San Diego State Releases More Details, Higher Pricetag For Proposed Mission Valley Stadium

San Diego State on Thursday "unveiled drawings and details" for its proposed Aztec Stadium in Mission Valley, according to a front-page piece by Showley & Steele of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The $250M price tag is about $100M "more than earlier expected." The design has an "outdoorsy San Diego feeling, plus the 'intimate' atmosphere" that pro soccer teams demand. The stadium "would be financed by taxable revenue bonds" that will cost about $15M a year in debt financing. The price of the 35,000-seat stadium, which could open by '22 and "replace 50-year-old SDCCU Stadium, has increased" nearly 70%. SDSU found the "actual cost to build the most recent collegiate stadiums was higher than expected." Populous Senior Principal Scott Radecic said that stadium costs "have been reduced by burying the lower seating levels below street level." The annual debt payment "will be covered by stadium revenues, including sponsorships, donations from SDSU alumni and supporters, fees from professional sports teams, rents from the various hospitality venues throughout the building and food, beverage and merchandise concessions." There will be "club seats, luxury suites, movable field-level loge boxes and 'drink rails'" on the south terrace. MLS "prefers stadiums of 25,000 seats or less," but SDSU AD John David Wicker "thinks the sport’s growing popularity will eventually need as many seats as Aztec Stadium will offer." If the NFL "returns to San Diego, an additional 20,000 seats could be installed by adding new decks and redesigning the end zone seating areas." The project cannot go forward until San Diego voters "decide whether they like SoccerCity, a similarly conceived, mixed-use project or SDSU Mission Valley." Both ballot initiatives are "headed for the Nov. 6, 2018, election" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 12/1).