San Diego, California - San Diego State University revealed today additional details regarding a plan for a multi-use stadium in Mission Valley that could serve as a future home of a San Diego National Football League franchise.
SDSU athletic director John David Wicker, who presented the plan to media members Thursday, showed images and provided specifics on how the proposed 35,000-seat stadium at the site could morph into a 55,000-seat facility for the NFL.
By working with Populous and JMI Sports from the outset, San Diego State’s proposed Mission Valley stadium would offer a future San Diego NFL owner the opportunity to partner on a state-of-the-art professional football stadium in the center of San Diego.
Regardless of when an NFL franchise returns to San Diego in the future, a professional football tenant would also be able to utilize the west side of the proposed SDSU multi-use stadium that would result in a significant savings to construction costs.
Among the details released today about the potential stadium expansion for an NFL team was a perforated aluminum panel exterior, influenced by the sailboats found in San Diego harbor. This feature would provide those looking from the outside with dynamic color changes throughout the day, while dynamic LED lighting would draw attention to the state-of-the-art facility at night.
The stadium interior would feature more than 82 suites, including field level, lower bowl sideline and upper sidelines, five different club sections (totaling approximately 6,500 seats), 50 loge boxes with lounge access, two end zone party decks and six exterior balconies, providing fans in San Diego unparalleled methods to enjoy games, concerts and a wide variety of events.
Today’s news follows the announcements last November, when the University released a detailed plan for the entire Mission Valley site, as well as a multi-use 35,000-seat stadium that would be the home for Aztec football.
The 35,000-seat multi-use stadium would house the Aztec football team and would be configured to host professional soccer events immediately. Situated in the northwest corner of the site, the stadium would serve as host to numerous other community and sporting events as well.
The stadium is being designed by Populous, a global architecture and design firm that has designed more than 2,000 projects over the last 30 years, including Yankee Stadium, the London Olympics and the Super Bowl.
The stadium is just one facet of a larger campus expansion that would include housing for upper-division and graduate-level students, as well as provide work-force and low-income housing.
The site also would feature approximately 90,000 square feet of retail space, located near the stadium, which would be appropriately scaled to support game day activities, but also serve residents, employees, students and visitors during non-game days.
