A couple of days ago, reports came out that California high-speed rail officials were seeking some or all of the $2.43 billion in federal funding Florida recently relinquished. California has been working to build a high-speed rail system that would connect San Francisco with Fresno, Los Angeles and San Diego. This rail system would allow folks to make the 400+ mil trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles in under three hours. Folks can obviously make an even shorter plane flight, but if the price is right, maybe folks will start using this rail system. And that $2.43 billion could be key given the financial difficulties in California at the moment.
Financial issues aside, if this high-speed rail system was successfully implemented, one has to wonder the potential impact it could have on sports fans in the state. I mention this here in part because of the potential for a Los Angeles-based football team. I guess I could be off base with this, but does anybody else see the potential for expanding fan bases? I don't think it would have as much of an effect on the other three major sports (NBA, NHL, MLB) given the volume of games, but it seems like this could benefit football teams across California.
This is still many years off so I won't try and over-exaggerate the potential value of this system. Nonetheless, I think this is a system that could positively impact professional sports in California. As Avi mentioned, a lot of Bay Area folks relocate to Southern California, and vice versa. I know of numerous people who live in SoCal but love the 49ers and make the trip up for home games. Could this increase that number?