Quakes’ next foe has major ambitions
It’s no California Clasico — not yet, anyway — but if Warren Smith has anything to say about it, the Earthquakes soon might have a new rival just up the road.
Smith is the president and co-founder of Sacramento Republic FC, a member of the third-tier United Soccer League, which slots beneath Major League Soccer and the North American Soccer League in the U.S. soccer pyramid.
Republic isn’t quite ready to challenge the L.A. Galaxy as San Jose’s principal rival, but Smith and Co. have big ambitions — including joining the MLS — especially after winning the USL title during their debut season a year ago.
“It’s important to the league to have significant rivalries,” Smith said. “You can see what Portland and Seattle have created, and we think that we can create that here.”
Republic’s road to the MLS continues Tuesday when it takes on the Quakes in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup at Avaya Stadium.
Though Sacramento has not won in its five meetings with the Quakes since 2014, it has made steady progress, falling 2-1 during last year’s Open.
The matchup is part of the appeal of the Open, a nationwide free-for-all that pits teams from several levels of U.S. soccer against each other.
It’s a formula that allowed amateur squad Dallas Roma FC of the North Texas Premier Soccer Association to knock off now-defunct MLS team Chivas USA in 2006. The Michigan Bucks have earned themselves a David-like reputation for knocking down the MLS’ Chicago Fire in 2012.
Just don’t mistake Republic for an amateur operation.
Sacramento has been playing to MLS-size crowds since its inception in 2014, when the team’s inaugural home game at Hughes Stadium drew more than 20,000 fans to shatter USL attendance records, before moving to Cal Expo’s Bonney Field early in the season.
“We knew in the market that we could sell roughly 5,000 season tickets (our first season), which is a very strong number,” Smith said. “We finished at 5,689, and season tickets are really the driver for pro sports. It lays the foundation for everything else that you do and takes a lot of the risk out of it.”
The enthusiasm hasn’t slowed.
Republic led the USL in average attendance last season, drawing more than 11,000 fans to Hughes and Bonney Field for each of its 14 home games.
Its closest competitor, the Rochester (N.Y.) Rhinos, managed half that, a fact that Smith attributes to Sacramento’s burgeoning soccer scene.
“We’re the most underserved pro-sports market in the country,” Smith said. “We’ve just got a huge, huge participation level in soccer.”
For his part, Quakes President David Kaval was one of the first to notice.
“I’ve always felt that Sacramento has a great and vibrant sports community and fan base, especially a sport like soccer that’s a little more grass roots,” Kaval said. “It’s something that connects to the community in a really positive way.”
San Jose was quick to establish a relationship with its USL neighbors, one that has seen multiple Quakes players loaned to Republic, a dynamic that echoes Major League Baseball’s development structure.
Young Quakes players including J.J. Koval, Tommy Thompson and Adam Jahn have spent time with Republic, and Kaval says that he has plenty of faith in the club’s ability to develop MLS players.
“I think it’s great to be able to have an affiliate like that,” Kaval said. “We hope that continues to build soccer in that community.”
Smith’s business plan calls for the club’s quick rise to continue.
“Our original game plan was just focus on Year 1, attendance, and then Year 3, be able to acquire an MLS franchise, and Year 5 open up a downtown stadium,” he said. “That’s still our plan.”
MLS dealt Republic a bit of a setback this year, passing over Sacramento in its most recent round of expansion and awarding franchises to Minnesota and Atlanta instead.
“They were very honest with us,” Smith said. “We knew that it was a high likelihood that they would go that route.”
Republic will move into a new stadium regardless, after securing a downtown Sacramento site for a 20,000-seat facility.
But for now, the team is focused on the task at hand: advancing past its MLS counterpart in the Open on Tuesday.
“I think the thing I love about this sport is that everybody’s interested in the same thing, and that is to continue its growth and continue its momentum-building,” Smith said. “Any chance that we have to play a team that’s 120 miles away, that’s a great thing.”
“I think the thing I love about this sport is that everybody’s interested in the same thing, and that is to continue its growth.” Warren Smith, president and co-founder of Sacramento Republic FC