Modesto’s pro soccer stadium unlikely to break ground this year. Much to ‘solidify’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Groundbreaking unlikely this year due to Centre Plaza and DoubleTree ties.
- City must finalize design, financing and communications before breaking ground.
- Memorandum of understanding with USL remains pending; details due in March.
Modesto’s plan to have a professional soccer stadium downtown is still in the very early stages — little is set in stone.
The city’s most recent potential timeline showed that construction could begin in September of this year. However, recent events make this timeline look unlikely.
The site chosen to build the stadium is where Modesto Centre Plaza, the city’s premier event center, sits. It will need to be demolished if the City Council holds firm on its decision to build a stadium there. However, there is a catch.
The DoubleTree Hotel, along with its skyline-dominant tower, is physically and financially attached to the event center. The city planned to close Centre Plaza, which it owns, at the end of 2025. But the two entities struck a deal that saved the event center until at least the end of this year.
Whether DoubleTree’s interests in Centre Plaza will continue to delay groundbreaking on the stadium is hard to predict. Representatives of DoubleTree could not be reached for comment.
Jessica Hill, Modesto’s director of economic development, said the project still is in its early stages and city officials need to do several things before shovels hit the dirt.
“In order to move to the next steps of breaking ground, we need to solidify what we’re going to build, how we’re going to pay for it and then ensure that we have the proper communications around those things,” Hill said. The city does not have a timeline on when this might be finished.
Before any of that happens, though, the city’s first step would be to approve the necessary memorandum of understanding — a nonbinding agreement — with the United Soccer League. Details of this agreement are expected to be made public in March, according to the city.
Akin to Fresno’s newest approach to build a stadium for a new USL team, Modesto is partnering with the league itself, as opposed to securing a team first.
Fresno’s previous USL team, the Foxes, left the city in 2019 after just two seasons. Fresno city officials were unable to secure a site to build a soccer-specific stadium for the team, which was forced to play in a minor league baseball stadium.
How much Modesto taxpayers will need to chip in for their stadium hasn’t been finalized. The city might pay $35 million, according to a tentative financing plan. It has not announced any private investors who might cover the rest, The Bee previously reported.
The tentative financing plan also includes lease payments from the USL and an expected boost in sales, property and hotel taxes from the new attraction.
Whether the USL or a private investor will pitch in the rest has also not been determined. USL Deputy CEO and Chief Real Estate Officer Justin Papadakis could not be reached for comment.
The downtown stadium project is estimated to cost about $125 million and seat 10,000 people. The men’s soccer team that would play there would be a level below the USL’s top tier, which includes Sacramento Republic FC. However, the Sacramento team hopes to jump from USL to Major League Soccer.
In August, Republic FC broke ground on a 12,000-seat, $175 million stadium slated to open in time for the 2027 soccer season. The project took 12 years to become a reality, The Sacramento Bee reported.
The stadium is privately funded by the team’s owners, Wilton Rancheria. It’s the first Native American tribe to own a majority stake in a men’s professional sports team.
USL is a Tampa, Florida-based league that started in 1986. It has several leagues throughout the nation, with The Championship being USL’s top professional men’s league.
League One is the other professional men’s league and has 12 clubs, with plans for six expansion clubs. The city’s letter of intent calls for the Modesto club to compete at the USL’s first or second professional tier, to begin with.
