When Vivek Ranadivé bought the Kings last year, he promised that he would continue to invest in the city of Sacramento. Now it seems he could be responsible for not just saving the NBA in Sacramento, but also bringing in Major League Soccer.

Marcos Breton broke the news last night that the Kings are in discussions to buy the Sacramento Republic FC, the USL Pro league team that is in the midst of an inaugural season that has seen sellout after sellout. After 21 games, the Republic are currently 3rd in the league behind just the Richmond Kickers and Orlando City FC. Orlando City FC is set to join Major League Soccer next season.

Per Breton, the Kings are set to meet in Portland with MLS officials this week.

The Republic, owned by former Sacramento River Cats exec Warren Smith, have made no attempts to hide the fact that they have MLS ambitions. Major League soccer has indicated that they want to expand to 24 teams (up from 22) by 2020. One of the big factors in deciding which city gets a team will of course be whether MLS thinks the city will support a team, and so far, the Republic have definitely done that, drawing over 118,000 total fans in their first 9 home games, which surpasses the attendance record set last year by Orlando by over 6,000. It's also above average attendance even when compared to MLS teams.

Ranadivé and the Kings also bring in deep pockets and major league experience to the table, another big factor. Breton reports that the Republic are hoping to have a new ownership structure and outline of a stadium plan in place by September, when the MLS Board of Governors next meet. There's no current planned location for the stadium, but you can't help but wonder if this could be a project to cross another checkmark off Mayor Kevin Johnson's list: developing the railyards. There's also set to be a bunch of land available in Natomas in 2016 when the Kings move out of Sleep Train arena and move into their new digs downtown. The Republic are currently playing at the newly constructed Bonney Field at Cal Expo, which seats about 8,000. Current MLS stadiums typically have about 20,000 seating capacity, although San Jose's Buck Shaw Stadium seats just 10,525.