Grassroots group aims to prove Sacramento’s baseball zeal, convince MLB skeptics
.JPG "Supporters applaud as Sacramento regional leaders announce the region’s bid to secure a Major League Baseball expansion team during a news conference at Drake's The Barn in West Sacramento on Thursday, May 28, 2026.")
When Sacramento was at risk of losing the Kings, some of the key forces fighting to keep pro basketball in town were the fans. They arranged sellouts at Arco Arena and packed city council meetings when critical decisions were up for discussion.
In that same spirit — and with some of the same people — a grassroots group has emerged to lobby from the community level for West Sacramento’s pursuit of a Major League Baseball franchise.
About 100 people had signed up to join the effort as of Thursday morning, and dozens showed up to support regional leaders’ official launch of an MLB expansion bid. And their ranks are sure to grow, said Matt McDonald, the group’s co-founder, a lifelong A’s fan and lobbyist for the California Apartment Association.
“We literally just started today,” he said.
Over the next few years, the group — the “Rivercities Baseball Initiative,” or “RBI” — will attempt to demonstrate to local policymakers and to the league that there is enough enthusiastic fan support here to support a permanent MLB team.
“I think our biggest role is to convince skeptics,” McDonald said. “That the positives of this project, and what it brings to the region, are astronomically better than any criticism that you could levy.”
The effort echoes other groups who have fought, over decades, to bring professional teams to Sacramento — or prevent franchises from leaving.
In 1987, the Sacramento Sports Association — led by former Kings owner Gregg Lukenbill — organized the so-called “March on Baseball,” a caravan of 21,000 sports fans who attended an Oakland A’s game to demonstrate the region’s appetite for major-league ball.
In the 2010s, during the uncertainty over the Kings’ future, the Crown Downtown group brought dozens of people to city council on evenings when Kings-related matters were on the agenda, and waited hours for a chance to speak publicly in favor of efforts to keep the team in Sacramento, per The Bee archives.
“We were teachers, nurses, construction workers, retirees, just everyday people,” Crown Downtown Co-founder Mike Tavares told The Bee in 2016, “and our message was that keeping the Kings and getting an arena was bigger than basketball. It was about concerts, events, economic energy, and revitalizing downtown. We wanted this arena downtown.”
Tavares was one of a dozen Kings fans who flew to Dallas, in 2013, to await the NBA board of governors’ decision to keep the team in Sacramento. He also, in 2014, was among about 50 people who showed up at the airport to welcome Major League Soccer officials to Sacramento, during a visit to evaluate the region for a possible expansion franchise.
A veterans’ counselor by day, Tavares is now also a co-founder of the Rivercity Baseball Initiative, along with McDonald.
Like the Kings’ saga, he views expansion as an effort larger than any sport, Tavares said. It’s also about ancillary events at the sports venues, creating jobs and bringing vibrancy to the region.
“This is more than just a ballpark and a team. It’s about developing the riverside, for both sides of the river. The temporary, full-time jobs, tourism and civic pride,” Tavares said Thursday.
Rivercity Baseball Initiative members wore T-shirts celebrating their group, and chanted “Sacramento” as civic leaders closed out a press conference launching the region’s MLB bid.
“These are just regular baseball fans and regular, Sacramento, community-oriented people,” McDonald said. “Who want to make this happen.”
They launched a website late Wednesday night to try to recruit more, with a signup form for people to receive updates on the group’s efforts.
McDonald and Tavares acknowledged that their effort has its doubters. But they viewed the Thursday announcements a victory. Plus, the greater Sacramento area has a larger population than some of its competitors in expansion, and a strong TV market, McDonald said.
“Too often, the skeptics and the naysayers win the day,” McDonald said. “If you look at the metrics, we’re not underdogs. The only thing that makes us underdogs is our willingness to let critics dominate the conversation.”
West Sacramento’s pursuit of Major League Baseball will be a long-term proposition — and so will the grassroots effort. The league has not formally begun an expansion process. The league’s commissioner has said he wants a process in place to expand the league by the time he retires, expected in 2029.
“This is not going to be a sprint, like the Kings relocation saga. This will be a marathon,” Tavares said. “Sacramento, why can’t we put our name in there? Let’s do it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
