Two competing stadium ballot measures are making their final pitches to San Diego voters before Election Day on Tuesday. Measures E and G would both tear down SDCCU Stadium and build a new stadium for San Diego State, a potential MLS expansion team or both. If voters approve both plans, the measure with the most votes wins. Measure E is backed by FS Investors, a group that wants to build a $250M, 33,500-seat privately financed stadium and bring in an MLS team. The soccer stadium would be part of a larger $4B SoccerCity San Diego entertainment district and real estate development. Former USMNT member Landon Donovan and Univision Deportes President Juan Carlos Rodriguez are part of the SoccerCity group. “We have the ability to do something here that no other city can do,” said Donovan. Its rival, Measure G, is backed by San Diego State as part of a potential $3B university expansion. “We really believe in the expansion of the campus and what that does for the community,” said campaign spokesperson Katy Temple. The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce backs Measure G, which would have the city sell the 132-acre stadium site to the SDSU. The school would then pay for and build a new $250M, 35,000-seat venue. The stadium land is valued between $73.8-83M. SDSU estimates it will cost $300M to buy the land and get the site ready for development.
LOOKING AHEAD: Temple said a new stadium could also host an MLS team and be adapted if the NFL returns to San Diego. The latter would expand the stadium to 50,000 seats. Temple said construction of a new Aztec Stadium could start in '20 and deliver in '22. The SoccerCity stadium could also host SDSU. According to FS Investors Partner Nick Stone, the Measure E group will also set aside land for a potential NFL stadium. Stone said his group would lease the stadium land from the city, as well as the Chargers' old practice facility, and could eventually buy both. Donovan said the old Chargers practice facility would be redeveloped into a training home for the MLS team, its soccer academy and host visiting national and club teams. If Measure E passes, a stadium and MLS team will soon follow possibly by '21, Stone and Rodriguez said. “Once we get the land we will start shoveling the ground,” Rodriguez said. Stone said if Measure E fails that could delay an MLS expansion. SoccerCity officials say Measure E is the exclusive path for an MLS San Diego expansion team. Backers of both plans stress taxpayers, who turned down measures to subsidize a new stadium for the Chargers, will not pay for their new stadiums.
POWERFUL PEOPLE: The SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE also had a column on the ballot measures under the header, "Padres Owners 'On Same Page' On Measures Targeting Former Chargers Stadium Site."
SDCCU STADIUM MEASURES
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Photo: SAN DIEGO STATE UNIV. 
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