Sacramento council clears way for Railyards soccer stadium, approving Republic FC term sheet
The construction of a new 12,000-seat soccer stadium for Sacramento Republic FC in the downtown Railyards took another step toward fruition.
Sacramento City Council on Tuesday voted to approve a preliminary term sheet agreed to by Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s office, Republic FC and Downtown Railyard Venture to move forward with a construction plan first made public last week.
The term sheet is centered on the development of a 31-acre plot on the eastern portion of the Railyards east of Seventh Street and south of North B Street. Fourteen acres are earmarked for the stadium and the remaining 17 acres include plans for adjacent development, including a possible hotel, housing and commercial real estate.
The nine-member City Council voted 8-0 to approve the term sheet. Councilmember Karina Talamantes was absent.
Once the vote was finalized, roughly 30 Republic FC fans in attendance, a handful of whom spoke to the council in support of the vote, began the “Vamos Republic” chant regularly heard at their games.
“This is a historic night in Sacramento,” Steinberg said afterward, speaking to reporters with his arm over the shoulder of Jesus Tarango Jr., the chairman of the Wilton Rancheria Native American tribe.
The deal was made possible by the announcement last week that Wilton Rancheria bought a majority stake of Republic FC from chairman Kevin Nagle and will be the primary financier for the stadium, which is expected to cost roughly $217 million while the entire project, including the entertainment district in the Railyards, will cost $321 million.
“Our job is to build a modern city that has something for everyone,” Steinberg continued. “That has more sports, more art, more theater, more music, more vitality, more things to do, more places for people to go and to do so ina way that includes everybody.”
The term sheet is non-binding and works as a “good-faith agreement and guideline” for the project, according to the council’s report. A more binding version of the term sheet and plan for the Railyards will be agreed upon midway through 2025, as discussed during Tuesday’s vote.
The terms of the ownership transaction were not disclosed. It marks the first time a Native American tribe has taken a majority stake in a men’s professional sports team.
Tarango, the Wilton Rancheria Tribal Council, Nagle and president and general manager Todd Dunivant were among the team officials in attendance.
Wilton Rancheria and Republic FC combined to form a corporate entity called “Indomitable,” playing off the soccer team’s nickname, “The Indomitable Club.”
“We are not just investing in a sports venue,” Tarango said in a presentation to the City Council. “We are investing in the heart of our community, in the future of our youth and in a legacy of unit that would endure for generations to come.”
The approval of the term sheet is expected to expedite the sale of the land from Downtown Railyard Venture to Indomitable, and formalize the process towards breaking ground on the stadium in 2025. The team hopes to have the stadium built in time for the start of its 2027 season that begins in March, while the entertainment district could open in late 2026.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said in a recent interview with The Sacramento Bee the entertainment district could imitate Downtown Commons and the project could have a similar impact as the development of Golden 1 Center, the Kings’ home arena that opened in 2016.
“This ancillary development, which probably doesn’t do it justice, but the opportunity for a second DoCo, or maybe even a grander DoCo, with a hotel, housing, entertainment, food, mixed use, over half of the acreage is going to be available for that complementary development, in addition to the 12,000-seat, expandable soccer stadium,” Steinberg said.
The stadium is expected to be expandable to some 20,000 seats to accommodate Major League Soccer should Sacramento be rewarded with an expansion team in the future. However, the league has not indicated expansion beyond 30 teams is imminent after awarding San Diego with a new team that’s expected to begin play in 2025.
The team has said it wants to build a new stadium regardless of whether it remains in the second-tier United Soccer League or makes the jump to MLS. Steinberg said the new stadium would make Sacramento’s possible MLS bid “turnkey.” The MLS awarded Sacramento an expansion team in 2019, with plans for a new Railyards stadium, but lead investor Ron Burkle backed out in 2021 amid slumping business during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officials have said this is the furthest the Railyards stadium project has gotten since Burkle backed out after the idea was initially conceived eight years ago.
“In the end, (it’s) probably over a billion dollar investment in our downtown Sacramento, billion dollars worth of investment and big projects,” Steinberg said before Tuesday’s vote.
The stadium project was one of two term sheets that were approved. The first outlined an agreement between Indomitable and the city, and the second was for an agreement between DRV and the city, which included a plan to build out the historic central shops and potential 3,600-seat concert venue at the “Paint Shop.” The Paint Shop will host concerts, festivals and other community events.
While every member of City Council voted to approve the preliminary term sheet, Councilmember Katie Valenzuela said she hoped the more finalized agreement coming in 2025 would include more community benefits than the initial term sheet presented.
“These big projects do have impact,” Valenzuela said during the meeting. “It’s not always good. Sometimes you see displacement, sometimes you see people not get jobs, sometimes we see kids not get access. And that’s why we have these processes in public spaces, so when we approve public financing, we’re talking about public benefit in a really direct way.
“And I was disappointed when I read the language of this, that we felt like we paid a lot less attention to the to the community benefits piece in this than we have with other EIFDs (Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts) that are smaller than this.”
Steinberg agreed with Valenzuela’s sentiment, but suggested those specifics be discussed later in the approval process for the final plan.
Valenzuela, who lost her bid for re-election in the March primary to Phil Pluckebaum and will not be on the council in 2025, also pushed for a motion against fossil fuel companies being able to bid on the stadium’s naming rights.
How will Sacramento finance stadium project?
The city has said the project will be privately financed from Indomitable and the DRV, while a key point for financing is the city’s effort to create an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) that would allow the city to reimburse Indomitable and Downtown Railyard Venture for costs associated with public infrastructure improvements.
The city plans to use property taxes from the project to fund the infrastructure improvements such as roads, sewer and electrical requirements. If not used for the project, the funds would have been routed to city’s Innovation and Growth Fund.
The term sheet also includes a provision that would allow the city to waive reimbursement for municipal services like policing, emergency medical services, traffic control and code enforcement for events at the stadium for $300,000 per year for a 10-year period. Funding is expected to come from the city’s general fund. Indomitable would reimburse the city if costs exceed that threshold.
The term sheet also outlines a plan for the city to purchase two parcels of land adjacent to the Sacramento Valley Train Station in the Railyards that are considered essential to the build out of the train station, according to the council report. The sale of the two parcels is expected to be below market value per square foot with a total price of $14 million. That money will come from the 2015 sale of the Sheraton.
There are also proposed plans for a Regional Transit light rail station on the western side of the project and walking and biking improvements, in line with the city’s long-term aim at sustainability. The council’s report indicates it wants to prioritize alternative transportation modes and eliminate on-site parking demand to reduce greenhouse emissions.
Steinberg said with a yes vote: “We will start building a big piece of our downtown and our city’s future.”
This story was originally published November 12, 2024 at 7:39 PM.
