Too late for Pac-12? What Sac State’s new 25,000-seat football stadium means for potential bid
Sacramento State announced Thursday that it intends to replace Hornet Stadium with a “state-of-the-art,” 25,000-seat facility that could help it vault its football and other sports into a major spectator destination.
Could it also someday land it into the Pac-12 Conference?
The current venue Hornet Stadium may be passable for FCS-level football but it would not for higher-level FBS football, where television contracts through leagues helped finance athletics.
The ambition of landing in the revamped Pac-12 appears to be dashed, for now, as that conference wants to add two more members by the start of the 2026 academic year. The stadium announced Thursday is projected to take four years to compete.
Sacramento State wants to have its 21 sports programs competing in the same conference. The Hornets compete in various conferences now, including football in the FCS-level Big Sky Conference, of which the program has won three Big Sky crowns since 2019 and is ranked No. 10 at that level.
University officials said Thursday that the new stadium would be in a horseshoe design that would include a “student sections, premium seating and boxes.”
Wood said Thursday that the football venue funding will not impact “our institutional budget” as some California State University programs across the state face budget cutbacks. Students have approved fee hikes to help with the project, Wood said, who added that as a Top 20 national media market with more than 2 million people in the Sacramento region, this project is all the more worthwhile and necessary.
Sacramento State has to have a state-of-the-art football venue to be considered for a new conference, a plan the local SAC 12 project has pushed for in recent weeks. SAC 12 is a committee of local elected government officials, community members and Sacramento State alumni who have pushed for the university to make the necessary efforts to join the Pac-12.
The effort was a longshot to succeed given the cost and required planning in a compressed timeline.
But Thursday’s announcement nonetheless marked a major step for the university’s athletics programs, and excitement among university leaders Thursday was palpable.
“Now we’re really going to get after it,” athletic director Mark Orr said. “The recruitment of student athletes, the retention of student-athletes, is so important. This facility will enhance us in so many ways.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2024 at 1:17 PM.