Aztec Stadium

Aztec Stadium is an under-construction American football stadium in San Diego, California on the campus of San Diego State University at SDSU Mission Valley, a 166-acre (67 ha) non-contiguous expansion parcel of the university campus. The stadium will serve as the home of the San Diego State Aztecs football team, which represents San Diego State University in collegiate football. The stadium will also be the home for the Holiday Bowl. Aztec Stadium broke ground on August 17, 2020 and is scheduled to open on September 3, 2022 for the Aztecs' season opener versus the Arizona Wildcats.

Aztec Stadium

Bashor Field
Aztec Stadium Location in San Diego Aztec Stadium Location in California Aztec Stadium Location in the United States
Address	9449 Friars Road
Location	San Diego, CA 92108
Coordinates	32°47′04.0″N 117°7′22.2″W
Public transit	San Diego Trolley Green Line at Stadium station
Owner	San Diego State University
Operator	San Diego State University
Capacity	35,000
Construction
Broke ground	August 17, 2020
Opened	September 3, 2022 (planned)
Construction cost	$310 million
Architect	Gensler
General contractor	Clark Construction
Tenants
San Diego State Aztecs (NCAA) (2022–) Holiday Bowl (NCAA) (2022–)
Website
https://aztecstadium.com/

Aztec Stadium is being built at the site of San Diego Stadium, which had been the home of the school's football program since the stadium opened in 1967.[1][2] San Diego Stadium, also known as Jack Murphy Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium, and SDCCU Stadium during its existence, also served as the home of the former San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1967 through 2016, and the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1969 through 2003.

History

Following the announced departure of the NFL's Chargers from what was then SDCCU Stadium to the Los Angeles area in January of 2017, focus began on building a new stadium for the Aztecs that was modern and the right size for the program. Over the course of the next nearly two years, the plan for what would become Aztec Stadium and the rest of the SDSU Mission Valley development (initially known as SDSU West) took shape. A competing redevelopment proposal surfaced, known as SoccerCity, which envisioned the SDCCU Stadium site being leased from the city and redeveloped with private funding if San Diego was awarded a Major League Soccer (MLS) team. Under this proposal, SDSU football would have the option of sharing the proposed smaller-capacity soccer stadium with the new MLS team. The SoccerCity proposal was placed on the November 2018 ballot in competition with the SDSU Mission Valley proposal, where the SDSU Mission Valley plan emerged victorious.[3]

On December 5, 2019, the school announced that it had received a $15 million gift to help finance the new stadium, which led to its playing surface being named Bashor Field at Aztec Stadium.[4]

On June 30, 2020, the city of San Diego approved the sale of the SDCCU Stadium site to San Diego State University and on August 10, 2020, the university officially took control of the property.[5] San Diego State bought the entire 135 acres, including the existing stadium, from the city for $88 million. Groundbreaking on the new stadium took place on August 17, 2020, just one week after SDSU took control of the site.

The entire $3.5 billion SDSU Mission Valley project includes housing, office and retail space, hotels, and 80 acres of parks and open space, including a 34 acre river park on city property, and will be developed in phases over 10-15 years.[6] The stadium will seat 35,000 fans and is being built to support college football, non-football NCAA championship games, professional soccer and special events such as concerts.[7][8] The stadium was designed to be expandable to a capacity of 55,000 or more (complete with a plan and renderings for such an expansion) to accommodate a prospective NFL return to San Diego and/or future needs of the Aztecs football team.[9]

Aztec Stadium is scheduled to open September 3, 2022.[10]

See also

• List of NCAA Division I FBS football stadiums

References

1. "San Diego State chooses Clark to deliver new stadium". The Stadium Business. 2019-03-01. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
2. Sklar, Debbie L. (2019-04-19). "SDSU Picks Architects to Design Future Mission Valley Stadium". Times of San Diego. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
3. Van Grove, Jennifer (October 4, 2018). "The Mission Valley stadium ballot measures explained". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
4. "San Diego State announces multi-million dollar donation to help fund Mission Valley stadium". The Daily Aztec. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
5. "City Approves Agreement for SDSU to Purchase Mission Valley Stadium Site". Retrieved June 30, 2020.
6. Huard, Ray (May 31, 2020). "City Approves Deal to Sell Stadium Site to SDSU". San Diego Business Journal. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
7. Adamek, Steve (February 28, 2019). "SDSU Selects Clark Construction to Build $250M Mission Valley Stadium". San Diego Business Journal. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
8. Van Grove, Jennifer (October 10, 2019). "SDSU is about to make an offer to buy the city's Mission Valley stadium site". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
9. "San Diego State details how NFL could fit with stadium proposal". San Diego Union-Tribune. 2018-04-27. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
10. Kenney, Kirk (2020-08-17). "SDSU officially breaks ground on new Mission Valley stadium". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2020-09-15.

External links

• Official site