Where could a soccer stadium fit in downtown Fresno now?

City leaders appeared set a few weeks ago on a downtown or Chinatown location for a future stadium when they announced a deal with the United Soccer League to bring a new professional team to Fresno.

It could look for space along the future California high-speed rail corridor, which would place a stadium just off Highway 99. A location could also depend on the stadium’s design and how it fits within a larger entertainment and business district.

Whatever the final site decision, the city may have to incentivize existing businesses to move for the development of the new stadium.

Elliott Balch, president of the Downtown Fresno Partnership, said there are some larger blocks near the high-speed rail corridor in proximity to the future station that could be considered.

“Thinking about proximity to other kinds of investments and other infrastructure is important,” he said.

Balch said a new stadium gives the city an opportunity to design a building differently than it did when Chukchansi Park was built more than 20 years ago. That stadium, he said, was designed at a time when many did not want to go downtown after dark. Its activity was oriented away from Fulton Street and parking was made to get in and out quickly.

He said some sports venues — including Wrigley Field in Chicago and Fenway Park in Boston — have “really vibrant business scenes that are adjacent.”

“Our businesses and property owners in downtown would love for the stadium to be near them,” Balch said. “The importance of proximity to small businesses that can benefit from the foot traffic is a really key consideration.”

What will it look like?

The city wants the venue to seat a minimum of 5,000 people, and Mayor Jerry Dyer says it could require at least six acres. Dyer said at a Jan. 13 news conference that the city is not looking to fully fund the stadium — which he estimated could cost $50 million — and is instead interested in a shared investment partnership with the private sector.

The plan appears to be in the very early stages, but local officials say downtown and Chinatown will be ready to accommodate a new venue as its infrastructure is being upgraded with hundreds of millions of dollars provided by the state.

“The only location that we are entertaining is the downtown, Chinatown area,” Dyer said at a Jan. 13 news conference.

Lessons from Chukchansi

A new team will need its own soccer-specific stadium to avoid the types of failures that caused Fresno’s original USL team, the Fresno Foxes, to decide to leave in 2019 after only two seasons in town. That team played its home games at Chukchansi Park while it unsuccessfully looked for its own stadium location in various parts of Fresno, and even Madera County.

The Foxes suffered costs from converting the Chukchansi baseball field before games while lacking revenue from concessions and parking. The team’s owner, Ray Beshoff, said at the time that part of the blame for the unsuccessful stadium search rested with a lack of effort from the city.

Dyer said things are different this time because the city has entered into an agreement with the USL itself.

Potential stadium locations in Fresno’s Chinatown

Jan Minami, executive director of the Chinatown Fresno Foundation, said Dyer has previously mentioned he wants a soccer stadium in Chinatown. She also said the mayor has suggested a site near the future California High-Speed Rail station, which is planned to go up between Fresno and Tulare streets.

But Minami said she is uncertain there will be enough space for a minimum-six-acre, 5,000-seat stadium with room for expansion near the station.

She said the California Dairies properties at the southern end of Chinatown “gives us an idea of how big a small soccer stadium would really be.” Those properties total more than 10 acres and span multiple blocks.

California Dairies has been in Chinatown for decades, and the city would likely have to provide the company a large incentive to move if it wanted to use that space.

Where did past Fresno team look for stadium?

When the Fresno Foxes were looking for space in downtown Fresno, the team looked at building in the large parking lot next Selland Arena. The parking space is large enough to accommodate the size Dyer wants.

But The Bee reported in 2019 that the Cosmopolitan Tavern, which relocated to that area because of high-speed rail construction coming to its original location, refused to relocate again.

The team also looked at the parking space across H Street from Chukchansi Park, but that space has since been purchased by the Fresno Grizzlies baseball team.