Sacramento Republic release statement after Ron Burkle abandons MLS expansion

Friday’s shock news that lead investor Ron Burkle was no longer going to be involved in Sacramento’s MLS expansion bid, therefore blowing the entire thing up for the time being, perhaps permanently, obviously altered the landscape of soccer in the community.

The news seemed to take all parties aback, with MLS getting about three hours lead time, reportedly, before dropping the news themselves to the world, and Sacramento Republic FC, the team currently playing in the USL Championship that was expected to enter MLS as the expansion club, remaining silent for several hours after the news broke. This was not a coordinated effort to part amicably, from the looks of things.

Late Friday, Sac Republic did issue a club statement, a little while after current lead owner Kevin Nagle released his own on Twitter.

Here is the full Republic FC statement:

We understand the feelings of anger, disappointment and frustration – we share in those deeply. Today’s announcement is not a reflection of the fans, Sacramento or this club. Republic FC will continue to serve and support this community, true to its mission. As an organization, we will always represent Sacramento with pride.

There is much more information to come about how we will continue our MLS journey. What we do know unequivocally is we have a season ahead just around the corner, three trophies to win, and a community to represent to the world.

Again, it appears just about everyone was taken back, including the club at the heart of it all. That’s not great!

We’ll see where the road goes from here, with all parties locally vowing to press on and continue the quest for MLS. This could be a setback or a death blow, but we’ll keep you posted on details as we learn more.

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