Discussions with the city continue, but San Diego State University believes it is moving closer to securing a lease extension for SDCCU Stadium.
There has been considerable debate surrounding the future of the city-owned SDCCU Stadium, particularly since the NFL’s San Diego Chargers relocated to Los Angeles last year. SDSU has an agreement for its football program to use the stadium for the 2018 season, but it has yet to finalize a lease extension for 2019 and beyond.
Meanwhile, two initiatives on the November ballot could play a major factor in the site’s future. A group known as Friends of SDSU has carried out a citizens’ initiative for SDSU West, a proposal that calls for a new 35,000-seat football stadium (expandable to 55,000 for NFL) along with surrounding development. A competing proposal from FS Investors is named SoccerCity, and it includes development plus a stadium for an MLS expansion franchise.
What happens in November will be a major factor in the stadium’s future, but SDSU athletic director J.D. Wicker says that the university has had discussions with the city about a lease extension. He also believes that the two sides are closer to an agreement. More from the San Diego Union-Tribune:
“We plan on playing in SDCCU Stadium — or whatever it is — in 2019,” Wicker says. “We’ve had good conversations with the mayor’s office. I think we’re getting close to working out an extension.”…
“The lease extension would be a minimum of two years,” Wicker says. “So much hinges on what happens in November. The city wants to be careful. It doesn’t want to find itself in a legal situation.”
Wicker hasn’t spent his life here, but he’s been around long enough to know that whatever happens probably will be challenged in court, thus delaying matters, as we saw with Petco Park. As it is, SoccerCity friends already are taking Friends of SDSU to court, for some reason or another.
With both SoccerCity and SDSU West on the ballot, the one with the greatest share of the majority will move forward. If both initiatives fail to reach a majority, discussions over the future of the SDCCU Stadium site will be turned over to the city. SDCCU Stadium originally opened in 1967, and its aging condition has prompted has prompted plenty of speculation about how much longer it will last.
Image courtesy SDSU.
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