Data Center on Docket for Santa Barbara’s Earl Warren Showgrounds

[Updated: Thu., Oct. 15, 2026, 11:53pm]

Earl Warren Showgrounds’ latest October 8 board meeting did not draw the crowds that its August meeting did, which filled the seats with members of Santa Barbara’s equestrian community angered over the notion of charging non-profit Equine Evac $600 in monthly rent for the storage of emergency equipment. 

A few holdouts of the equestrian community did show up to witness the approval of the new $300 per month rental agreement, which was pushed yet again, since three out of the seven board members were not in attendance, and a quorum was not met. 

The meeting ran short since no actions could be taken; only an open public comment period and a closed session were conducted before adjournment, and no reports, including Earl Warren CEO Ben Sprague’s report, were given to the public.

But, during public comment, two members of the community spoke up about a measly two words listed on the agenda under Sprague’s CEO Report: “Global Stack.” 

“I was disturbed by the agenda, where it says Global Stack and nothing else,” said Katie Sanders (no relation to the author) in a public comment at the October 8 meeting. “The public has really no idea what that means.”

These two words have been sparking outrage at fairgrounds across the state, drawing hundreds of public commenters to their local event centers in protest. 

Global Stack USA is a months-old data center company that has proposed to build shipping-container-sized “edge computing centers” inside parking structures topped with helipads on fairground property. The pitch is for fairgrounds to provide two to five acres of land to Global Stack — for free — through a 100-year service and land-use agreement in exchange for a share of the profits generated from the infrastructure.

These data processing units are much smaller than traditional data centers and use a “closed loop” coolant system, meaning the unit would not be tapped into water utilities. The projected eight-to-ten-megawatt unit would, however, be connected to the electricity grid.

The company “funds the design, construction, and ongoing maintenance of all installed infrastructure through private investment,” according to the Global Stack’s website, but it is unclear where exactly the money, an estimated $20 million per site, will come from. 

From local reporting, it has been confirmed that the company has reached out to at least 10 fairgrounds across the state, ranging from Napa to Del Mar, since July and has the goal of building centers at 70 facilities by 2030.

Earl Warren CEO Sprague said that the California Department of Food and Agriculture “contacted Earl Warren requesting a meeting regarding a third party company, Global Stack, for its proposed concept for California fairgrounds.” 

Based on interactions with fairgrounds across the state, including in Ventura, the company first proposes entering into a non-binding memorandum of understanding to start the conversation, which then leads to a presentation given by representatives from Global Stack to the fairgrounds’ board. Sprague confirmed that Global Stack did request an MOU, as a “prerequisite to further discussions.”

“Rather than proceed with a MOU, or discussions about a potential use of fairgrounds property, I felt the appropriate course was to bring the inquiry to the Board’s attention,” said CEO Sprague in a statement to the Independent. He confirmed that no MOU has been signed with Global Stack.

The company claims that these centers will aid in emergency response efforts by providing space for the staging of equipment and helicopter access, while also providing a means of communication when blackouts occur. The company provides no real explanation for how these centers will provide power during blackouts other than, “units can be paired with on-site or renewable generation,” according to its website.

Global Stack asserts that its infrastructure will provide “year-round revenue that is shared with the host fairground, replacing seasonal, event-only income with a stable, sustaining source.”

The founder of Global Stack USA, Dan Kang, made his money through his clothing manufacturing company MyDyer. The company supplied leggings to the multilevel marketing company LuLaRoe, which agreed to pay $4.75 million in settlement fees to resolve a court case brought by Washington State’s Attorney General, who alleged that the company was operating a pyramid scheme. In 2024, a Riverside County jury awarded Kang’s company about $164 million in damages after a lawsuit and countersuit with MyDyer claiming unpaid bills from LuLaRoe, who alleged receiving substandard products from MyDyer. In 2025, MyDyer filed for bankruptcy.

Kang pivoted from leggings to data centers and officially registered the company Global Stack USA in March 2026, with a vision “to create a true public-private partnership that serves communities every day while standing ready for the moments that matter most,” he said in a statement. 

Global Stack lists only one partner on its website, California Emergency Response Resiliency Venues and Fairgrounds (CERVF), which is a nonprofit trade association made up of 25 fairgrounds, including Earl Warren, that lobbies for emergency response policy on the state and local level. According to tax filings, the nonprofit has been operational since 2024. 

Down at Ventura County Fairgrounds, the Ventura Star reported that around 200 members of the community showed up to protest Global Stack data centers being built at the seaside event space, which ultimately led to their board officially voting to cease communication with Global Stack in September. 

As Sprague and boardmembers left Warren Hall after the Thursday meeting, the public demanded answers as to what Global Stack is and what communication has been had with the company, prompting answers from Sprague such as “Google it” and “You’ll learn about it when I present my report to the board.”

Board president Salvatore Milazzo said to members of the public, “There was not any action on Global Stack,” during closed session at last Thursday’s meeting. 

Global Stack has been on both agendas from the last two meetings (August 27 and October 8) under Sprague’s CEO report, which was not given in either meeting. The agenda also states that “the Board may take approval action,” on items in Sprague’s report, but it does not note which items or the type of action. 

“Earl Warren has made no commitment to or endorsement of the proposal,” said Sprague. He clarified that the reference to Global Stack on the agenda “reflected an outside inquiry, not an initiative being advanced by Earl Warren.”

Sprague said that he plans to present his report about the matter in the next board meeting, tentatively scheduled for Thursday October 22. As of publication on Wednesday, no agenda or official date for the next meeting had been posted on the Earl Warren webpage.