With a new MLS team and stadium becoming increasingly likely, California’s capital will unlock a number of other sporting opportunities. Football to Sacramento? It should certainly be on the XFL’s radar. Sac State to the FBS? Improbable but worth a discussion. Simply put, anything is on the table should the Railyards Stadium get built.
The first sporting event I attended was a Sacramento Surge game at Hornet Stadium in 1992. It was a good game for a seven-year-old, we beat the Montreal Machine 14-7, but the venue sucked. It was just a track and metal bleachers.
Fast forward 30 years later and Hornet Stadium basically hasn’t changed. Sure, there are more metal bleachers, and the track is a different color. But it is still a facility unfit for high school football let alone any level above that.
This has also hamstrung any efforts by Sacramento to attract and retain alternative football leagues over the years. Both the Surge and the Sacramento Gold Miners drew well despite playing in a subpar facility. Hell, people even showed up to watch the Sacramento Mountain Lions play at Hornet Stadium some 15 years later.
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Football to Sacramento?
Imagine the support an XFL team would get in Sacramento if they played at the Railyards Stadium. This town is desperate for basically any sports franchise to support. It would be great for the league, city and stadium. Plus, this would be significantly better than the Vegas Vipers holding matchups at Cashman Field. That was embarrassing.
Anyway, there is a significant concern that must be addressed. Some of you out there may be saying Sac Republic wouldn’t want to share its new digs with a football team. That argument doesn’t really hold water. Toronto FC currently shares BMO Field with the Toronto Argonauts, so these arrangements aren’t unheard of.
Moreover, you have several MLS clubs playing in NFL stadiums. The idea that anyone is stopping anyone else from using a stadium is absurd. The more events, the better. Especially considering Sacramento is investing in this project to bring more people downtown. That’s impossible if potential tenants are being blocked.
College football to Sacramento?
The XFL, USFL or any other alternative football league coming to Sacramento is simply one aspect of the city getting a new MLS stadium. It could also unlock new opportunities for the region to get involved in college football, something that has been sorely lacking since the Camellia Bowl left in 1980.
A bowl game returning to the city, this time at the FBS level would be interesting, although problematic. The weather in Sacramento during winter doesn’t scream, “Chamber of Commerce postcard” but then again, the weather in Boise isn’t exactly tropical.
There are also a growing number of bowls happening in MLS venues which adds viability to this potential proposal. The Cure Bowl has since moved to Exploria Stadium in Orlando while FC Dallas’ Toyota Stadium hosts the Frisco Bowl in addition to the FCS Championship game.
At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt to try. A Sacramento college football bowl game couldn’t be any worse than whatever the San Francisco Bowl was called in any given year or the ill-fated Silicon Valley Classic.
However, the most exciting use of Sacramento’s new MLS stadium just might be as a home for the Sacramento State Hornets (Stingers Up). After decades in the wilderness, the program finally has some buzz, pun intended, around it.
That momentum is kneecapped by Hornet Stadium, a place no one wants to see a game from unless it’s the Causeway Classic. Over the years, only the bare minimum has been done to keep this place up to code.
Another factor to note is that Sac State is a commuter school. Having an on-campus stadium is irrelevant. Football games being played at the new Railyards Stadium wouldn’t be seen as a negative for most students since they are driving regardless. And for alums and neutral fans, being downtown on Saturday means they may want to hang out before and after the game as opposed to retreating back to whatever suburb from which they came.
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Sac State to the FBS?
Could playing in a new MLS stadium assist in a push by Sac State to move up to FBS? Probably not. Realistically speaking, the school has a billion other things to worry about than its football team. However, an improved home would remove one of the most considerable obstacles for a school with a larger enrollment than Fresno State and is close to San Jose State in terms of student numbers.
This is a unique time in Hornet history. Not only does the football program have actual momentum behind it, but there is a growing sense of pride in Sac State as a whole. It’s no longer that place high school kids and junior college grads in Northern California don’t want to attend but have no other choice. For the first time ever, Sac State is cool.
In that sense, playing in a new stadium, even if it isn’t your own, could allow the school to further tap into the moment assuming the lease terms were favorable. An opportunity like this doesn’t come around all the time. Not kicking the tires would be foolish.
Of course, the amount of leadership and will required to do this is probably beyond what Sac State has. That is a shame as there is no reason why the school couldn’t be on the same level as the previously mentioned Fresno State and San Jose State.
Ultimately, this would be a complex issue and a discussion best left for another day.
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Final thoughts
An MLS Stadium in Sacramento is great news as it means the Sac Republic has finally made it to the big leagues. However, the venue also opens up new opportunities for the other form of football which the city has supported over the years despite the general crappiness of Hornet Stadium, a place the CFL deemed inadequate in 1995.
The XFL, a college bowl game, Sac State or all the above. It’s time for Sacramento to prove it’s ready for some football.
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