Sacramento State moves forward with football field at Cal Expo

Roaring cheers could be heard from the clubhouse of the Michelob Ultra Grandstand at Cal Expo, as a new proposal for a Sacramento State football stadium was launched.

In a unanimous vote, Cal Expo’s board of directors agreed to explore a partnership with the school to develop a Sac State Athletic Park that would open Fall 2026. The proposal includes a 50-year permit for 9.25 acres at the Grandstand to host football games.

The partnership aims to elevate the university's football program to Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) status. Potential benefits include improved game-day experiences, enhanced student engagement, and potential future expansion opportunities.

Tom Martinez, CEO of Cal Expo, said that with the decline of horse racing in Northern California, it seemed like a good idea to reach out to Sac State to gauge their interest in using the horse racetrack for a new football stadium.

“Look, there's not a venue in the area, in the region, that has this many parking spaces,” Martinez said. “We're a public agency. They're a public agency. We have a lot in common, and what separates us is just the short bike ride away from this trail that we have connected.”

Sac State President Dr. Luke Wood said he has been in active discussions since January with Cal Expo about a potential partnership. 

“Including a stadium serving, among other uses, Sacramento State athletics, student entertainment, and a potential longer-term vision for additional athletic facilities and complementary uses,” Wood said. 

Wood was excited about the opportunity to have the proposed stadium at the Cal Expo location, noting that Sac State is only 2.3 miles away.

“We have plans, if this was approved, to have shuttles, buses, and also to utilize the bike path that goes between Sacramento State and Cal Expo to create a unique, interesting and fun student experience,” he said. “When we look at the infrastructure that exists here for events, pregame activities, tailgating, parking, and more, there are a lot of benefits to being at Cal Expo with infrastructure that is already in place to have an elite gameday experience.”

Athletic Director Mark Orr added there’s no reason that the city can’t have “big time” college football.

“We have aspirations to compete at the highest level of college football,” Orr said. “This region, this community, would support that. For a long time, the Sacramentans have supported the Kings, the River Cats, the Republic, even the A's. We've supported and Sacramento State Athletics is no different.” 

According to Orr, the proposed stadium will have 25,000 seats with the potential of adding more. 

“One day, it could be 40,000 or 50,000. Think about that, here in Sacramento, we can have that type of stadium, that type of college football right here. That's something we, quite frankly, we couldn't do on our campus, but we can do here.”

Sac State initially planned to build a 25,000 seat stadium on campus last October.

Orr mentioned that their focus currently is the new football stadium, but in the future, the athletic park could include more sports.

“We're never going to put limits on what we can do with our wonderful partners here at Cal Expo,” he said. 

Wood said as of now there’s a lot of work to be done before their proposed opening in 2026. He said they’re not in the position to discuss the cost of the stadium, but added that it would be significantly less expensive because the Grandstand is already an existing sporting facility. 

“We have to put in a new field, right there's no field,” he said. “We're gonna have to level [the field]. We need to add in the additional stands. We have other modular things that are gonna be needed, like locker rooms. We also have to do a refresh of this grandstand. So a lot of those things are at different stages of planning right now.”

Officials did not mention how revenue would be shared between the entities.