OT: The future of Qualcomm Stadium/Holiday Bowl is in doubt

[WestCoastWildcat]

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/sd-me-chargers-lease-20170119-story.html

With the Chargers gone to LA, the future of Qualcomm Stadium is in doubt. 2 bowl games are played there now including the Holiday Bowl which has an agreement with the BigTen. The bowl games lose money every year and are not sustainable at the Q with the Chargers gone.

One proposal is a smaller stadium for San Diego State and professional soccer. Another proposal would be $100M+ renovation of the Q. The current year city budget has no room for renovations needed to keep the Q going for much longer. The city is considering closing the Q until new stadium plans are worked out.

 

[willycat]

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/sd-me-chargers-lease-20170119-story.html

With the Chargers gone to LA, the future of Qualcomm Stadium is in doubt. 2 bowl games are played there now including the Holiday Bowl which has an agreement with the BigTen. The bowl games lose money every year and are not sustainable at the Q with the Chargers gone.

One proposal is a smaller stadium for San Diego State and professional soccer. Another proposal would be $100M+ renovation of the Q. The current year city budget has no room for renovations needed to keep the Q going for much longer. The city is considering closing the Q until new stadium plans are worked out.

Maybe a move back to the Alamo Bowl might be in the cards. Better yet a Cubs Bowl at

 

[NUCat320]

Dean Spanos is the worst.
I know nothing about him, but that's what the Internet told me.

I enjoyed this write up, WCW. What do you think about it?
https://theringer.com/san-diego-chargers-los-angeles-dean-spanos-92653a53e586#.8uy1a70za

 

[phatcat]

if a stadium falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

 

[Fitz51]

Unused stadium. Crap bowl games. Just scrap 'em.

 

[WestCoastWildcat]

Unused stadium. Crap bowl games. Just scrap 'em.

A little harsh. I don't think the Holiday Bowl is a "crap bowl game". I think San Diego is a pretty good destination to have a bowl game, and a BigTen-PAC12 matchup is attractive. The issue is our stadium is fading and needs to be replaced or refurbished.

 

[WestCoastWildcat]

Dean Spanos is the worst.
I know nothing about him, but that's what the Internet told me.

I enjoyed this write up, WCW. What do you think about it?
https://theringer.com/san-diego-chargers-los-angeles-dean-spanos-92653a53e586#.8uy1a70za

Dean Spanos is a weak owner and really didn't want to work a deal for a new stadium in San Diego. The Chargers proposal to finance a new downtown stadium/convention center annex (aka "convadium") needed 2/3 approval and only got 43% of the votes. Spanos decided to take the LA option after his ballot measure was voted down, even though the NFL wanted him to continue to work out a deal with the city.

With the Chargers gone the City of San Diego has some serious choices to make. San Diego State needs a place to play and there are 2 bowl games the city has commitments until 2018. Both bowl games lose money for the city but provide holiday business for the tourist industry.

The Qualcomm site in Mission Valley is fairly valuable. San Diego State would like to build a smaller stadium on the site about 30-40k as well as dorms and other buildings- it would basically become a satellite campus for SDSU already connected by the
Trolley to the main campus.

There will be other proposals to use the Qualcomm site. The question yet to be determined is what to do with the stadium and how to finance it. There are some architects advocating a $100M facelift to retain the current stadium. Others want to see the stadium torn down and replaced with a smaller stadium for college football and professional soccer. The Q has been losing events to Petco Park in downtown Dan Diego which has piled on the Q's financial woes. To complicate things there are potential high environmental cleanup costs at the Qualcomm site due to an oil plume leaking at an oil storage facility nearby. Nobody's knows what the cleanup costs will be even after settlement with the company that owns the storage facility.

Right now Qualcomm is not financially viable as the article indicated. The site itself has development potential but the are expensive environment mitigation that must be performed especially if housing is built on the property as proposed by SDSU. It will be interesting to see what the plans for the Q will be with Spanos and the Chargers moving north.

 

[NUCat320]

Dean Spanos is a weak owner and really didn't want to work a deal for a new stadium in San Diego. The Chargers proposal to finance a new downtown stadium/convention center annex (aka "convadium") needed 2/3 approval and only got 43% of the votes. Spanos decided to take the LA option after his ballot measure was voted down, even though the NFL wanted him to continue to work out a deal with the city.

With the Chargers gone the City of San Diego has some serious choices to make. San Diego State needs a place to play and there are 2 bowl games the city has commitments until 2018. Both bowl games lose money for the city but provide holiday business for the tourist industry.

The Qualcomm site in Mission Valley is fairly valuable. San Diego State would like to build a smaller stadium on the site about 30-40k as well as dorms and other buildings- it would basically become a satellite campus for SDSU already connected by the
Trolley to the main campus.

There will be other proposals to use the Qualcomm site. The question yet to be determined is what to do with the stadium and how to finance it. There are some architects advocating a $100M facelift to retain the current stadium. Others want to see the stadium torn down and replaced with a smaller stadium for college football and professional soccer. The Q has been losing events to Petco Park in downtown Dan Diego which has piled on the Q's financial woes. To complicate things there are potential high environmental cleanup costs at the Qualcomm site due to an oil plume leaking at an oil storage facility nearby. Nobody's knows what the cleanup costs will be even after settlement with the company that owns the storage facility.

Right now Qualcomm is not financially viable as the article indicated. The site itself has development potential but the are expensive environment mitigation that must be performed especially if housing is built on the property as proposed by SDSU. It will be interesting to see what the plans for the Q will be with Spanos and the Chargers moving north.

This is fascinating. Thank you. I always aporeciate your posts about SD area sports and SDSU.

 

[sdDaveP]

This is fascinating. Thank you. I always aporeciate your posts about SD area sports and SDSU.

As someone who lives a block from Petco Park, the thought of walking to a 'Cats Holiday Bowl game intrigues me.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/columnists/kevin-acee/sd-sp-petcofoot-0124-story.html

 

[WestCoastWildcat]

As someone who lives a block from Petco Park, the thought of walking to a 'Cats Holiday Bowl game intrigues me.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/columnists/kevin-acee/sd-sp-petcofoot-0124-story.html

What might make sense is to have the bowl games at Petco and the regular season Aztecs games at the proposed soccer/football stadium that would be built at the Qualcomm site. I think there is some irony bringing football to Petco but it could be a great environment for BigTen fans visiting for the Holiday Bowl. Football at Petco could potentially host around 50,000 fans with modifications to Petco as indicated in the article. I think this makes a lot of sense.

The proposal to development the Qualcomm site with a new smaller soccer/football stadium, housing and a riverside park also includes reserving some of the 166 acre site for a potential new NFL stadium.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/growth-development/sd-fi-soccer-20170122-story.html

 

[sdDaveP]

It is official. Poinsettia Bowl is dead. SD Bowl Game Association looking to move the Holiday Bowl to Petco Park after Qualcomm closes in 2018.


http://www.sandiegobowlgames.com/san-diego-bowl-game-association-announces-plans-future/

 

[willycat]

It is official. Poinsettia Bowl is dead. SD Bowl Game Association looking to move the Holiday Bowl to Petco Park after Qualcomm closes in 2018.


http://www.sandiegobowlgames.com/san-diego-bowl-game-association-announces-plans-future/

Maybe it's time for the Big Ten to get back to San Antonio and /or a Cubs/Wrigley Bowl

 

[WestCoastWildcat]

It is official. Poinsettia Bowl is dead. SD Bowl Game Association looking to move the Holiday Bowl to Petco Park after Qualcomm closes in 2018.


http://www.sandiegobowlgames.com/san-diego-bowl-game-association-announces-plans-future/

Poinsettia Bowl is no big loss. You must be excited about the Holiday Bowl being moved to Petco Park. It will be an exciting venue for BigTen fans.

 

[sdDaveP]

Poinsettia Bowl is no big loss. You must be excited about the Holiday Bowl being moved to Petco Park. It will be an exciting venue for BigTen fans.

I am thrilled! It not only moves the game to Petco but also probably moves most of the bowl activities to Gaslamp and East Village as well.

I think the MLB All Star Game was a great example of how well downtown SD works for sporting events and associated activities.

 

[NU 71 72 74]

Unused stadium. Crap bowl games. Just scrap 'em.

Ditto. Too many bowl games -- invitations should be based upon minimum 8 W 4 L seasons. imo

and, Go Cats !!

 

[docrugby1]

It is official. Poinsettia Bowl is dead. SD Bowl Game Association looking to move the Holiday Bowl to Petco Park after Qualcomm closes in 2018.


http://www.sandiegobowlgames.com/san-diego-bowl-game-association-announces-plans-future/

Petco is in a great location near the Gaslamp District and trolley . I watched the USA Rugby 7s there on 2 occasions and many of the problems with positioning a football field in a baseball stadium exist there. If NU gets a Holiday Bowl invite ,I will attend because Yankee Stadium was pretty good despite awkward layout