The Fortune 500 myth?

[Section 101]

So I got bored and decided to look at the fortune 500 companys.

Some interesting notes.

LA has none in the top 50.

The first one in the LA area is at #57 Walt Disney, BUT their headquarters is in Burbank not Anaheim.

Bay Area has 4 in the top 50.

The first one in the bay area is at #3 Chevron. They have #10 HP, #14 McKesson, #19 Wells Fargo

The bay area has 2 more #52 Safeway and #56 apple before LA area's first. Thats 6 before LA's first for those counting.

There are 23 fortune 500 companies in the LA area.

There are 32 fortune 500 companies in the bay area.

Anaheim has 0 fortune 500 headquarters.

The first one close to Anaheim is Ingram Micro at #80 they are located in Santa Ana, next is First American Corp #361 in Santa Ana.

There is one in Newport Beach, Lake Forest and 3 in Irvine to round out OC.

So that's 7 in OC.

But go look at them for yourself. Tell me which ones are going to forking out money for advertising on the NBA at the Honda Center. And dont forget if they are going to be advertising in sports venues they probably already are for the ducks, angels and the other LA teams to the north.

Looks to me like the bay area has much better companies to work with. I think Sacramento should start hitting some of those up too like chevron who doesnt have an arena named.

Since the Maloofs own so much Wells Fargo stock you would think they would be a bigger sponsor. There is a Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines iowa.

Safeway is out of Pheasanton, Intel has a folsom office.

Just seems like a lot of untapped resources so close.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Good work. I think I'll send this off to the relocation committee members.

 

[Section 101]

Wow. The top cities list really blew my mind. Seems so out of whack.

Cities with 5 or more FORTUNE 500 headquarters.
City State Number of Fortune 500 companies

New York NY 42
Houston TX 24
Dallas TX 12
Atlanta GA 10
Minneapolis MN 10
Chicago IL 9
St. Louis MO 8
San Francisco CA 7
Charlotte NC 6
Cincinnati OH 6
Columbus OH 6
Milwaukee WI 6
Englewood CO 5
Irving TX 5
Los Angeles CA 5
Omaha NE 5
Philadelphia PA 5
Pittsburgh PA 5
Richmond VA 5

 

[Glenn]

Hey, Jim Les, another reason why my comparison of Minneapolis to Sacramento is unfair. I've always known there is a lot of private money there as their museums, concert halls, are put up with big, big, donations from private companies like Target, Pillsbury, Xcel, General Mills, etc. These companies are located all around the immediate area. 19 Fortune 1000 companies are in the area which includes the suburbs despite the demise of a few like NWA. They tend to want their names on little signs as donors to projects like museums, theaters, zoos, concert halls and the like. It's a different world. Actually I am surprised there are so many for such a small area but its a place where private money flows. Between Mpls. and St. Paul there are 1.5 mil people. Take in the suburbs and you may get to 4 mil max which is less than twice as big as the Sacramento area. It acts far bigger than that.

Twin Cities are the 15th biggest media area and Sacramento is 20th. I am not positive as to the ranking but this is good enough for the purposes of what I am saying.

The people are different. It may have to do with the heavy German, Irish, and Scandinavian population (European). It's changing. People are homogeneous in their ancestry. It also may have to do with the weather. People become interdependent. In Minneapolis if you get stuck in the snow, people come to help you out. I have interviewed people looking to relocate and they mention the people. In California if your car breaks down, people whiz by thinking you are going to mug them.

You can always strike up a conversation with a stranger as the weather binds people together.

This is not a criticism of Sacramento. It is meant to be more of an explanation of the uphill battle we have to fight to keep the Kings and perhaps even a bit of "why".

It is what it is and a government town may be sleepier than another kind of town. As a matter of fact, St. Paul (the size of Sacto), the capital of Minnesota, is more a sleepy little town than Minneapolis. Immigrants settled in Minnesota and created communities. That occurred on a grand scale in the Twin Cities with one group settling in St. Paul and another in Minneapolis. The cities at least at their inception were homogeneous.

That is not true in Sacramento. In Sacramento there is no sense of identity - there is no "we-ness" in Sacto. We live in our homes with our carefully walled off pieces of property so we won't be bothered by our neighbors. Where I lived all over the Twin Cities, there were no fences. Just pieces of grass that melded with your neighbor. We knew what was ours to mow, though. Once a neighbor was mowing his lawn and simply did mine also just because he could. (True story) I have shoveled my neighbor's sidewalk because once the snow blower is cranked up, you just keep on truckin.'

Mpls. was once rated the best city to live in by Forbes and Sacramento was listed as one of the 10 worst. Little town Rochester, MN (I grew up in my early years 15 miles from Rochester - that's home to me) was also rated #1 one year. So which comes first, the chicken or the egg, the facilities or the businesses. In the Twin Cities it is the business and probably that's life. On the other hand why would a business have a headquarters in Sacramento where there is nothing to do.

Getting an arena built is going to be very difficult. We start with one foot in a hole. It's unfortunate and to me, a bit sad. I've lived here a long time.

In fact, as my life is at a cross roads and if the Kings leave, I may go home. My filipina wife has never seen snow but she is not against it at all as she has been back there with me - in the summer.

 

[The Hammer]

Glenn,

That's a quaint synopsis, almost makes me want to move there, but I've got one word for you: Comcast.

Yes... for Comcast itself... but more for the example. It doesn't take large base of different companies to get an arena done (and some political cooperation). It takes one or three or four entities that have a large interest in getting it done. We've got two right now: Burkle and Comcast.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Glenn,

That's a quaint synopsis, almost makes me want to move there, but I've got one word for you: Comcast.

Yes... for Comcast itself... but more for the example. It doesn't take large base of different companies to get an arena done (and some political cooperation). It takes one or three or four entities that have a large interest in getting it done. We've got two right now: Burkle and Comcast.

Has anything other than that one FOX report said that Comcast is actually involved, though?

 

[The Hammer]

Quaint? Fact.

I didn't mean quaint as insulting. The place sounds quaint.

 

[The Hammer]

Has anything other than that one FOX report said that Comcast is actually involved, though?

You mean the one with direct quotes from high ranking executives?

And it didn't say they were "involved". The report was that they'd reached out to some key people and that they'd "like to be part of the process".

Oh and Universal is the other one.... or are they the same thing these days? I can't keep up with the media globulations anymore.

 

[Glenn]

The place IS quaint, as you put it. I love it and never will identify myself as a Californian. I will classify myself as a Kings fan but I never will owe any kind of allegiance to this area. Yes, check it out.

 

[PurpleHaze]

Hey, The people are different there also. It may have to do with the heavy German, Irish, and Scandinavian population (European) but also may have to do with the weather. People become interdependent. In Minneapolis if you get stuck in the snow, people come to help you out. I have interviewed people looking to relocate and they mention the people. In California if your car breaks down, people whiz by thinking you are going to mug them.

Mpls was once rated the best city to live in by Forbes and Sacramento was listed as one of the 10 worst. So which comes first, the chicken or the egg, the facilities or the businesses. In the Twin Cities it is the bsiness and probably that's life. On the other hand why would a business have a headquarters in Sacramento where there is nothing to do. Getting an arena built is going to be very difficult.

And here's more reasons WHY. Regarding differences I will tell you this for sure. While SoCal has plenty of negatives as does Sactown, people down in the southland smile a lot more than up here (in Sac and NorCal in general). Of course, you can say they have an alterior motive and maybe are looking to scam you, or even sleep with you, if they think you might be a rich movie star. I've never seen a muni bus driver in San Francisco smile for even a split second and I can go on comparing SoCal to NorCal.

Forbes is a business magazine. When they rate Sacramento as one of the ten worst places - it's all about the overall biz climate. The skyline of Mpls is very, very impressive - I've seen it. Sacramento's boring skyline has barely changed at all in a quarter century since its tallest building was completed in 1986 - the 32 story downtown Wells Fargo Center. Even after it was built the esteemed, brilliant minds of City Council refused to allow Wells Fargo to put its name or corporate logo on top of their building. "It would be too much like LA, a bad local presedent," the anti-biz crowd howled. No way Wells Fargo Bank rudely insulted after delivering a jewel to the Capital City would ever allow their corporate headquarters in sad Sac. So it's much less about "nothing to do here" (although that's damn sure true) and more about pathetic, horrible attitude of staunchly pro-government, obviously anti-business political structure.

Finally, if a new sports and entertainment arena EVER gets built in cow dung pasture, small-minded Sacramento - it will be a major miracle of all-time Sac miracles. Since the last attempt to build a sports stadium ended up nowhere until West Sacramento stepped up to build Raley Field, don't be surprised if a place like Fairfield/Vacaville or Stockton/Modesto or up in El Dorado/Placer do something before frozen in time Sac city gets off their stinking pot.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

You mean the one with direct quotes from high ranking executives?

And it didn't say they were "involved". The report was that they'd reached out to some key people and that they'd "like to be part of the process".

Oh and Universal is the other one.... or are they the same thing these days? I can't keep up with the media globulations anymore.

What I'm wondering is if there were any other sources about Comcast wanting to be involved. I just don't trust FOX after what Crandall pulled.

 

[The Hammer]

What I'm wondering is if there were any other sources about Comcast wanting to be involved. I just don't trust FOX after what Crandall pulled.

I hear you. And not to my knowledge.

And Glenn--

Really do think Minny is a cool place... but they lost their hockey team partially over stadium issues, correct?

 

[Glenn]

Since the last attempt to build a sports stadium ended up nowhere until West Sacramento stepped up to build Raley Field, don't be surprised if a place like Fairfield/Vacaville or Stockton/Modesto or up in El Dorado/Placer do something before frozen in time Sac city gets off their stinking pot.

For those of you out of state and out of country, Yolo County houses Raley Field. Yolo County has no cities and people tend to look at West Sac as a tough area of little import. It's across the river from Sacramento County and is very close to downtown Sacramento. With this small example of who built Raley Field, Yolo seems to be in a different time zone. Hate to say it.

 

[Siranthony]

I thought the 76ers played in the Wells Fargo center.

 

[PurpleHaze]

I thought the 76ers played in the Wells Fargo center.

They do. The Sixers arena was called Wachovia Center until Wells Fargo Bank purchased Wachovia and merged that financial institution into their operations.

 

[Section 101]

They do. The Sixers arena was called Wachovia Center until Wells Fargo Bank purchased Wachovia and merged that financial institution into their operations.

I just based it of google. That's the one that came up.

 

[sauce-26]

I hear you. And not to my knowledge.

And Glenn--

Really do think Minny is a cool place... but they lost their hockey team partially over stadium issues, correct?

Lost their hockey team?

 

[hoopsfan]

^^Minnesota NorthStars went to Dallas.

 

[Glenn]

I hear you. And not to my knowledge.

And Glenn--

Really do think Minny is a cool place... but they lost their hockey team partially over stadium issues, correct?

I have no idea. They have an NHL hockey team now playing in a venue that ESPN in 2004 said was the best sports venue in the country. They have a baseball team and football team that have been there since 1960.

 

[bozzwell]

You can keep your Fortune 500 companies/headquarters and give me government and lobbyist any day.

One of the most valuable (#4) sports franchises in the World is Washington Redskins - based in DC.

California accounts for 13% of US economy and CA governament spends about $140 bil a year.

There is certainly a lot of people and companies (including all those F500 companies from LA and SF areas) who want to curry favors in Sacramento. Why not do it at an NBA game?

 

[Jim Les]

Hey, Jim Les, another reason why my comparison of Minneapolis to Sacramento is unfair. I've always known there is a lot of private money there as their museums, concert halls, are put up with big, big, donations from private ....

Interesting stuff. I don't know much (nothing, really) about Minn/St. Paul, but it sounds like it has benefited greatly from private interests? I'll have to look this up later when I have a little time.

One thing I will say about Sacramento, is that it doesn't really have the corporate backing of wealthier cities, and it's pretty much a working class town. And I'll agree with your assessment that people in Sac (and NorCal in general) are rude. And people feel entitled to that outward personality, for whatever reason. They're a-holes, really. I'm from Sac, and I'm an a-hole through and through (I'm constantly reminded of this fact from my non-NorCal friends). In general, I think these conditions make growth pretty difficult. Sometimes I wonder if Sacramento needs a big-time mayor, an almost mob-like figure who has an agenda and sees it through with or without public support. Here in Chicago, much of the cities growth and stability over the years is owed to mayor Richard Daley (although he committed some pretty terrible planning acts in order to secure the haves from the have-nots). Many American cities initially saw their growth due to the will power of political heavyweights (with a large dose of political corruption ). Sacramento tries too hard to politically abstain from the methods bigger cities utilize to see that initial growth, and without the influx of corporate dollars, nothing ever gets done. It's weird. I don't know how else to describe, other than it being "weird."

Maybe Lukenbill got it right when he said Sacramento is a city without an identity.