SAN DIEGO (AP) – The state of San Diego will play its games in the spring and fall of 2021 at a stadium in the suburbs of Los Angeles and sweep SDCCU Stadium with 70,000 seats earlier than planned to enhance the structure of its new 35,000-seat headquarters. .
The Aztecs announced Tuesday that they will play at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson until they moved to their $310 million stadium for the 2022 season. The Aztecs opened their new home last month after reaching an agreement with the city to acquire Mission Valley Stadium for a campus extension.
Dignity Health Sports Park is the 27,000-seat MLS stadium where NFL Chargers played for three seasons after leaving San Diego because they may get a deal for a new stadium to upgrade the aging SDCCU stadium, formerly known as Qualcomm Stadium and Jack Murphy. The Chargers moved to $5 billion Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, built through Rams owner Stan Kroenke.
Before COVID-19 forced the Mountain West Conference to postpone the 2020 season until next spring, the Aztecs were scheduled to play two more seasons at SDCCU Stadium. Athletic director John David Wicker said the Aztecs expected to play one more season there, but with the coronavirus pandemic interrupting schedules, demolition of SDCCU Stadium will be moved to the first quarter of 2021.
Wicker said there’s still no other stadium in San Diego to host Division I football.
“Again, it’s a short-term thing,” Wicker said. “We’re San Diego State University, we’ll be here forever. We are very happy to build a football stadium in San Diego . . . We’re part of that. “. community. We’re going to run a little further to play football, then we’ll go back and open a phenomenal stadium and continue to expand an ideal campus for San Diego. “
The SDCCU multi-purpose stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and has hosted the Chargers, Baseball Padres, SDSU and Holiday Bowl. The Padres moved to downtown Petco Park in 2004 and the Chargers moved to Los Angeles after the 2016 season.
The stadium has hosted 3 Super Bowls, two World Series and concerts and other events. The Rolling Stones were scheduled to open their 2020 tour there on May 8 before it was postponed due to the pandemic.
Instead of implosing the SDCCU stadium, Wicker said concrete would be reused as the basis for the new stadium.
Many enthusiasts expressed dismay on social media because they would not see another match in the stadium. SDSU expects to sell seats and other items of interest to enthusiasts, but is unlikely to hold a farewell in the middle of the pandemic. Wicker said.
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