Sacramento City Council to vote on new Republic stadium project in railyard. Will it pass?
A key checkpoint is coming Tuesday for the new $217 million soccer stadium project in Sacramento’s downtown railyard that was announced by the mayor and Sacramento Republic last week.
The Sacramento City Council during its 5 p.m. meeting will vote on the preliminary term sheet for the project to determine whether to continue with the plan that includes a new 12,000-seat stadium and entertainment district on a 31-acre plot on the eastern end of the railyard just north of downtown. The team hopes the stadium will be built in time for the 2027 season.
The term sheet is a non-binding document that outlines the terms and conditions of the plan put together by Republic FC and the city.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg has indicated he expects to get a majority vote from the council members to approve. Many of the city council members who will vote Tuesday attended Thursday’s news conference at City Hall announcing the term sheet.
“I am hopeful. I never take anything for granted, but relatively confident that it will pass overwhelmingly,” Steinberg said Thursday.
Approving the non-binding term sheet will set the framework and process for the team, the city and the owner of the railyard property to continue negotiations toward finalizing the project.
Key to the project was Republic FC landing a new majority stakeholder in the club: the Wilton Rancheria tribe, owners of the Sky River Casino in Elk Grove.
The next key checkpoint will be the sale of the land for the stadium from Downtown Railyard Venture LLC to Indomitable Ventures LLC, which is comprised of Wilton Rancheria and the soccer team. According to a city staff report, both sides have already reached a tentative agreement on the sale.
Once the sale closes, the team expects to present a formal architectural plan to the city and break ground at some point next year.
In addition to the stadium, there are plans for an adjoining entertainment district that will include a hotel, housing, entertainment, restaurants and mixed-use spaces on the 31-acre plot at the corner of North B and Seventh streets on the eastern end of the railyard.
Included in the term sheet is a plan for the city to reimburse the team and Downtown Railyard Venture for infrastructure costs of roughly $95 million that will be paid initially by property taxes stemming from the project. The stadium is said to be privately financed while the mayor has said it won’t require any money from the city’s general fund or new taxes.
This story was originally published November 11, 2024 at 3:17 PM.
