The Salinas Sports Complex is a sporting complex located in Salinas, California on the Central Coast. The main feature of the complex is a 17,000-seat stadium for California Rodeo Salinas.
- Venue
- Salinas Sports Complex
- Town
- Salinas, US
- Capacity
- 17,000
The Salinas Sports Complex is a sporting complex located in Salinas, California on the Central Coast. The main feature of the complex is a 17,000-seat stadium for California Rodeo Salinas. Soccer, football, and rugby was also played at the main stadium before the opening of Rabobank Stadium within the complex. The grounds have been home to the California Rodeo Salinas since 1911. The original wood stadium structure was built in 1924 and replaced in 1996 with a stadium design by Kasavan Architects. The stadium's field is wide enough to host soccer matches along with football games, and indeed it hosted the California Jaguars of the United Soccer Leagues (then USISL) from 1995 to 1999. For several years, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) has hosted events from its "minor league" system, such as the Touring Pro Division (formerly the Challenger Tour) and BlueDEF Tour, at the complex. The stadium not only hosts rodeo and sports events; it can be converted into a race track for auto racing, monster truck shows, and motorcycle racing. Concerts have been held at the venue, such as the Eagles in 2005, RBD in 2006, the Scorpions in 2006, Mary J. Blige in 2007, Luis Miguel in 2007, Creedence Clearwater Revisited in 2009, Alan Jackson in 2012, Aerosmith in 2015, Kid Rock in 2017, & Blake Shelton in 2018. Rabobank Stadium, a football and soccer stadium, was completed in 2013. The stadium has hosted multiple High School football programs from the Monterey Bay area over the years, including North Salinas, Palma, and San Benito High Schools. The complex is also home to baseball and softball fields. During World War II, the Salinas Rodeo Grounds was one of the locations used as a temporary detention camp for citizens and immigrant residents of Japanese ancestry, before they were relocated to more permanent and remote facilities. One of seventeen such sites overseen by the Wartime Civilian Control Administration, the Salinas Assembly Center was built after President Roosevelt issue