, an underdog mentality developed in the capital of California. \u00a0Despite 19 seasons of complete sellouts during the team’s first 29 years in town, Sacramento still had more to prove. \u00a0Despite a fanbase that has become synonymous with passion – one that rallied countless times to fend off professional sports elimination – Seattle was considered an obvious better market for the Kings.<\/p>\n

On Saturday night, Sacramento was exposed for what it truly is. \u00a0It is not a small market. \u00a0It is not a one-pony town and it is capable of so much more than just being the home of the Kings.<\/p>\n

With the temperature dropping to chilly, more than 20,000 sports fans showed up in force to watch the inaugural Sacramento Republic FC game at Hughes Stadium. \u00a0Not too far down the road, another 20,000-plus showed up for a AAA baseball game at Raley Field. \u00a0Two sellouts in one night for minor league sporting events.<\/p>\n

Sacramento cannot hide from what it is. \u00a0Sacramento is a sports town.<\/p>\n

Like the Kings, the River Cats have always been a huge draw since moving to Sac in 2000. \u00a0Listed by Forbes magazine as the most valuable team in all of minor league baseball in 2012, the Cats have won 11 division titles and four league titles in 13 years. \u00a0But Sacramento has always been considered a baseball town.<\/p>\n

When the Republic announced that their opener was a complete sellout on Saturday morning, a message was sent to MLS soccer – the good people of Sacramento appear ready to embrace soccer as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that\u2019s happened, whether it\u2019s the Kings staying, whether it\u2019s the changing landscape of downtown, at the end of the day, there was a statement made tonight,\u201d said Erika Bjork, VP of marketing and communications for the Republic. \u00a0\u201cIt goes back to everything that we say – ‘we\u2019re an indomitable city, we\u2019re an indomitable club and the fans made a statement.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Bjork spent nearly 10 years with the Kings from 1994-2003 and then another six working with former NBA star Chris Webber. \u00a0Hidden within those years with the Kings was an experience with the Sacramento Knights, the professional indoor soccer team that played at Arco Arena from 1993-2001.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, infighting between professional indoor leagues killed the sport in the early 2000s, leaving Sacramento without an outlet for major league soccer.<\/p>\n

The Republic are a true startup, but opening night has Sacramento abuzz. \u00a0There is no promise that the team will lead to a birth in the MLS and there is a lot of work to do on building a permanent home that could house the team long term. \u00a0But there is a start.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we need is a soccer-specific stadium,\u201d Bjork said. \u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re the most underserved city in the country for professional sports. \u00a0We have the threshold. \u00a0We have the market. \u00a0We obviously have always had the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sacramento soccer fans are embracing their new team.\u00a0 Despite a 2-1 loss in the opener, 12,000 plus are expected next weekend for the club’s second game and the \u201cTower Bridge Battalion,” an independent supporter group for the Republic, is already larger than some MLS teams’ fan groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something about this sport that is dramatic and real and authentic,\u201d Bjork said. \u00a0\u201cOne of the reasons I\u2019m passionate in working with soccer is that I\u2019ve never seen a sport empower their fans the way that soccer has.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sacramento fans are used to being empowered. \u00a0Over the last three years, they have gone to incredible lengths to keep the Kings. \u00a0Now that a new arena is just around the corner and the team is ready to lock into a 30-year lease with the city, momentum might be building for something more.<\/p>\n

Maybe that something more is professional soccer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20,000 strong show up for soccer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[610259261],"tags":[610259328,610260435,35890,76563,610260436,610260437],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSacramento continues to prove it's a pro sports town - The Sports Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/sacramento-continues-to-prove-its-a-pro-sports-town\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sacramento continues to prove it’s a pro sports town\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/sacramento-continues-to-prove-its-a-pro-sports-town\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Sports Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-29T15:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-17T16:01:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/cowbellkingdom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hughes_stadium.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alan Draper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sportsdailytsd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sportsdailytsd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alan Draper\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/sacramento-continues-to-prove-its-a-pro-sports-town\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/sacramento-continues-to-prove-its-a-pro-sports-town\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alan Draper\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c8aadde2571800d0de74323730df7b5\"},\"headline\":\"Sacramento continues to prove it’s a pro sports town\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-29T15:00:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-17T16:01:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/sacramento-continues-to-prove-its-a-pro-sports-town\/\"},\"wordCount\":646,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/sacramento-continues-to-prove-its-a-pro-sports-town\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/cowbellkingdom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hughes_stadium.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Chris Webber\",\"Erika Bjork\",\"Featured\",\"sacramento kings\",\"Sacramento Republic\",\"Sacramento River Cats\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Cowbell Kingdom\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2014\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/sacramento-continues-to-prove-its-a-pro-sports-town\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/sacramento-continues-to-prove-its-a-pro-sports-town\/\",\"name\":\"Sacramento continues to prove it's a pro sports town - 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