Borrowed with permission from our friend Jimmer Ham at Cowbell Kingdom.

At a 10am press conference this morning, the Think Big Sacramento council announced a new and exciting way for the impassioned citizens of the greater Sacramento area to get involved in the building of the new Entertainment and Sports Complex (ESC).  In the past, the focus has been on blue ribbon groups of political and business leaders.  This new campaign is looked at as an extension of the grass roots efforts of groups like Here We Stay and Here We Build, turning to regular citizens for help in educating the masses.

People from all over the greater Sacramento area can submit an application to be one of a group of Citizen Architects.  The Citizen Architects will be chosen by the Think Big committee who are looking for applicants "who best capture the spirit and regional diversity of the initiative."  After some training, these citizens will enter their own neighborhoods and communities to educate friends, family, co-workers and neighbors on the non-basketball benefits associated with the new ESC.  There are some other exciting aspects of the program, including a contest to design an architectural feature for the new facility.

The deadline to apply is 5pm on July 18th with the Citizen Architects being announced on July 21st.

Keeping the momentum going for a new Entertainment and Sports Complex is crucial, even more so with the NBA in lockout mode.  If ever there was a time to step up and take some ownership of this fight Kings fans, this is your chance.  Cowbell Kingdom would love for some of its members to take on this challenge.  If you are selected, we will dedicate a special section of CK to honor and thank you for your involvement in the project.

You can follow the progress of this program at www.thinkbigsacramento.org or on twitter @ThinkBigSacto.