Sacramento's bid to land a Major League Soccer team is now in the hands of the people who will decide which of as many as a dozen cities will land the next four expansion teams.
The team from Sacramento, led by sports and entertainment consultant, Kunal Merchant, hand-delivered the large and detailed bid to the League's headquarters in New York.
Lead investor and Republic F.C. owner, Kevin Nagle, says there are a number of factors that make it a strong bid, especially since the stadium in which the new team would play is ready to build as soon as a team is awarded. Nagle says that bid is now even stronger with the addition of Hewlett Packard CEO, Meg Whitman, and her husband, Dr. Griff Harsh, to an ownership group that already includes San Francisco 49ers owner, Jed York.
Photo by Ryan Harris, KFBK
Sacramento will compete against cities, including San Diego, San Antonio, Raleigh, St. Louis, Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg, Nashville and newcomers Indianapolis and Phoenix. "I love all those cities. I've been to all of them, but bring 'em on," Nagle says, "We're Sacramento. We fight, and I think there's no question about it."
Nagle says he believes that even though they've put in a very detailed bid, MLS will have questions, so he expects that it might take the League close to a year to do its due diligence and render its decision, but Nagle says when it awards the next four teams, he's confident Sacramento will be one of them.