Sacramento will remain in the USL.
It appears Sacramento soccer backers want to build a stadium for the United Soccer League’s Republic FC. The team’s ownership submitted a request for a fee estimate for a stadium in the city’s railyards. The stadium would seat about 12,000 people but could be expanded to 20,000 seats in the event Major League Soccer officials decide to take a second look at the Sacramento market. A few years ago, Major League Soccer awarded an expansion franchise to the Republic FC owners and a stadium was part of the agreement. But Sacramento became a major problem when Ron Burkle, who would have provided a significant chunk of the expansion fee and stadium construction money, decided he didn’t want to be part of the Sacramento franchise. Major League Soccer dropped the Sacramento logo from the league’s website which indicated that MLS owners were done with Sacramento. But MLS officials never said the league revoked the franchise. Sacramento now wants to be the flagship franchise of the second-tier United Soccer League which seems to be handing out franchises to anyone who has a venue.
Burkle was being sued by various people connected to the Sacramento project. In August, 2021, the owners of the United Soccer League’s Sacramento Republic FC still wanted to make the jump to the MLS hired California politician Fabian Núñez to help find someone with lots of money to replace Burkle. Núñez was a former California Assembly speaker. No one stepped forward. Sacramento elected officials are not sure about building a stadium at the railyards and think there is “low chances of an MLS franchise being awarded to Sacramento Republic after years of planning. The development of this land for any soccer stadium is uncertain and has not been considered in our analysis.” Major League Soccer is looking at other cities for expansion.
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