Sacramento Wants an MLB Team

The California capital is looking for a baseball team.  They’ve scoured the for sale ads in Craigslist and came

up with just one team: The San Diego Padres.  But that sale is pending.  No matter, though.  Kevin Johnson, mayor of Sacramento, and his city task force are looking to lure a Major League team to the city of 2.5 million.

There are problems with the plan of course.  The only team seemed poised for a move is the Oakland Athletics. They are not looking to move further north.  They want to stay near the bay and move to San Jose.  Aside from that, there’s no clear proof that Sacramento could support a Major League franchise.  They have an NBA team, but the Kings may not stay there much longer.  They also already have a minor league club in Sacramento.  The River Cats draw about 11,000 fans per game.

Major League Baseball is not expanding, so Sacramento’s only hope if to lure a team from their current home.  Unfortunately for Sacramento (but fortunately for baseball as a whole), attendance is up.  There are no real gaping holes in attendance at parks across the league save for Oakland – but we’ve talked about them.  Usually if fans are coming to the park, owners aren’t going to move the club.  Tampa Bay wants a new stadium, but they have what seems to be a life-time lease on Tropicana Field.  If that lease ever ends, and the city refuses to build a new ballpark, Sacramento might have a shot.  Might.

The city of Sacramento (and its metropolitan area) is the 22nd largest in the United States, and it’s fourth largest in California.  They have the people, but they may lack the interest to support baseball in Sacramento.  But it’s an interesting proposition.  The game is still so east-coast centric, more teams on the west coast could help.