From the "To a man with a task force, every problem is the lack of a stadium" department, we present Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who, spurned by the Sacramento Kings, and unable to get anyone interested in building an arena for no team at all, has apparently set his sights on bringing baseball to town instead:
Still looking for a redevelopment catalyst in the downtown railyard, Mayor Kevin Johnson has turned his eye to a new sport, asking his Think Big Sacramento task force to look this summer into marketing Sacramento as a big league baseball town...
Aides say the mayor's moves are aimed at sending a message to Major League Baseball that Sacramento wants to be in the mix if and when a team is looking for greener pastures. Johnson has made it no secret he would like to do business with the Oakland A's, who are unhappy in their antiquated stadium.
On the face of it, this wouldn't seem a totally outrageous notion: Sacramento does have a track record of supporting one major-league sports team, after all, and it's a bigger TV market than St. Louis or Pittsburgh. (Though smaller than Orlando.) Still, it's a relatively corporate-presence-poor city, which hurts the potential for luxury suite sales, and it has the Bay Area megalopolis not far in one direction and a whole lot of not much in three others. Plus, A's owner Lew Wolff still has his heart set on San Jose as a destination, and Oakland is arguably a better fallback option if he ever gives up on ever wresting the South Bay from the Giants' clutches.
In any case, though, KJ appears to have sports facility fever now, and is dead set on finding somebody to build something for, whoever it is. "Sacramento must seize control of its own future," Johnson said, um, somewhere. (The Sacramento Bee story doesn't specify where or when.) "We cannot rely on others, or wait for something to come along."
A further "announcement" is due at 11 am Pacific today, according to KFBK's Rob McAllister. Can't hardly wait!
from Field of Schemes http://www.fieldofschemes.com/news/archives/2012/07/5006_kj_to_announce.html
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