After Wednesday’s home win at Bonney Field, I sat down with Sacramento Republic FC President Warren Smith. Recently Smith, along with Sacramento Kings President Chris Granger and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, ventured up to Portland during the MLS All-Star game. There they met with Assistant Commissioner Mark Abbot for over an hour and a half, trying to sell the idea of an MLS franchise in Sacramento. I asked him about that, as well as other local projects that the club is involved in.
Grassroots Dispatch: 1 on 1 with Sacramento Republic President Warren Smith
Roger Cleaves – So, obviously you’ve recently made waves with going up to Portland during the MLS All-Star weekend. Do we know any more details about when they will make their visit?
Warren Smith – No, not yet. They’re waiting on the commissioner’s availability, it’ll be in the 3rd or 4th week of [September]. We’re gearing up to do what we can to be ready and make our case.
RC – Also, along those lines, you got this stadium off the ground pretty quickly. 8000 seats, lots of sell outs, the demand is there. What are the plans for next season; I’ve heard 14,000 thrown around.
WS – No, for planning purposes we’ll apply for 14,000 so we don’t have to keep applying over and over. But we’ll probably add a couple thousand seats each year, because we need to keep the supply low. And if we’re fortunate that MLS awards us (a franchise) at the end of this year, we may go up to 14,000 for next season. So the plans are in place to expand up to (14000) which we want to do but I’d rather do 2000 per year for the next 3 years.
RC – So, with your affiliation with the Portland Timbers and San Jose Earthquakes, is that just on the player side or is it also in the front office. I know Portland has loaned a coach to you as well. Are you guys talking with them?
WS – Oh yea, I talked with David Kaval (SJ Earthquakes President) yesterday, and Gavin Wilkinson and I have exchanged phone calls in the last couple days. You know, what I’m amazed at is just how supportive the industry is. Coming from baseball everyone (there) is just so close to the vest, they share a lot less of their best practices. But you know, [soccer] is a sport that’s growing, and they want to grow it right. And they know that this sport has the chance to be the top sport in the country, and they just want to help out. From them, to Real Salt Lake, to [Colorado], and Seattle, all have been great helpers in the front office. The affiliation is to specifically help (Portland and San Jose) with a challenge, since they are getting rid of their reserve squads. So it’s good for them, and good for us. It’s a challenge having two affiliations, since they have different systems. But it’s worked, and I think they’re both happy with the relationship. But yea, we talk about how we can grow the sport together. And I think there’s general support from all those clubs with our goal to get to MLS. Obviously having another team in the west helps them, and we’ll see what happens, but we’ll keep pushing and see what we can do for Sacramento.
RC – So, I look up there and see all of the logos of the youth clubs in the area. You spoke recently in a Reddit AMA about developing new fields around here. Does that also mean you are trying to set up a more permanent base around here for training? I know you’re all Consumnes River College now but are you trying to help with some of these clubs to expand.
WS – First and foremost, we have a lack of supply of infrastructure here. We have 130000 kids who play the sport, and we have teams who literally start their practices at 9 PM because they can’t get field time, so we need more fields. (Sacramento) has two national club players from Sacramento; we should have more.
So we need that infrastructure. We want to help all these clubs build. Davis Legacy is going to add something like nine fields in the next year. Roseville and Lincoln are building 12 new fields. Dry creek is talking about expanding their facilities. Elk Grove is talking about building a complex down there, and there’s a project at Mather Field which is a 40 field multi-sport complex. And we need that. That brings visitors. That brings economics to the region. So we want to help with all of those. But yes, we are currently talking with a club about essentially using one of their fields next year, making it ours, but we probably won’t make that final decision for the next couple of months.
RC – So as a side bar, with all these 130,000 plus players in the region, are you going to have off season camps like some of the MLS teams do?
WS – Yes, we just haven’t had the time to put them together. We’re trying to find a way to meet the need for camps so it’ll be in the fall. Next year we’ll have a lot more robust program. We’ll have a series of both individual position and team wide camps.
RC – Along those lines, with growing the whole region, you look at Portland; a basketball team and a pro soccer team, that’s worked out very well. Now when you look at Orlando you see the same deal; basketball team and soccer team. Do you see those as models to what you’re trying to do here?
WS – Yea and I’d add Real Salt Lake there too. We’re the most under-served professional sports market in the country, behind Orlando. That was written by the Sports Business Journal. When (Orlando) were awarded their franchise we moved to the number one spot.
You know, it’s not brain surgery. What’s the supply what’s the demand, and how do you execute it on the demand. And yea, I think those markets are great examples, and after operating Portland we know the similarities to Portland are pretty astronomical, minus the fact they have a more robust downtown. We’ve got world-class suburban locations, which is a little bit different. But our downtown is booming, and it’s becoming a place where people want to live. So now, with that in place, we can really execute on an MLS facility in downtown.
Everyone looks at Portland and Seattle as great examples, but Real Salt Lake is doing a fantastic job. (They’ve) got more season tickets than any other club right now, highest in sponsorship, and that market is probably more like Sacramento than Portland. And if Orlando can do it, we can do it. No disrespect to them, they’re great people and a strong community. But we’re a better market; we’re so great demographically. So we’ll see; we’ll see what happens.
RC – You were at Portland, when you worked there as well, you saw the fan support there. How does Sacramento’s fan support compare to what you saw there?
WS – When we were there, we went up there to take over the Beavers Triple-A baseball team, and it came with the Timbers. We didn’t know anything about it; it was a requirement to keep them in operation. And we found out it was a little easier to sell soccer tickets than baseball tickets. You’ve got one event every two weeks compared with eight a week with baseball.
When we got there, they had 400 in their supporters group. We’ve got 700 right now, and I think our supporters group is a lot more organized than they were at the time. So we could very easily have a SG of 6000-7000 per match, like they do, I think they have 4000 per match. But it’s a ruckus, and it’s fun. It’s really what makes this an experience. Everyone else goes to watch them and the team. They’re fun to watch and to participate in. But I think our fans, to be honest, have been phenomenal so far.
RC – I grew up here, so it’s exciting to see a local professional soccer team. Can you speak to the market?
WS – Sacramento is such a great market. And I say it… sometimes when I say Sacramento people don’t think I’m talking about Roseville or the surrounding areas, but I’m talking about the general area and the region. And it’s such a great town, such great people, and we deserve more. Your demographic deserves more. We need to build more for them to attract talent to the workforce. So this is just one of those products.
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