The state of northern California sports teams is in serious flux right now.Tuesday night, two controversial ballot measures that would have paved the way for the Sacramento Kings to stay in Sacramento, while moving out of Arco Arena, went down to defeat in flames, by approximately 80 percent against compared to 20 percent for. A few weeks ago, when I had joked the Kings had no better than a 25% chance of staying in Sacramento long-term, the editor of Sactown Royalty guessed that I was not in fact too pessimistic, but instead, too optimistic. He felt the Kings ownership was more intent to move the team out of the area to any number of suitors - from Las Vegas, to Anaheim, or even nearby San Jose.
As previously mentioned, with the South Bay's population and influence growing, that region is becoming a big target for potential franchises to set up shop. After many rumors, the Oakland A's are almost certainly preparing to move to Fremont, as close as they can get to San Jose without finding a horse's head in their collective bed, courtesy of the San Francisco Giants. News today states that A's owner Lewis Wolff met with the Fremont City Council and introduced to them the plan to build a $400 million ballpark, tentatively to be named Cisco Field, after the Silicon Valley networking giant.
Just as that news settles, we learn that the San Francisco 49ers are themselves looking to move south, with the team having named Santa Clara as a potential destination. According to the Associated Press, "Owner John York notified Mayor Gavin Newsom of the team's decision earlier (today of plans to leave San Francisco)."
Living in Sunnyvale, we aren't putting up much of a fuss if all these teams are planning to play in our backyard. We aren't the stark traditionalists that some are, and it will significantly cut down on our commuting time, especially to see the A's, if they were to take roost nearby. It should be interesting to see how each of these individual stories unfolds.
Listening to ''Intensify'', by Pete Tong (Play Count: 6)