San Diego State President Elliot Hirshman yesterday "endorsed turning the Qualcomm Stadium property into a new 166-acre campus" for the school, according to a front-page piece by Roger Showley of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. With the Chargers planning a 65,000-seat stadium in downtown, SDSU "has to decide if it wants to play there, in the current Qualcomm Stadium or build a new, smaller facility of up to 40,000 seats." Hirshman said that he "needs to compare the economics" of renting the new downtown stadium or building a new one (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE 4/6). In San Diego, Kevin Acee writes of the SDSU proposal, "This is doable -- if we get out of our own way, think big and think benevolently." A group of high-profile developers "has devised a concept for SDSU West" that would include a 40,000-seat stadium. It is "not hyperbole to say that such a stadium is necessary to assure the prosperity" of SDSU football. Based on chatter from boosters and others in and around the athletic department, SDSU "believes it can get its smaller stadium built largely through private donations and a partnership" with an MLS franchise. The league "has expressed interest" in San Diego. But JMI Realty CEO John Kratzer said that former Padres Owner John Moores now "is not pursuing an MLS team." Sources said that Hirshman "has met with potential MLS investors." But there are "substantial hurdles." Meanwhile, there remains the "teeny, tiny possibility" the Chargers’ effort for a downtown stadium "ends in failure and the team turns to Mission Valley before heading north to Inglewood." But Kratzer said that the Chargers' possible return to Mission Valley "does not derail the proposal." Acee writes an NFL-size complex "would greatly diminish the benefit" for SDSU (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/6).
SHARING IS CARING: In San Diego, Tom Krasovic writes even at their home games, the Padres "aren't the main attraction for a large number of the visitors." Cushioned by their "dazzling downtown ballpark and locale, the Padres rake in big bucks from non-Padres fans who fill out the lower bowl of Petco Park." Chargers Chair Dean Spanos "should be grateful for the Padres." Their "chronic irrelevance on the homefront has buffered Chargers goofs." The Padres "are smiling through clenched jaws as the Bolts try to muscle in on their downtown turf." But the Padres "have no choice but to play nice." Krasovic: "San Diegans are passionate about the Chargers. About the Padres, they're meh" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/6).
