There’s no physical signs of progress, no steel structures erected from the ground, but Sacramento Republic FC officials tell the Sacramento Bee their stadium construction project is still on schedule despite the coronavirus pandemic, which has halted non-essential construction.
The hope is the scheduled summer construction can really start to ramp up for the 20,000-seat stadium by the barren railyards site, which is still on a 19-21 month construction schedule.
“We’re not changing our timeline right now,” Ben Gumpert, president and COO of the Republic FC told the Sacramento Bee. “For now, we’re going to keep pushing.”
That said, contingency plans are being considered if there are any delays for a stadium that was green-lit last fall when MLS awarded Sacramento an expansion team with a 2022 start.
The $300-million stadium will take up nine acres of a 14-acre parcel that includes a new courthouse and housing, both with a scheduled summer start date, that is expected to double the size of downtown Sacramento.
Republic FC officials are also considering ways to make the stadium experience more sanitary, like an app to pay for concessions without having to use cash and altering some stands to include pick-up stations to avoid workers who handle food from also handling cash.
“We’ve done so much work on the stadium design,” Gumpert said. “Now we’re in question mode. What might be change? I would rather change things now than be in our stadium and say, ‘I wish we had done that.’”
