Sacramento is seeking to become an expansion city for Major League Soccer. Multiple news outlets are reporting that a major presentation was made to MLS on Thursday at league meetings in Portland. The presentation included Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, Kings president Chris Granger and Sacramento Republic FC president Warren Smith.

Sacramento Republic FC is a minor league soccer franchise that has taken the area by storm. The team has drawn as many as 20,000 fans to its games. The team is consistently selling out its 8000 seat temporary stadium at Cal Expo.

In recent days, a new twist to the quest for a franchise has come to light. It has been reported that the ownership of the Sacramento Kings would like to buy or buy into the Republic FC. Those reports seem to have been substantiated by the presence of Kings president Chris Granger at the Wednesday meeting in Portland.

Several sites for a soccer stadium in the Sacramento area have been identified. The old Southern Pacific rail yards north of downtown, a parcel at 16th and R streets in Midtown and the Cal Expo grounds are three of the five possible sites for a stadium. 

Reports have a committee from the MLS coming to Sacramento as early as next week to survey the sites and continue talks on an expansion team.

Other cities said to be seeking an expansion franchise are Las Vegas and Minneapolis. Sacramento would provide a market area that is in between the larger Twin Cities and the smaller Las Vegas. 

The looming question is how would a stadium be financed? After years of trying, the downtown arena project is underway. The City of Sacramento has committed some $250-million to that building. It would appear that a soccer stadium would require a majority of its funding to come from private sources with the city possibly providing land and some infrastructure assistance. The possible involvement of the Kings ownership group certainly increases the chances of private funds being made available for such a project.

Information from KCRA, News 10 and CBS-Sacramento was used in this report