I hope this is a "temporary" location as it will be a "temporary" stadium... You have a deal though.. as long as I can take credit when a railyards location is announced
I do like Cal Expo in favor of Sac City College, though. I just could not fall in love with that horrible football lined field. I imagine the Cal expo stadium will be similar to what Orlando is doing at the Disneyworld field; sounds similar at least. We were going to have stadium bench seats anyway, so at least we will have an appropriated sized GRASS field, with the seating much closer to the pitch. I've seen a few temp stadiums, and you'd be amazed what they can put together. You can read my post linked above to see why I think Cal Expo could end up being a permanent home. The Railyards would still be my first choice, though, I will happily give you credit if it ends up there!!
Sounds like a good idea if they can pull it off. I didn't want to rip SRFC's efforts since it's not my team nor city, but I was afraid that the game presentation on the Hughes field might be a big obstacle against this team really catching on. To get this done that quickly, probably it will be a "pop-up" stadium like the temporary part of Buck Shaw. Won't be anything fancy, but it's not like an ancient junior college stadium was going to be a comfort palace. At least they can have the game look good and the fans be close.
Positives - Natural grass Regulation size field No track No football lines More likely to sell out 8k capacity stadium rather than 20k capacity stadium Negatives - Locker room situation for players? No easy public transportation No good bars within walking distance Not a good fit for matches vs International teams (would want larger capacity) In this case, I think the positives out weigh the negatives and I hope everything works out for the team. I still think season ticket prices are way too high.
Cal Expo sub committee recommended approval. Official approval in December; just a formality now. No brainer for Cal Expo. Under utilized piece of property, already has all utilities nearby. I would estimate two month build, starting late December
That rendering is a lot nicer than I had expected for a temporary stadium. The seats still look like bleachers which kind of sucks. However, I see a nice area for the Battalion and viewing quality is much improved over the Sac City College field.
I might be wrong but I'm thinking the bottom part is where the bleachers are for supporter groups. On the north end possible covered seating for VIP ticket holders.
Another reason why you may see a permanent soccer field at Cal Expo in the future (MLS); parking control. The Kings are giving up (trading) parking revenue for the opportunity to develop adjacent property. The city is using parking revenue to pay their share of the new downtown arena. Parking revenue at Arco is a big chunk of change. If the Republic builds a SSS in the railyards, it will not include a large dedicated (and controlled) parking facility. Parking will be distributed around the downtown. Without a property development offset, that's a good amount of revenue lost. At Cal Expo, controlled parking is built in ($$$$). Cal Expo will also be a willing partner in the development costs, since it benefits the greater Cal Expo site.