Location in the United States Location in California | |
Former names | Aztec Stadium (planning / construction) |
---|---|
Address | 2101 Stadium Way |
Location | San Diego, California, U.S. |
Coordinates | 32°47′04.0″N117°7′22.2″W / 32.784444°N 117.122833°W |
Public transit | San Diego Trolley Green Line at Stadium station |
Owner | San Diego State University |
Operator | San Diego State University |
Capacity | 35,000 (expandable to 55,000) |
Record attendance | Soccer: 34,248 [1] American football: 34,046 [2] Lacrosse: 15,112 [3] Rugby: 11,423 [4] |
Surface | Latitude 36 Bermuda grass [5] |
Construction | |
Broke ground | August 17, 2020 |
Built | 2020–2022 |
Opened | August 19, 2022 |
Construction cost | $310 million |
Architect | Gensler |
General contractor | Clark Construction |
Tenants | |
San Diego State Aztecs (NCAA) (2022–present) San Diego Wave FC (NWSL) (2022–present) San Diego Legion (MLR) (2023–present) San Diego FC (MLS) (2025–present) | |
Website | |
Official website |
Snapdragon Stadium is an outdoor stadium in San Diego, California, located on the campus of San Diego State University at SDSU Mission Valley. The stadium is home of the San Diego State Aztecs football team. The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I (FBS) as a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW).
Snapdragon Stadium is also home of San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby (MLR). A new Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion team, San Diego FC, will begin playing at the stadium in 2025. [6]
Snapdragon Stadium is the first project within SDSU’s Mission Valley campus, anchoring its entertainment and education district. Snapdragon Stadium was built adjacent to the former San Diego Stadium, which had been the home of the school's football program since the stadium opened in 1967. [7] [8]
Following the announced departure of the NFL's Chargers from what was then SDCCU Stadium to the Los Angeles area in January 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 Snapdragon Stadium (known during its planning and early construction phases as 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. [9] [10]
On December 5, 2019, the school announced that it had received a $15 million gift from Dianne L. Bashor to help finance the new stadium, which led to its playing surface being named Bashor Field. [11]
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. [12] San Diego State bought the entire 135 acres (55 ha), including the existing stadium, from the city for $88 million. Groundbreaking on the new stadium took place on August 17, 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 eighty acres (32 ha) of parks and open space, including a 34-acre (14 ha) river park along the San Diego River on adjacent city property, and will be developed in phases over 10–15 years. [13] The stadium will seat 35,000 fans and is being built to support college football, non-football NCAA championship games, professional soccer, rugby, lacrosse, and special events such as concerts. [14] [15] The stadium was designed to be expandable to a capacity of 55,000 (complete with a plan and renderings for such an expansion) or more to accommodate a prospective NFL return to San Diego and/or future needs of the Aztecs football team. [16]
On December 6, 2021, San Diego State announced a naming rights agreement with San Diego-based telecommunications company Qualcomm, who also owned the naming rights to the original stadium from 1997 to 2017. The stadium became known as Snapdragon Stadium, named after Qualcomm's Snapdragon brand of Systems on a chip (the original stadium had also been briefly renamed to Snapdragon Stadium in 2011). [17]
The stadium opened in 2022 for an Aztecs scrimmage on August 20. The Aztecs' first game was two weeks later on September 3, a 38–20 loss to the Arizona Wildcats.
On December 15, 2021, San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) announced it would move to Snapdragon Stadium starting in September 2022 following the stadium's completion; the club began its inaugural 2022 season at Torero Stadium at the University of San Diego. [18]
On February 2, 2022, the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby (MLR) announced Snapdragon Stadium to be their new home beginning in 2023. [19]
On May 18, 2023, MLS announced San Diego has been awarded the league's 30th team (later named San Diego FC) and that the team will be playing at Snapdragon Stadium starting in 2025. [20]
Snapdragon Stadium opened for a SDSU scrimmage on August 20, 2022. [21] The first game in the stadium was played on September 3, [22] ending with the Aztecs being defeated 38–20 by the Arizona Wildcats. [23] The game occurred during a heat wave, resulting in heat illnesses among attendees that required the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department to send five ambulances and three fire engines to treat around 200 people, 20 of whom were hospitalized. [24] [25] By kickoff, the game started when the temperature reached 100 °F (38 °C), with attendees retreating from the seating area and into shade. On social media, the stadium design was called into question by fans because of the lack of shade. [26]
On September 8, San Diego Fire-Rescue stated that the department did not receive a heat injury and illness plan from the university, having only received the medical plan two days before the game, and wrote that "it was evident that the sheer number of patients at the game quickly overwhelmed the EMS resources on site and required assistance from SDFD." Around 12:30 pm PDT (UTC−7), SDFD and EMS deputy chiefs considered asking the university to cancel the game but decided that doing so would not resolve the situation. [27]
Wave FC set a new NWSL attendance record when it debuted in the new stadium on September 17, 2022 against Angel City FC. By August 28, about three weeks before the game, over 27,000 tickets had been sold. [28] This total was comparable to the then-current league record of 27,278, set on August 29, 2021 when OL Reign played Portland Thorns FC at Lumen Field in Seattle as part of a doubleheader that also featured an MLS match between rivals Seattle Sounders FC and the Portland Timbers. [29] The pre-sales for Wave FC's stadium debut had already surpassed the record for a standalone game of 25,218, set on August 11, 2019 when Thorns FC hosted the North Carolina Courage at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon. [30] On September 1, the team announced the game had sold out, based on a soccer capacity of 32,000, [31] and the official attendance for the game was announced as that number. [32]
Snapdragon Stadium has hosted San Diego State Aztecs women's soccer and men's soccer matches. On November 7, 2023, CONCACAF announced that inaugural final of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup will be held at Snapdragon Stadium on March 10, 2024.
Date | Home Team | Result | Away Team | Tournament | Spectators |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
March 26, 2023 | Club Tijuana | 1–2 | Club América | Club Friendly | 22,000 |
June 10, 2023 | Mexico | 2–2 | Cameroon | International Friendly | 30,543 |
July 12, 2023 | United States | 1–1 (4–5 pen.) | Panama | 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup Semifinal | 31,690 |
July 25, 2023 [33] | Manchester United | 1–3 | Wrexham | Club Friendly | 34,248 [1] |
July 27, 2023 | San Diego Loyal | 0–6 | Borussia Dortmund | Club Friendly | 12,207 |
October 29, 2023 | United States | 3–0 | Colombia | Women's International Friendly | 16,202 |
November 11, 2023 | OL Reign | 1–2 | NJ/NY Gotham FC | 2023 NWSL Championship | 25,011 |
February 21, 2024 | Panama | 0–6 | Colombia | 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup Group B | 935 |
Brazil | 1–0 | Puerto Rico | |||
February 24, 2024 | Puerto Rico | 2–1 | Panama | 4,799 | |
Colombia | 0–1 | Brazil | |||
February 27, 2024 | Colombia | 2–0 | Puerto Rico | – | |
Brazil | 5–0 | Panama | – | ||
March 6, 2024 | Canada | 2–2 (1–3 pen.) | United States | 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup Semifinals | 15,245 |
Brazil | 3–0 | Mexico | |||
March 10, 2024 | United States | 1–0 | Brazil | 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup Final | 31,528 |
July 31, 2024 | Manchester United | – | Real Betis | Club Friendly | |
August 9, 2024 | Club América | – | TBD | 2024 Leagues Cup | |
On December 6, 2022, the National Lacrosse League (NLL) announced that the San Diego Seals would host the NLL's first-ever outdoor box lacrosse game on March 4, 2023. [34] The game, which became known as the NLL Stadium Showdown, saw the Seals beat the Las Vegas Desert Dogs 15–12. [35] [36]
In January 2022, World Lacrosse announced that San Diego would host the 2023 World Lacrosse Championship, with Snapdragon Stadium to be the primary venue. [37] The opening ceremonies and opening game with Steve Aoki as the halftime performer, semifinals, bronze medal game, and gold medal game were held at Snapdragon. All other games were held at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego and three additional fields on the San Diego State Sports Deck.
Date | Home Team | Result | Away Team | Spectators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
March 4, 2023 | San Diego Seals | 15–12 | Las Vegas Desert Dogs | 8,443 | NLL Stadium Showdown |
June 21, 2023 | United States | 7–5 | Canada | 14,000 | 2023 World Lacrosse Championship Opening Game |
June 29, 2023 | Canada | 12–7 | Haudenosaunee | 10,000 | 2023 World Lacrosse Championship Semifinal |
United States | 11–2 | Australia | |||
July 1, 2023 | Haudenosaunee | 11–6 | Australia | 15,112 | 2023 World Lacrosse Championship Bronze Medal Game |
United States | 10–7 | Canada | 2023 World Lacrosse Championship Gold Medal Game |
Date | Home Team | Result | Away Team | Spectators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 19, 2024 | New Zealand | – | Fiji | Friendly | |
San Diego is amongst the cities being considered for hosting matches during the 2031 (men's) and 2033 (women's) Rugby World Cup. [38]
Since 2023, Snapdragon Stadium has hosted rounds of Monster Jam and AMA Supercross Championship. In January 2023, the stadium hosted Monster Jam for the first time on January 7–8 and 14–15. [39] On January 21, 2023, the stadium hosted its first AMA Supercross Championship event. [40]
On June 2-4, 2023, the Re:SET Concert Series was held at Thrive Park, located outside of Snapdragon Stadium. The outdoor concert series was headlined by LCD Soundsystem, boygenius, and Steve Lacy.
Date | Artist | Opening act(s) | Tour | Attendance | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
May 6, 2023 | Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band | Jason Mraz Mac McAnally | Life on the Flip Side Redux Tour | 25,000 | Originally scheduled for October 22, 2022. |
May 12, 2023 | Red Hot Chili Peppers | The Mars Volta Thundercat | Global Stadium Tour | 25,682 | |
September 27, 2023 | Coldplay | H.E.R. 070 Shake | Music of the Spheres World Tour | 64,130 | First act to perform two shows on a single tour. |
September 28, 2023 | |||||
October 1, 2023 | Guns N' Roses | Alice in Chains | Guns N' Roses 2023 Tour | 26,500 | |
October 3, 2023 | P!nk | Brandi Carlile Grouplove DJ Kid Cut Up | Summer Carnival | 32,000 |
San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system.
San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the stadium's naming rights were owned by San Diego-based telecommunications company Qualcomm, and the stadium was known as Qualcomm Stadium or simply The Q. The naming rights expired on June 14, 2017, and were purchased by San Diego County Credit Union, renaming the facility as SDCCU Stadium on September 19, 2017; those naming rights expired in December 2020. Demolition of San Diego Stadium began in December 2020, with the last freestanding section of the stadium's superstructure felled by March 22, 2021. Following the demolition of San Diego Stadium, the San Diego State Aztecs' new Snapdragon Stadium, which opened in August 2022, was built in a different area of the land.
Torero Stadium is an outdoor stadium in San Diego, California, located on the campus of the University of San Diego. The stadium is home of the San Diego Toreros football and soccer teams. The Toreros compete in NCAA Division I as a member of the Pioneer Football League (PFL).
The San Diego State Aztecs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San Diego State University. The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I, as a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW). San Diego State University sponsors 17 teams at the varsity level.
The San Diego State Aztecs football team is the football program that represents San Diego State University. The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I (FBS) as a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW). The team plays their home games at Snapdragon Stadium.
Stadium station is a San Diego Trolley stop on the Green Line. The elevated station has an island platform as well as side platforms. It was built in the parking lot of the former San Diego Stadium. The area around the station is undergoing re-development into San Diego State University's Mission Valley campus and the Snapdragon Stadium for the San Diego State Aztecs football team.
Competitive men's professional soccer has been played in the United States since 1912 and since 2001 for women's. Numerous leagues have existed over the years with some recognized by the United States Soccer Federation and some not. The lists below are the single game attendance records for men's outdoor (60,000+), women's outdoor (20,000+), and men's indoor (18,000+) matches in American club soccer.
Sports in San Diego includes one major professional sports team, other highest-level professional teams, minor league teams, and college athletics. The most prominent team in San Diego is the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). San Diego FC will begin play in Major League Soccer (MLS) in 2025. San Diego State Aztecs teams play in NCAA Division I (FBS). The Farmers Insurance Open is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played annually at Torrey Pines Golf Course.
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. Headquartered in New York City, it is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federation.
The expansion of the National Women's Soccer League began with the league's sophomore season in 2014, when the league expanded to a ninth team in Houston, and is an ongoing process that currently has seen five expansions, three direct or indirect relocations, and one contraction. The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) was established as the top level of professional women's soccer in the United States in 2013 in the wake of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association and Women's Professional Soccer.
Professional sports leagues in the United States includes major professional sports leagues, other highest-level professional leagues, and minor leagues.
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is the top-tier professional women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. Founded in 2013, the 2019 season, the last before COVID-19, saw an average 7,337 spectators among the 9 teams, the highest average attendance in league history. Its overall attendance in 2019 was also its highest ever, with 792,409 total. The overall attendance record was broken in the 2022 season, the first since 2019 to be relatively unaffected by COVID-19, with a total of 1,042,063. However, the per-game record from 2019 remains intact; the league had 10 teams in 2019 but expanded to 12 for 2022. The NWSL has the highest average attendance per game among all women's professional sports leagues in the United States.
San Diego Wave FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in San Diego, California, playing in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Wave FC began play in the 2022 season as an expansion team. The team plays their home games at Snapdragon Stadium.
The 2022 San Diego Wave FC season was San Diego Wave FC's inaugural season as a professional women's soccer team. It plays in the National Women's Soccer League.
The 2022 San Diego State Aztecs football team represented the San Diego State University as a member of the Mountain West Conference during the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by head coach Brady Hoke, who was coaching his fourth season with the team. The Aztecs played their home games at the new Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California.
The San Diego Seals are a lacrosse team based in San Diego, California. The team plays in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2023 season is their 4th season in the NLL. The season started on December 3, 2022, and their home opener was on December 9, 2022, against the Saskatchewan Rush. That game was First Responder Appreciation Night.
The 2023 National Women's Soccer League season was the eleventh season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (2009–2011) and the Women's United Soccer Association (2001–2003), it was the 17th overall season of FIFA and USSF-sanctioned top division women's soccer in the United States. Twelve teams compete in the league.
The 2023 NLL Stadium Showdown was a professional outdoor box lacrosse game that was held on March 4, 2023, at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, between the San Diego Seals and the Las Vegas Desert Dogs. It was played on an improvised box around the touchdown zone of the typical american football field. It was the first outdoor game in NLL history. The game coincided with an NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse tournament.
San Diego FC is an American professional soccer club based in San Diego, California. The club is scheduled to enter Major League Soccer (MLS) as an expansion team in 2025 and will play home matches at Snapdragon Stadium, a multi-use venue built in 2022.