The second half of the 1980s was an exhilarating time in Sacramento’s sports history.

The Kings played to sellout crowds on their arrival in 1985. Local business leaders engaged in discussions with Al Davis about bringing the Raiders to Sacramento. The Committee to Attract Major Professional Sports to Sacramento (CHAMPS) was pursuing major-league baseball. The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce identified “franchise acquisition” as its second-highest priority behind air quality.

From that can-do atmosphere emerged the Sacramento Sports Commission. Joe Serna, a city councilman who later became mayor, believed sports could and should play a role in the revitalization of Sacramento.

“Arco Arena was new, the Kings were new, we had just built the Convention Center,” said Sam Burns, former director of the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It was a time when things really needed to be done, and we had ambitious people involved at every level. The Sports Commission fell in line with that.”

Sports commissions were a new concept in 1988. But Serna convinced other elected officials that Sacramento needed a framework with political backing if they were serious about pursuing big sporting events.

Serna was the first chairman of the Sacramento Sports Commission, which was initially administered by the City Department of Parks and Recreation. The commission consisted of five members when it was formed in late 1988.

“When we originally came up with the idea for a sports commission, it was to fill hotel rooms and restaurants,” said former City Manager Bob Thomas, the director of Parks and Recreation at the time of the Sports Commission’s formation. “It was an economic development decision.”

Twenty years, Thomas and others proclaim the venture an unqualified success.

“They’ve done a remarkable job,” Thomas said. “Their track record has shown that the initial confidence was justified.”

The Sports Commission and its non-profit arm, the Sacramento Region Sports Education Foundation, were responsible for bringing the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials to Sacramento. The Sports Commission and SRSEF also landed the 1995 U.S. Gymnastics Championships, three NCAA men’s basketball tournaments, four NCAA track championship meets, one NCAA women’s volleyball final and successive Amgen Tour of California cycling races.

“The Sports Commission has come a long way in its 20 years,” said Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo. “They’ve demonstrated to the world the ability to attract and major events strongly supported by our residents.”

Roger Dickinson, a longstanding member of the County Board of Supervisors, said Sacramento has benefited greatly from Sports Commission events.

“Thanks to the major sporting events that the Sacramento Sports Commission has hosted over the last 20 years, Sacramentans have enjoyed the performances of the finest athletes in the country,” Dickinson said. “The community has received an economic injection, and Sacramento has been favorably featured throughout the world.”

In the last 14 years, the Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates that $4.1 million in funding that SRSEF received resulted in an economic impact of $70.1 million – a return of $16.4 on each dollar invested.

“We’ve not only brought millions of dollars into the city but enhanced the livability of the community,” said Cleve Livingston, an attorney who spearheaded the formation of SRSEF in 1998. “It’s been a pretty remarkable run.”

Matt Campbell, a former chairman of CHAMPS who later served in the same role with the Sports Commission, remembers some resentment among his CHAMPS colleagues.

“They said, ‘You can’t do this. You can’t let the politicians get involved,’” Campbell said. “But Joe Serna wanted to form a group that would officially represent Sacramento.”

It took several years for the Sports Commission to hit its stride. The SSC organized a pre-Olympic boxing match at Arco Arena featuring a young fighter named Oscar De La Hoya. In 1996, the first U.S. Olympic women’s softball team played an exhibition game in Sacramento.

But the first big step came when the Sports Commission bid for the 1992 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials. Al Baeta, the longtime American River College track and cross country coach, used his influence on the Sports Commission to go after the biggest track meet in the country.

“Al Baeta planted a bug in Joe Serna’s ear that we needed to bring a broader brush to the commission’s efforts, to bring other sports into the mix,” said Ron Radigonda, the Sports Commission’s first executive director. “That was the event that put the commission on the radar screen.”

While Sacramento lost out to New Orleans, the effort led to bringing the 1995 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships to Hughes Stadium. The year before, Burns hired John McCasey as the Sports Commission’s executive director. The commission was administered by the CVB at the time.

McCasey had helped the University of Pacific run the 1994 NCAA men’s basketball tournament at Arco Arena.

“The commission didn’t really find its purpose for a few years – to bring in sporting events to benefit the economy,” said Greg Van Dusen, a former Kings official and member of the Sports Commission. “When John came in as executive director, we were able to redefine the mission. We began to systematically match available events with facilities.

“Once we figured out what matched, we went after events aggressively – the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, the Olympic Trials,” Van Dusen said.

The 2000 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials represented a major breakthrough for the Sports Commission. Stockton developer Alex Spanos donated $1 million to upgrade the facility at Sacramento State, and Sacramento was awarded the 2000 Trials over New Orleans and Houston in late 1997.

A byproduct of the successful Trials bid was the formation of the Sacramento Region Sports Education Foundation, the 501(c)(3) responsible for raising funds and managing Sports Commission events.

“We needed an organization that could take on the responsibility as well as liability of running major events,” Livingston said. “By creating SRSEF, we gave the Sports Commission the tools it needed to expand its reach.”

The 2000 Olympic Trials broke all previous attendance records, averaging 23,000 spectators for each of the eight days of competition. The cost of staging such a large event for the first time led to a budget shortfall of nearly $1 million, but city and county officials supported the Sports Commission’s successful bid for the 2004 Trials.

“The event lost money, but there was enough confidence in the organization that the city and county chose to re-invest,” said Thomas, the Sacramento City Manager during both Olympic Trials.

The success of the 2000 Trials led to a stunning succession of other track events – the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials, the 2001 Junior Olympics and four NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships (2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007).

“We really transformed Sacramento into the track and field capital of the country,” Livingston said. “And we built an event management capability that’s second to none in the public sector.”

Sacramento lost its bid for a three straight Olympic Trials when Eugene, Ore., backed Nike, was awarded the 2008 event.

“I think the only reason we didn’t get it a third time was due to Nike’s money,” Campbell said. “But it was Sacramento that took the Trials to a new level.”

In addition to becoming the first city in 24 years to host successive Olympic Trials, the Sports Commission has made Sacramento a perennial site for NCAA events. Sacramento was awarded an unprecedented three straight NCAA track meets and served as the site for the NCAA men’s basketball regions in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006. The 2007 NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship at Arco Arena attracted the second-largest crowd in the event’s history.

The Amgen Tour of California made Sacramento one of its host cities in 2007 and returned in 2008. The Tour of California is strongly considering Sacramento as its start city in 2009. The World Masters Association Outdoor Track and Field Championships – an event with an estimated economic impact of $20 million – is coming to Sacramento in 2011.

“When the commission can bring in NCAA events and bike races, you can really showcase your city,” said Radigonda, now the executive director of USA Softball. “Sacramento has certainly gotten some prized property.”

The Sports Commission also succeeded in attracting the 2009 IRA rowing championships, marking just the second time in the event’s long history that it was held in the western United States.

“We made our name with the Olympic Trials, but I think our success in attracting a wide variety of major events is equally significant,” McCasey said. “It’s been a true partnership involving the city and county, the Convention & Visitors Bureau, the people at Sacramento State and Arco Arena, the business community.

“Believe me, that broad-based support is a major factor in convincing national governing bodies to trust us with their events,” McCasey said.