Athletic Facilities

[Hornet25]

I honestly have been trying to understand the very sudden obsession with ditching Hornet Stadium altogether.
Sac has a 20+ k seat "temporary" option on campus already. Just fix that! Is the entire issue the track?

This is coming off as needing to "build a stadium" because they said they would. No matter where it ends up. Getting into a lease situation off campus when you have a viable option on campus doesn't seem like a good idea.

I've always thought Hornet stadium is in a great spot. Visible from the freeway, right on campus.

My suspicion is that this route allows the school to take care of both football and basketball facilities on a much shorter timetable. There would have to be some promises and/or major concessions from Cal Expo to make it an option for Sac State. Cal Expo is in a precarious position right now and bringing on a major tenant is necessary for survival. This may be a win win for both.

Will have to wait to see the details though. All speculation at this time.

 

[Pounder]

I honestly have been trying to understand the very sudden obsession with ditching Hornet Stadium altogether.
Sac has a 20+ k seat "temporary" option on campus already. Just fix that! Is the entire issue the track?

This is coming off as needing to "build a stadium" because they said they would. No matter where it ends up. Getting into a lease situation off campus when you have a viable option on campus doesn't seem like a good idea.

I've always thought Hornet stadium is in a great spot. Visible from the freeway, right on campus.

The school was dropping a few million on reinforcing the bleachers over the summer. Metal wears out quicker than concrete. Those things require frequent maintenance, especially if they’ve been in place for 30 years. The money isn’t there to do what needs to be done; you frankly need a rebuild, and that’s a 9-digit project now. So here we are.

That doesn’t mean I’m fully endorsing a lease or this project, but your options are limited.

I’m judging from Boise’s soccer project… their old horse track appears to be gone now. I would expect the same at CE. But I also expect 2026 to be too optimistic, or the stands to be subpar if/when phase 1 is done.

 

[SochorField]

The school was dropping a few million on reinforcing the bleachers over the summer. Metal wears out quicker than concrete. Those things require frequent maintenance, especially if they’ve been in place for 30 years. The money isn’t there to do what needs to be done; you frankly need a rebuild, and that’s a 9-digit project now. So here we are.

That doesn’t mean I’m fully endorsing a lease or this project, but your options are limited.

I’m judging from Boise’s soccer project… their old horse track appears to be gone now. I would expect the same at CE. But I also expect 2026 to be too optimistic, or the stands to be subpar if/when phase 1 is done.

Its a shame because the present Hornet Stadium location is tough to beat.

 

[SDHornet]

There is no "fixing" HS as it currently stands. It needs to come down for a newer and better facility with the amenities worthy of an FBS atmosphere. The pivot to CE means there is a roadblock for the on-campus option. It's probably funding related, but given all the bureaucracy on campus and within the CSU there are probably some folks not on board that are causing issues. Who knows if the backstory will ever come out but since the CE pivot started back in January it is obviously a significant issue.

The CE pivot allows any internal issues to be sidestepped although I would think the funding hurdles would be a bigger issue. The cost savings of revamping an existing structure as opposed to demolition and construction of a new venue are substantial. We'll see what these two entities can collaborate on, if anything.

Parking seemed to be a topic of discussion in all the local stories of the CE pivot. I'm curious if anyone has a count of the on-campus parking spots directly adjacent to HS (lots 6, 7, 9, 10 & PS 3) and their occupancy rates during fall weekends. If there are not enough spots to accommodate a new 25k+ stadium on campus, then that would impact the revenue projections. Does parking revenue on gameday go to UTAPs or athletics (I'm pretty sure it goes to UTAPs and not athletics but I'm not certain)? That's another potential impact on the revenue generation of an on-campus venue. By moving games to CE, athletics can leverage parking revenue in their negotiations and tap into a revenue stream to fund the CE build.

 

[HornetFootballFan]

Its a shame because the present Hornet Stadium location is tough to beat.

I Agree… The current stadium could have more space if we re-route the road that travels behind the home field side.
Or if we push the stadium another 40 yards east adding more space at the expense of the parking lot.
The parking lots could add few more levels at another location on campus to offset those few hundred lost parking spaces.
Good news if think parking lot building would be a seperate budget.

 

[HeavyistheClown]

There is no "fixing" HS as it currently stands. It needs to come down for a newer and better facility with the amenities worthy of an FBS atmosphere. The pivot to CE means there is a roadblock for the on-campus option. It's probably funding related, but given all the bureaucracy on campus and within the CSU there are probably some folks not on board that are causing issues. Who knows if the backstory will ever come out but since the CE pivot started back in January it is obviously a significant issue.

The CE pivot allows any internal issues to be sidestepped although I would think the funding hurdles would be a bigger issue. The cost savings of revamping an existing structure as opposed to demolition and construction of a new venue are substantial. We'll see what these two entities can collaborate on, if anything.

Parking seemed to be a topic of discussion in all the local stories of the CE pivot. I'm curious if anyone has a count of the on-campus parking spots directly adjacent to HS (lots 6, 7, 9, 10 & PS 3) and their occupancy rates during fall weekends. If there are not enough spots to accommodate a new 25k+ stadium on campus, then that would impact the revenue projections. Does parking revenue on gameday go to UTAPs or athletics (I'm pretty sure it goes to UTAPs and not athletics but I'm not certain)? That's another potential impact on the revenue generation of an on-campus venue. By moving games to CE, athletics can leverage parking revenue in their negotiations and tap into a revenue stream to fund the CE build.

Ok, don’t build a 25,000 palace. Build a 15,000 home side permanent structure. Keep visitor side something to build out as warranted and able. None of these ‘internal’ roadblocks were in place when we hosted 23,000, 19,000, 18,000 in years past. Wood has said there is a $100M stadium fund, that will build a very nice base stadium.

It is the track fuckers who have their tampons in a pinch in losing the BS track that is completely useless in today’s funding model.

Wood needs to grow a pair and cut those lead around the neck programs.