The prospects for pro sports in the Valley

From the Bakersfield Blaze to the Sacramento Kings, the Valley loves sports. Long a territory divided up by coastal professional teams, the Valley is increasing searching for its own identity in the sports industry.

Fresno Mayor Alan Autry some years back talked bout the possibility of a pro franchise coming to Fresno. Citing the million plus residents of the metropolitan area and the popularity of Fresno State football and basketball games, Autry argued for professional sports to take a closer look at the San Joaquin Valley. Fresno is an area of California that seems to be too far away form the Bay Area and L.A. teams to be particularly affiliated with any of them.

In baseball, the San Francisco Giants lay claim to the Valley, citing their “first in Northern California” presence and the operation of the AAA Fresno Giants. The Oakland Athletics have more often looked into the Valley as a growing market, especially around Sacramento, where it is affiliated to the AAA Sacramento Rivercats and the California League (A ball) Stockton Ports, not to mention a longtime past agreement with Modesto’s California League team. The Modesto A’s re-affiliated before last season, and now call themselves the Modesto Nuts. The Los Angeles teams also have an interest in the Valley.

Meanwhile, the Sacramento Kings, the first big-time professional sports team in the Central Valley, have subtly expanded their influence in Fresno. Comcast Cable’s fledging network—Comcast Sports Net—started out as a vehicle for televising more Sacramento Kings games. Those games are now broadcast in Fresno, where the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers have long had a fan presence. In fact, the Kings and the Lakers have scheduled a veritable battle for Central California the last two seasons by playing preseason games at Fresno’s SaveMart Center.

What are the prospects for more professional sports teams to relocate or start in the Valley? Chances unfortunately are not good—yet. Fesno has difficulty in credibly claiming to be a "Major League" city because of its poor economy and agrarian tradition. Sacramento has had great difficulty attempting to begin the process of building a replacement for the aging Arco Arena, causing many in the Capital City to worry about the possibility of losing the Kings. While owners Joe and Gavin Maloof have repeatedly stated their commitment to Sacramento, it is no secret that the Maloofs have strong connections to their home base of Albuquerque, New Mexico and Las Vegas, Nevada.

That may be the biggest obstacle facing sports fans pining for local professional sports—the fact that many other bigger, more developed, connected, and corporate localities throughout the United States also desire teams. The growing, wealthy Las Vegas municipality seems to be a shoe-in for a sports team, as soon as one of the leagues gets over qualms about athletes and gambling. The NBA may be closest, which is not good news for Kings fans. The Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas can immediately house a basketball franchise, and any number of developers would volunteer to start construction on a new basketball palace complete with a hotel and casino. If that seems unlikely, the NBA has already begun plans to host the 1997 All Star game in southern Nevada, hosted by the Maloofs. The WNBA, sister league to the NBA, already has the Connecticut Sun playing at the Mohegan Sun casino complex.

One thing that Sacramento has going for it is a long history of fan support. The Kings currently hold the longest streak of sell-outs in the NBA. In the 21 years the Kings have been in the Valley, the buildings called Arco Arena have rarely had unsold seats. In baseball, the Sacramento Rivercats have been one of the most successful teams in the Pacific Coast League for attendance. The first few years, the Rivercats sold more seats than any other PCL team, setting records as they went. Sacramento baseball fans came to see a team that is basically playing so the players can be noticed by the Oakland A’s, as evidenced by lower attendance during playoffs than during the regular season. Imagine what it could be like if the team was playing for a spot in the Major League playoffs.

The A’s have surely noticed. There have been days over the past few summers that Sacramento’s Raley Field attendance was nearly even to attendance in Oakland. The A’s, like the Kings, are also looking for a new stadium deal. While lately the team has been working on a new stadium being built near the current one, the media have in the past discussed the possibility of the A’s moving to Santa Clara, Hayward, Sacramento, or beyond. Should their latest stadium deal fall through, the A’s should look carefully at expanding the ballpark in West Sacramento to suit the needs of a Major League organization.

If the Kings do indeed move out of Sacramento some day, it seems improbable that it will be the end of professional sports in the Valley, as some skeptics claim. Sacramento has surely proven, despite its problems with providing a suitable venue, it can and will whole-heartedly support a team representing the city to the world. The persistence of Kings fans makes Sacramento a special city. The NBA should view Sacramento as a very successful location for a franchise. If the Maloofs were to move this team from the region, the NBA must surely recognize Sacramento’s importance, and immediately ensure Sacramento will be a city to get a team once a new arena is built. Much along the same lines as Charlotte to the NBA or Cleveland to the NFL, the NBA has a solid fan base in Sacramento it cannot afford to abandon. If it does, the A’s or some other team may quickly move in to Sacramento to capture the hearts of sport fans.

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Thanks to our sources: http://www.nba.com/, www.wnba.com/sun, Reporter, Illustrator and Photographer Dan Borlik