Sacramento’s Republic FC To Become MLS Team

The city of Sacramento has long awaited for Major League Soccer (MLS) to expand into the city, and finally the wait might be over. Sacramento Republic FC, Sacramento’s professional soccer team, recently got a unanimous city council vote for their $215.2 million stadium. There was a private funding package that totaled up to $1 billion. It will be a 20,000 seat stadium build in a 17-acre site in the railyard district of Sacramento. Mayor Daniel Steinberg and Sac Republic owner Ron Burkle gathered with team supporters and called upon the MLS to make Sacramento the next expansion city. The mayor also expects high benefits from the new team expansion writing a check without city government.

The team will be sponsoring clinics and sports programs for the youth. It is also on the list of potential city base camps for the coming World Cup in 2026. Base cities will serve hosts to the traveling teams in the World Cup hosting their fans and many events. This would be a huge tourist boom for the growing city of Sacramento. With all of this set in place the city and team board along with the supporters, Sacramentans now wait for the MLS board to meet late in May to approve Sacramento to be a host city.  

The owners willing to lead the investor group that will spend more than half a billion dollars to expand into the MLS are Alvarez and Burkle. They will be spending another $200 million to join the MLS on top of the $252 million to build the stadium. When the new franchise started five years ago the expansion fee was down at $70 million, showing that the MLS is a growing sport and won’t be making as much money as the NBA or MLB. But thats why Burkle invested early in the sport, as the fan base is young and will grow and will have made is money back once the MLS has reached that point of success as a major sports corporation.

The team has seen recent success with the new signings gaining them more recognition. They will be the 29th team expanded to the MLS following the past eight teams who have been brought in over the past four years. The Republic hopes to keep the same core team as they make the transition into the MLS, but would make any changes necessary to help move the team forward. In 2018, the attempts to be added into the MLS quieted down as the Republic were building momentum to meet the requirements. They finished their plans agreed with the city of Sacramento, building new offices, making new hires, and making new investments making the move almost official.

McClatchy student Fernando Pelayo (‘19) has waited a long time for his team to make the expansion. “Yeah, I’m happy that there is a team coming to Sacramento, I was hoping we would get into the MLS in our attempts before but the wait was definitely worth it,” he said.

Milo Stibor (‘20) looks forward to the future of the Republic. “Looking at the team now, they’re only gonna get better and I’m glad I’ll be able to see this team rise up in the MLS.”

It will be a struggle for the Republic to gain traction in the MLS and become a big market team, but being able to get in the market now will be better than ever with the future growth of the sport.