STOCKTON, Calif — With one of the Stockton Arena’s longest-serving tenants, the Stockton Heat, announcing a leave from the city starting this year, a new $2.5 million spending package unanimously approved by the Stockton city council Tuesday, hopes to attract more events to the arena.
During their meeting Tuesday night, the Stockton City Council was asked to allocate $2.5 million from the city's federal America Rescue Plan money to go toward three areas, which includes improvements to the arena.
"Of the $79 million that the city is being given over the next three years, we put a portion of that, 10%, into a contingency fund for things that might arise," said Christina Fugazi, the City Councilmember who represents the downtown area where the 12,000-seat arena is located. "One of the items that we selected was the arena."
By approving the funding package, $1.5 million will now go toward improvements at the arena while the remaining $1 million will be split between improving traffic and safety on the Miracle Mile stretch of Pacific Avenue and supporting previously unfunded state-mandated COVID sick leave for city employees.
"$500,000 of this will go to making sure that our employees were compensated for that sick time related to COVID. The other $500,000 is going to traffic mitigation and improvements along the Miracle Mile," Fugazi said. "We have had a number of people who have either been struck by a vehicle and even, unfortunately, killed by a vehicle when in the street."
For businesses that operate out of the Stockton Arena, the news of the approved funding was encouraging.
The vice president of business operations for Stockton's G-League Kings, which plays at the arena, was at the Tuesday evening meeting and expressed frustration over the current state of the facility.
"We had a game, ready to host an outside team, and we had stalled out the game because the scoreboard did not drop down because it's outdated," said Stockton Kings Vice President Aaron Morales. "We were left with our fans having to look up at the board halfway down."
The frustration is a sentiment also shared by Wes Rhea, CEO of Stockton's nonprofit visitor's bureau, Visit Stockton.
"The citizens deserve a facility that they can be proud of," Rhea said during the Tuesday meeting. "We don't want people to visit the Stockton Arena and say, 'The scoreboard is crappy; this is what I would expect in Stockton.'"
Beyond the arena's current tenants, officials say the outdated scoreboard and technology inside the arena have an even greater impact on prospective events.
"We were the host for the NCAA Regional Finals for women's collegiate basketball, and we could not apply for future years because one of the requirements was to have a video board," Fugazi said.
The NCAA's next four-year event venue bid period opens in 2023, according to Rhea, which is why he said now is the best time to re-invest in the arena.
"There's always priorities- I get that- but for us, this is something we've been advocating for at least five years now," Rhea said. "This is one-time dollars, and I think that's a great opportunity for us to do that; because as you know, it will only get more expensive."
Installing a new video board will be the focal point of the improvements, city leaders said.
The funding will also go towards installing a new sound system and creating an electronic ribbon around the arena which advertisers will be able to pay the arena to use.
"We've known for at least the last five years that we were going to need to do something with the technology," Fugazi said. "The arena now will also have Wi-Fi."
Fugazi hopes that the improvements will not only aid the city in attracting events but also keeping residents in the area and bringing in new visitors.
"We are able to track ticket sales of venues outside of our city limits," Fugazi said. "There are a number of people from Stockton that do not mind jumping in their car and traveling, you know, 45 minutes to three hours away to go see a performance."
Fugazi and other city leaders hope that those drives to attend out-of-city events will end in 2024 when the improvements are slated to be completed.
"I think overall, the $2.5 million is money that will be well spent to benefit everybody in the city," Fugazi said. "This translates into rooms in our hotels, people eating in our restaurants and visiting our city."
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