While the San Diego Chargers are preparing to release their plan to build a new stadium, a stadium of a whole different variety could be in the works in a familiar San Diego football setting.
According to a report last Saturday by KNSD-TV sports anchor Derek Togerson, JMI Realty, a real estate firm owned by former Padres owner and San Diego State benefactor John Moores, will unveil its own plan in early April for a new “boutique” stadium located in Mission Valley on the current site of Qualcomm Stadium, the ancient facility the Chargers are looking to abandon in favor of a downtown site.
The Mission Valley stadium plan, part of the creation of a “West” Campus for San Diego State University (SDSU), would not only provide the Aztecs a new football home, but it would also be used as a luring point for an expansion MLS franchise.
JMI Realty is also working with the Chargers on a “convadium” plan that will combine a stadium and a convention center. (For more on that proposal, see today’s post on our sister site, Football Stadium Digest.) The firm will hold an event on SDSU’s main campus on April 5 to announce the West Campus and stadium plan. More from JMI Realty’s announcement on Eventbrite:
A few years ago, John Moores, ex-Padre owner and SDSU benefactor, and his JMI team began envisioning a redeveloped sports, education and business complex at the Qualcomm Stadium site in Mission Valley. Now, as the Chargers work to develop a downtown San Diego football stadium, the JMI team, working in concert with Cisterra Development, another prominent San Diego developer, will unveil their proposal to develop the Qualcomm Stadium site into a civic gem that all SDSU alumni and San Diego County residents will claim proudly.
The proposed stadium would be in the 30,000-40,000 seat range, a capacity that is closer than existing facilities in San Diego to the typical new MLS stadium. Moores has long been interested in bringing an MLS franchise to San Diego, but with Qualcomm as the only existing venue, such talks have never gotten off the ground.