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San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, 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 equipment 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 San Diego County Credit Union (SDCCU) is an American financial services company headquartered in San Diego, California. The credit union is San Diego's largest locally owned financial institution and the fifteenth largest credit union in the U.S ...
, 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 Snapdragon Stadium, known during its planning and early construction phases as Aztec Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. It is located on the campus of San Diego ...
, which opened in August
2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
, was built in a different area of the parking lot. San Diego Stadium was the home of the Aztecs of San Diego State University from
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
through
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
. One college football
bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdiv ...
, the
Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has be ...
, was held in the stadium every December from
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 � ...
through
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
. The stadium was also home to a second college bowl game, the
Poinsettia Bowl The Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played in San Diego, California, United States from 2005 to 2016. The game was originally played from 1952 to 1955 between military servic ...
, from
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
until its discontinuation following the
2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh c ...
edition. It was also briefly the home of the
San Diego Fleet The San Diego Fleet was a professional American football franchise based in San Diego, California, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF). The league began play in February 2019, with the team playing its home game ...
of the
Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan area ...
in early 2019. The stadium was the longtime home of two professional franchises: the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL) and the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). The Chargers played at the stadium from
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
through the 2016 season, after which they moved to Los Angeles to become the Los Angeles Chargers. The Padres played home games at the stadium from their
founding Founding may refer to: * The formation of a corporation, government, or other organization * The laying of a building's Foundation * The casting of materials in a mold See also * Foundation (disambiguation) Foundation may refer to: * Foundati ...
in
1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...
through the
2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...
season, then moved to Petco Park in
downtown San Diego Downtown San Diego is the city center of San Diego, California, the eighth largest city in the United States. In 2010, the Centre City area had a population of more than 28,000. Downtown San Diego serves as the cultural and financial center and ...
in
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
. The stadium hosted three Super Bowls:
XXII 22 (twenty-two) is the natural number following 21 and preceding 23. In mathematics 22 is a palindromic number and the eighth semiprime; its proper divisors are 1, 2, and 11. It is the second Smith number, the second Erdős–Woods numbe ...
in 1988, XXXII in 1998, and XXXVII in 2003. It also hosted the
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 � ...
and
1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
Major League Baseball All-Star Games, as well as games of the
1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
and 1998 National League Division Series, the
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
and 1998 National League Championship Series, and the
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
and 1998 World Series. It was the only stadium ever to host both the Super Bowl and the World Series in the same year (1998), and it was one of three stadiums to host the World Series, the MLB All-Star Game, and the Super Bowl, along with the
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (commonly called the Metrodome) was a domed sports stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home of the National Football League' ...
in Minneapolis and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. The stadium was located immediately northwest of the interchange of Interstates 8 and 15. The neighborhood surrounding the stadium is known as
Mission Valley Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east–west in San Diego, California, United States, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the city of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Missi ...
, in reference to the
Mission San Diego de Alcalá Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá ( es, Misión San Diego de Alcalá) was the second Franciscan founded mission in The Californias (after San Fernando de Velicata), a province of New Spain. Located in present-day San Diego, California, ...
, which is located to the east, and its placement in the valley of the San Diego River. The stadium was served by the Stadium station of the
San Diego Trolley The San Diego Trolley is a light rail system operating in the metropolitan area of San Diego. It is known colloquially as "The Trolley". The Trolley's operator, San Diego Trolley, Inc. (SDTI), is a subsidiary of the San Diego Metropolitan Tra ...
, accessible via the Green Line running toward Downtown San Diego to the west, and Santee to the east.


History

In the early 1960s, local sportswriter Jack Murphy, the brother of New York Mets broadcaster
Bob Murphy Robert, Rob, Bob or Bobby Murphy may refer to: Sports Ice hockey * Robert Ronald Murphy or Ron Murphy (1933–2014), Canadian ice hockey player * Bob Murphy (ice hockey) (born 1951), Canadian retired professional ice hockey player * Rob Murphy (ic ...
, began to build up support for a multi-purpose stadium for San Diego. In November 1965, a $27 million
bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemical ...
was passed allowing construction to begin on a stadium, which was designed in the Brutalist style. Construction on the stadium began one month later. When completed, the facility was named San Diego Stadium. The stadium was the first of the square-circle "
octorad {{No footnotes, date=October 2020 Octorad is a term coined to describe a style of stadium architecture in the late 1960s. The term suggests eight radiuses, the design incorporating four arcs of a large circle to comprise most of the structure, an ...
" style, which was thought to be an improvement over the other multi-purpose stadiums of the time for hosting both football and baseball (the second and last of this style was the since-imploded
Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street (Philadelphia), Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capa ...
). Despite the theoretical improvements of this style, most of the seats were still very far away from the action on the field, especially during baseball games. The Chargers (then a member of the
American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...
) played the first game ever at the stadium on August 20, 1967. San Diego Stadium had a capacity of around 50,000; the three-tier grandstand was in the shape of a horseshoe, with the east end low (consisting of only one tier, partially topped by a large scoreboard). The Chargers were the main tenant of the stadium until 1968, when the AAA Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres baseball team played its last season in the stadium, following their move from the minor league-sized
Westgate Park Westgate Park was a baseball stadium located in San Diego, California. The ballpark was home to the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League from 1958 to 1967. The ballpark was located in the largely undeveloped Mission Valley region of San Die ...
. Due to expansion of Major League Baseball, this team was replaced by the current San Diego Padres major-league team beginning in the 1969 season. (The Padres moved out of the stadium following the 2003 season.) The original scoreboard, a black-and-white scoreboard created by All American Scoreboards, was replaced in 1978 by one manufactured by American Sign and Indicator, which was the first full-color outdoor scoreboard ever built. This was replaced in 1987 by a White Way Sign scoreboard, in which the video screen is surrounded almost entirely by three message boards. The original video board was replaced in 1996 by a
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
JumboTron, with a second JumboTron installed behind the opposite end zone (third base in the stadium's baseball configuration). After Jack Murphy's death in September 1980, San Diego Stadium was renamed San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium by a 6–2 vote of the
San Diego City Council The San Diego City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of San Diego, California. The city council was first established in San Diego in 1850. The council uses a strong mayor system with a separately elected mayor who act ...
on January 6, 1981. In 1983, over 9,000 bleachers were added to the lower deck on the open end of the stadium raising the capacity to 59,022. The most substantial addition was completed in 1997, when the stadium was fully enclosed, with the exception of where the scoreboard is located. Nearly 11,000 seats were added in readiness for
Super Bowl XXXII Super Bowl XXXII was an American football game played between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers (who were defending their Super Bowl XXXI championship) and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver B ...
in 1998, bringing the capacity to 70,561. Also in 1997, the facility was renamed Qualcomm Stadium after Qualcomm Corporation paid $18 million for the naming rights. The naming rights belonged to Qualcomm until 2017, after which the rights were purchased by
San Diego County Credit Union San Diego County Credit Union (SDCCU) is an American financial services company headquartered in San Diego, California. The credit union is San Diego's largest locally owned financial institution and the fifteenth largest credit union in the U.S ...
. In order to continue to honor Murphy, the city named the stadium site Jack Murphy Field. However, as part of the naming agreement Jack Murphy Field was not allowed to be used alongside Qualcomm Stadium. Some San Diegans, however, still refer to the stadium as "Jack Murphy" or simply "The Murph". Before his death in 2004, Bob Murphy still referred to it as Jack Murphy Stadium during New York Mets broadcasts, even after it was renamed. However, this renovation relegated the Padres to second-class citizens within their own stadium, as the city gave the Chargers full financial control of the 113 luxury suites. The stadium was temporarily renamed "Snapdragon Stadium" for 10 days in December 2011 as a marketing tie in for Qualcomm's
Snapdragon ''Antirrhinum'' is a genus of plants commonly known as dragon flowers, snapdragons and dog flower because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They are native to r ...
brand. The legality of the temporary name change was challenged at the time, since it was agreed to unilaterally by San Diego's mayor, without approval from the City Council and against the advice of the City Attorney. In an interesting quirk of fate, the Aztecs' new stadium, built in 2022 after the demolition of SDCCU Stadium, has the permanent name of
Snapdragon Stadium Snapdragon Stadium, known during its planning and early construction phases as Aztec Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. It is located on the campus of San Diego ...
. With the departure of the Padres to Petco Park following the 2003 season and even beforehand, there was much talk of replacing the increasingly obsolete (by NFL standards) stadium with a more modern, football-only one. Also, the NFL had demanded a new stadium if San Diego was to host another Super Bowl; however, the city struggled to fund such a new stadium. On January 12, 2017, the Chargers announced they were moving to Los Angeles and now play at
SoFi Stadium SoFi Stadium () is a 70,240-seat sports and entertainment indoor stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California, United States. SoFi occupies the former site of the Hollywood Park Racetrack, from Los Angeles International Airport an ...
with the Los Angeles Rams. In 2018, San Diego State University announced the building of a new
Aztec Stadium Snapdragon Stadium, known during its planning and early construction phases as Aztec Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. It is located on the campus of San Dieg ...
(later renamed Snapdragon Stadium) by 2022 on an expansion part of campus on the site of the stadium and parking lot. On December 27, 2019, the stadium hosted the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl, a college football bowl game between Iowa and USC ( Iowa won the game), this was the final sporting event ever played at the stadium. Demolition of the stadium commenced in December 2020.


Super Bowls ( NFL)


All-Star Games (

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
)


Configurations

In order to accommodate the dimensions of both football and baseball fields, the stadium was constructed with half of the lower (Field Level) level seating built of permanent concrete (in the southern quadrant of the stadium), and the other half of portable modular construction using aluminum or steel framing. When the stadium was configured for baseball, the portable sections would be placed in the western quadrant of the stadium along the third base-left field side. Open bullpens were located along both foul lines just beyond the ends of the Field-level seats. In the Padres' final five seasons at the stadium from 1999 to 2003, the home plate area took on the shape of home plate itself (as opposed to the standard circle); this feature is seen in Detroit's
Comerica Park Comerica Park is a baseball stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It has been the home of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers since 2000, when the team left Tiger Stadium. History Construction Founded in 1894, the Tigers had played at the c ...
today. In the football configuration, the portable seating sections were placed in the northern quadrant of the stadium (covering what is used as left field in the baseball configuration) to allow for the football field to be laid out east–west (along the first base/right field foul line, with the western end zone placed in the area occupied by the portable seating sections in the baseball configuration, and the eastern end zone along the right-center field wall). Doorways were cut in the walls of the stadium in order to allow access to these seats from the tunnel below the Plaza level in both configurations (in baseball configuration, the football doors could be seen above the left field inner wall; in football configuration, the baseball doors were visible above the west end zone, opposite the scoreboard). These doors were rolling metal overhead doors, with the field side painted to match the surrounding walls facing the field.


Seating capacity


Tenants


Padres

From their inception in
1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...
until the end of
2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...
, when they moved into Petco Park in the downtown area, the
National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
's San Diego Padres called the stadium home. The baseball field dimensions had varied slightly over the years. In 1969, the distance from home plate to the left and right field wall was , the distance to the left- and right-center field power alleys was , and the distance from home plate to the center field was . A wall, whose top was the rim of the Plaza level, surrounded the outfield, making home runs difficult to hit. Later, an eight-foot fence was erected, cutting the distances to 327, 368 and , respectively. In 1996 a note of asymmetry was introduced when a high scoreboard displaying out-of-town scores was erected along the right-field wall near the foul pole and deemed to be in play, and so the distances to right field and right-center field were and , respectively, while the remaining dimensions remained the same.
Orel Hershiser Orel Leonard Hershiser IV (born September 16, 1958) is an American former baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1983 to 2000. He later became a pitching coach for the Texas Rangers from 2002 to 2005 and a bro ...
broke Don Drysdale's scoreless inning streak at Jack Murphy Stadium on September 28, 1988, as the Los Angeles Dodgers played the San Diego Padres. Rickey Henderson collected his 3000th major league base hit here on October 7,
2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...
as a Padre, in what was also the last major league game for Tony Gwynn, the eight-time
National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
batting champion and
Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...
who played his entire career with San Diego. It was also before a Padres game here where comedian Roseanne Barr gave her infamous rendition of "
The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the ...
" in 1990.


Chargers

The stadium was the site of the
1980 AFC Championship Game __NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab u ...
, which the " Bolts" lost to their
AFC West The American Football Conference – Western Division or AFC West is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division comprises the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Las V ...
and in-state rival, the Oakland Raiders, 34–27. The Chargers also hosted Wild Card and Divisional Playoff games in
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
, 1980,
1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
, 1994,
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake stri ...
,
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
,
2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 FIFA ...
,
2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...
,
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
and
2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...
, going 5–6 in all playoff games held at the stadium. The Chargers were unbeaten at the stadium against the
Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...
(5–0) and Jacksonville Jaguars (4–0), but winless against the
Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...
(0–6),
Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...
(0–3), and Green Bay Packers (0–6). The Chargers moved to
Dignity Health Sports Park Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignity ...
in Carson, a suburb of Los Angeles, following the 2016 NFL season.


Aztecs

Since its inception, the stadium, which was approximately five miles from campus, had been the home of San Diego State University San Diego State Aztecs football, Aztecs football through the 2019 San Diego State Aztecs football team, 2019 season, the final season before demolition of the stadium commenced. Before the building of the stadium, they had played their games at Balboa Stadium and their small, on-campus stadium, the Aztec Bowl (stadium), Aztec Bowl (which is now the site of Viejas Arena, the home of the university's basketball teams). Traditionally, the team, clad in all-black uniforms and red helmets, has played its home games at night, a tradition started during the days of former head coach Don Coryell before the stadium was even opened. There have been attempts in the past to change from "The Look", but all have been associated with subsequent poor play by the Aztecs and a return to the traditional look.


Other football games

Following the 1978 college football season, the stadium began hosting the
Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has be ...
, an annual bowl game held before New Year's Day. It originally hosted the Western Athletic Conference champion (at the time, the hometown Aztecs had just joined this conference) against a nationally ranked opponent. The game has traditionally been a high-scoring affair, and until the 2006 Holiday Bowl, 2006 edition no team had ever been held to ten points or less. From 1995 through 2004, every ''losing'' team scored at least 20 points. The 1984 Holiday Bowl, 1984 game is well known for being the culmination of 1984 BYU Cougars football team, BYU's championship season, the last Division I-A (now FBS) national championship not won by a member of a Power Five conference or a major NCAA Division I FBS independent schools, independent program. On December 22, 2005, a second bowl game came to San Diego when the inaugural
Poinsettia Bowl The Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played in San Diego, California, United States from 2005 to 2016. The game was originally played from 1952 to 1955 between military servic ...
was played at the stadium, with Navy Midshipmen football, Navy beating Colorado State Rams football, Colorado State. The Poinsettia Bowl was organized by the same organizing committee as the Holiday Bowl. It was officially discontinued after the 2016 game, as the organizing committee announced (in January 2017) that it had decided to host only one game, beginning with the 2017 season. On October 27, 2018, the Navy Midshipmen hosted the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football, Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the stadium for a regular season game. The stadium was the home field for the
San Diego Fleet The San Diego Fleet was a professional American football franchise based in San Diego, California, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF). The league began play in February 2019, with the team playing its home game ...
of the Alliance of American Football, AAF. They played 4 home games at the then named SDCCU Stadium in February and March of 2019, with a home record of 3-1, before the league folded following week 8 of the inaugural season. California Interscholastic Federation, CIF San Diego Section Finals for high school football were held at the stadium. These usually took place on a Friday in early December, and four games were played (with eight teams representing four separate divisions, which are determined by the enrollment sizes of the individual schools).


Soccer

The stadium was a venue for many Exhibition game#International football, international association football, soccer matches. The stadium hosted FIFA tournaments, including the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and the United States Cup, U.S. Cup (an international invitational), as well as many international friendly matches involving the Mexico national football team, Mexico National Team. The most recent international friendly at the stadium set an all-time attendance record for the sport in the region. The match between Mexico and Argentina national football team, Argentina which was held on June 4, 2008, drew 68,498 spectators. In addition, the stadium was part of the 18-stadium United States 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bid, but the United States did not win either bid for the World Cup. The stadium also hosted several international friendlies featuring clubs such as Real Madrid, C.D. Guadalajara, Chivas, Portsmouth F.C. and Club América. The San Diego Sockers (1974–96), San Diego Sockers of the North American Soccer League (1968–84), North American Soccer League played at the stadium from 1978 to 1983. The stadium was the venue of Soccer Bowl '82 of the North American Soccer League and Major League Soccer's 1999 MLS All-Star Game, 1999 All-Star Game. On January 29, 2017, the United States men's national soccer team, USMNT played a friendly (exhibition match, exhibition) match against Serbia national football team, Serbia, the first ever meeting between the two teams. The match finished as a 0–0 draw. The stadium hosted two group stage matches of the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup. On July 25, 2018, the stadium hosted a 2018 International Champions Cup match between A.S. Roma and Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham Hotspur won 4–1. In 2019, the stadium hosted matches of National Independent Soccer Association club San Diego 1904 FC.


Other sports

In October 1967, just weeks after the stadium opened, it hosted a Sports Car Club of America, SCCA event organized by San Diego Region. The event was not held in the stadium itself, but on a temporary course mapped out through the stadium's parking lot. In July 1968, the Region organized a SCCA National for the car park, now called the San Diego Stadium International Raceway, but the combination of a very small crowd and complaints about the noise ensured that the experiment was not repeated. The stadium also hosted rugby matches. In October 1980, the United States national rugby union team, USA played New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand in a rugby match televised on ESPN. With 14,000 fans in attendance, this game at the time was the largest crowd ever to watch an international rugby game in the US. Old Mission Beach Athletic Club RFC play rugby union at the adjacent mini-stadium, so-called Little Q. The stadium was home to a round of the AMA Supercross Championship each year, usually in early February, from 1980 to 2014.Petco saved Supercross, Monster Jam shows
''The San Diego Union-Tribune'', May 9, 2014
The stadium also hosted a round of Monster Jam, also ran and operated by Feld Entertainment. In 2015, both events were moved to Petco Park. ESPN held their inaugural Moto X World Championships at the stadium in April 2008, and has previously used the stadium parking lot and surrounding streets as a venue in the X Games Street Luge competition. On May 4 and 18, 2013, the stadium was used as a racecourse by the Stadium Super Trucks.


Concerts on the Green

Concerts on the Green was a sports field converted into a music and entertainment venue, located on the southwest corner of the stadium parking lot. The field was originally used as a practice venue for the San Diego Chargers. After the team moved to Chargers Park about a mile north of the stadium, the area was used primarily for Rugby football, rugby. Anschutz Entertainment Group, AEG leased the area and retrofit it into an open-air amphitheater for concerts and other entertainment shows. The venue had the capability to hold 12,500, making it the second biggest entertainment venue in the Greater San Diego area; only North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre seats more.


Non-sporting events


Concerts

Many concerts were also held inside the stadium over the years, by famous artists of many different genres. In 1983 rock radio station KGB-FM, KGB 101.5 FM hosted the KGB Skyshow 8 with Uriah Heep, Eddie Money, Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard finishing the show.


In TV and movies

American Idol (season 7), ''American Idol'' (season 7) held auditions there in July 2007; a total of 30 people who auditioned there made it to the next round. In a January 30, 2009, episode of ''Monk (TV series), Monk'', The stadium was known as Summit Stadium in the episode ''Mr. Monk Makes the Playoffs'' with the fictitious San Francisco Condors as the home team. Many parts of the 1979 film ''The Kid from Left Field (1979 film), The Kid from Left Field'' were filmed in and around the stadium. The ending to the 1978 film ''Attack of the Killer Tomatoes'' was filmed on the field, using locals as extras.


The Little Q

The Little Q was a sports field, used primarily for Rugby football, rugby located adjacent to the stadium; the Little Q was home to San Diego's Rugby Super League (United States), Super League rugby team Old Mission Beach Athletic Club RFC, OMBAC and the College Premier Division San Diego State University Aztec rugby team.


Big SoCal Euro

Big SoCal Euro was a gathering of European car enthusiasts. It attracts over 3,000 car lovers every year. Not only is Big SoCal Euro one of the largest all European car gatherings, but it is also one of the oldest events of its kind, established in 2002. It had been held at the stadium since 2007. The event was founded by Lon Mok o
SoCalEuro.com


Other events

Billy Graham hosted a crusade at the stadium in early May 2003. During the Cedar Fire (2003), Cedar Fire in October 2003 and the October 2007 California wildfires, the stadium served as an evacuation site for those living in affected areas. (This was similar to the use of the Astrodome, Houston Astrodome and the New Orleans Superdome during Hurricane Katrina.) The Cedar Fire forced the Chargers to move a contest with the 2003 Miami Dolphins season, Miami Dolphins to Arizona State University's Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the San Diego County Council of the Boy Scouts of America used the stadium's concourse areas (between the rear of the grandstands and the freestanding wall which contains the entrance gates) as well as portions of the parking lots as the site of its annual Scout Fair. The San Diego County Council has since merged with the council representing Imperial County to form the Desert Pacific Council.


Sale and demolition

On June 30, 2020, the city of San Diego approved the sale of the stadium to San Diego State University and on August 10, 2020, the university officially took control. Snapdragon Stadium, A new stadium is under construction on the site and is anticipated to seat 35,000 and support events including SDSU football, non-football NCAA championship games, professional soccer, a future NFL team, and special events such as concerts. Following failed efforts in 2010 and 2016 to build a new stadium in downtown San Diego's East Village, San Diego, East Village, San Diego State bought the entire , including the existing stadium, from the city for $88 million. A competing redevelopment proposal, known as SoccerCity, envisioned that stadium site could be leased from the city and redeveloped with private funding if San Diego was awarded a Major League Soccer team. The SoccerCity proposal was placed on the November 2018 ballot alongside the SDSU proposal but was defeated. The entire $3.5 billion SDSU 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 rolled out in phases over 8–10 years. The stadium was scheduled to be decommissioned following the end of the 2021 college football season while
Snapdragon Stadium Snapdragon Stadium, known during its planning and early construction phases as Aztec Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. It is located on the campus of San Diego ...
is constructed on the existing parking lot. However, on September 15, 2020, San Diego State University announced that the stadium would be demolished in early 2021. The stadium was taken down in pieces starting in December 2020 rather than Building implosion, imploded due to California environmental law. The 2020 San Diego State Aztecs football team, 2020 and 2021 San Diego State Aztecs football team, 2021 seasons were played at
Dignity Health Sports Park Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignity ...
in Carson until Snapdragon Stadium's planned completion for the Fall 2022 season. On March 22, 2021, the last freestanding section of San Diego Stadium visible from Interstates 8 and 15 was felled, leaving the plaza level to be demolished.


See also

* List of NCAA Division I FBS football stadiums


References


External links


VisitingFan.com: Reviews of Qualcomm StadiumQualcomm Stadium Seating Chart
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Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has be ...
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Aztec Stadium Snapdragon Stadium, known during its planning and early construction phases as Aztec Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. It is located on the campus of San Dieg ...
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Poinsettia Bowl The Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played in San Diego, California, United States from 2005 to 2016. The game was originally played from 1952 to 1955 between military servic ...
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