The Cal Expo Board of Directors voted unanimously to enter exclusive negotiations with Sacramento State to build their new football stadium announced in September of last year. The stadium will replace the decommissioned horse racing track.
According to the Sacramento Bee, the vote occurred during a board meeting on Thursday following speeches from Sac State President Luke Wood and Athletic Director Mark Orr.
“Our goal is to be here for the next 50 years,” Wood said, as reported by the Sacramento Bee.
Sac State has pivoted from the initial plan of an on-campus stadium to potentially build bigger facilities at Cal Expo instead. The venue ceased horse racing at the track and lost Sacramento Republic FC as a tenant last summer.
“It was never that it wasn’t going to work on campus,” Wood said, to the Bee. “It was more so that Cal Expo provides an opportunity to go bigger. It’s a much larger vision for what we want to do with athletics.”
The Michelob Ultra Grandstand is permitted for 20,000 patrons, but Wood said there are plans to expand that capacity to 40,000 through building out permanent structures over time. The expansion could coincide with Sac State’s litigation to join the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
Wood declined to release the full cost of the project, but laid out a plan of funding through a CSU system revenue bond. The bond would be repaid by the stadium over the span of 30 years. According to the meeting agenda, $335,000 have been committed by both parties.
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“Today the Cal Expo board voted to give Sacramento State exclusive rights to explore what a partnership between the two state agencies would look like,” University communications said. “Right now, both state agencies are experiencing drastic budget cuts, and by coming together to revamp an underutilized resource.”
Cal Expo CEO Tom Martinez called the plan to house Hornet football at Cal Expo by 2026 “aggressive” but feasible.
Thursday’s meeting does not finalize the stadium plans, but ensures that the negotiation window is exclusive to Cal Expo and Sac State.
