Republic FC CEO Kevin Nagle to be named ‘Sacramentan of the Year’ by Metro Chamber
Kevin Nagle, CEO and key investor in the Sacramento Republic FC soccer team, will be named 2019’s ‘Sacramentan of the Year’ by the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce in January.
Nagle, a minority owner of the Sacramento Kings and an El Dorado Hills-based businessman, recently helped usher in a Major League Soccer expansion for Republic FC, a feat that the Metro Chamber will honor at its 125th annual business awards ceremony.
“When the region needed an advocate, Kevin stepped up without hesitation. He has answered the call to energize and invigorate our business community around two franchises that our community loves,” Metro Chamber president and CEO Amanda Blackwood said in a prepared statement.
Over the last few years, Nagle has invested millions of dollars into the United Soccer League team with his eyes set on an MLS expansion deal.
Sacramento Bee columnist Marcos Breton wrote last month that Nagle “should go down in local history as the indispensable man whose commitment and financial resources kept Sacramento’s MLS dream alive when it easily could have died. Nagle took Sacramento Republic FC from a scrappy startup team playing minor league soccer at the state fairgrounds to an organization granted entry into America’s premier soccer league.”
Before joining Republic FC, Nagle founded and sold off pharmaceutical companies and helped ensure that the Kings would stay in Sacramento by investing in the NBA team when it was threatened with relocation to Seattle, according to previous reporting by The Sacramento Bee.
“He recognized the growth of American soccer and thought it was the most realistic sport to bring to a diverse Sacramento population that is passionate about soccer,” Breton wrote of Nagle. “He loves the city, loves the region and his put his own money behind ventures that have made Sacramento better.”
Metro Chamber’s Annual Dinner & Business Awards will be held Jan. 31 at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento, 1209 L St.