Location, Location, Location

I agree. So make the stands parallel with the endlines and sidelines. The size and endzone features (concourse and grass) are what I like about it.

 

I wonder if anyone else saw this quote from the cHargers' spokesmodel Mark Fabiani about sports redevelopment opportunities in San Diego -- he specifically references the Sports Arena site.

"If the economy eventually improves, as all families and business hope that it will, then some of the assets we have here in San Diego -- the land at Qualcomm, the land at the Sports Arena, the additional development opportunities downtown -- will become more valuable and so will help our stadium project succeed."
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jul/21/fabiani-chargers-stadium-needs-new-funding-sourc/

 

He's speaking to his suggestion last week that the city sell the sites he lists to developers to help offset paying for the downtown Chargers stadium. If anything his comments are bad for soccer in SD unless it's a shared Seattle style set up in the new Chargers stadium.

 

Well the Whitecaps plan to share BC Place with the BC Lions (CFL). This means that MLS is not as opposed to non-SSS as some think.

 

Yes and no. BC Place has been completely remodeled into a mixed use stadium with an elaborate, and very expensive, system that turns the stadium into a defacto SSS for Whitecaps games. That and size wise BC Place has always been about 10,000 seats smaller than the smallest NFL venue at only 54,000. And when the soccer system is engaged the stadium will only seat about 20,000. That elaborate system is not likely to be utilized on a stadium in a region like SD that doesn't require a roof.

The only other exception to the SSS rule is Seattle who are also in an NFL stadium that was specifically designed for soccer and who fill their stadium far beyond what most MLS teams are capable of.

I won't say it's impossible, but I find it a highly unlikely proposition. But of course it's also a proposition that is dependent on the Chargers staying in SD which seems unlikely after this new CBA was signed. The CBA only makes allotements for 3 regions to get the $150 million a team funding for a new stadium. And two are listed by name, LA, and the SF Bay Area. The third is not known definitively, but the odds on favorite is Minnesota, not San Diego. Which means the Spanos family and the nearly broke city would have to come up with $800 million themselves while LA is sitting pretty with potentially $300 million in addition to the potentially $700 million Farmers is chipping in (I'm assuming LA can draw in 2 disaffected teams, the Chargers and either Rams or Jaguars). What's more likely is the Chargers leave and SDSU is forced to eventually build their own smaller stadium to replace Qualcomm that a soccer team might be perfectly suited to assist with.

 

A new stadium where the Sports Arena is seems like the best spot for some reason. The only thing missing is a trolly station there. If they got rid of the current Sports Arena, I wonder if AEG would be interested in building a new one near the convention center like some other have suggested. That's probably not even possible, but still a perfect scenario for everyone (Chargers and Sports Arena enthusiasts haha)

 

If they go with the Sports Arena site, they just need to make a more pedestrian friendly path from the Old Town Trolley Station to the arena (about a 0.75 mile walk). They would also a decent hotel and a few decent restaurants that immediate area.

If they go with the Petco Park site, they'll just need more money for the lease.

 

Interesting developments on the stadium front:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/aug/16/sanders-plans-us-tour-for-chargers-stadium-ideas/

I think this shows that San Diego wants to do something, possibly downtown, and maybe an MLS team could be a part-time tenant in a new stadium. If we had the Padres, Chargers, a San Diego MLS team, and all those bars in the East Village/Gaslamp area it would take a crowbar to pry me away from downtown.

 

It's always possible an MLS team could be part of the mix, but I'm just not sure. An NFL stadium is not the ideal location for an MLS team. Seattle being the rare exception due to fortuitous design, crossover ownership and phenomenal (and thus far unreplicatable) fan support. And even then it's a far from ideal situation. In SD the stadium designs have thus far not included soccer as a primary tenant and design considerations to that effect. Nor have the Spanos family or their co owners shown any interest in an MLS side. And of course our fan support is an open question at this point...

 

Bleh bleh... Xolos for a while it is then. Still, my statement about prying me away from downtown with a crowbar still stands MLS team or not.

 

As interesting as that design is, it'll never be the final one. It's a terrible design for not just soccer but football. Way too round. It looks like one of the old cookie cutter mulitpurpose parks from the 60's. The upper decks are way farther from the action than they need to be. Plus for soccer there's way more upper deck than we'd want there to be (ie in the endzones as well as sidelines which is very unlike Qwest Field). The field itself is actually quite narrow near the ends which would severely limit the length and width of a soccer pitch. And of course it has no roof. Not sure why you thought it looks like Qwest but this



Looks like this...



But does not look all that much like this...

 

What about... Boca Stadium?

http://www.aedas.com/BOCA-Soccer-Stadium

 

You mean Vaporware Park? That stadium will see the light of day the morning after the Easter Bunny bites the head off of Santa Claus. I mean hell, Boca may never play another game based on the rumors of how bad their finances have gotten.

 

I like how it even mentions the possibility of an MLS team. id love to see that.

 

Wherever the Chargers/MLS stadium ends up, I think we can all agree it should be very very close to a trolley station.

 

just caught up to this thread. how depressing. we're as far away from a MLS team in San Diego as we've ever been. the thing in this thread that nobody is mentioning (but which everybody knows of course), is that not only do we not have a good stadium location, BUT WE HAVE NO OWNERSHIP. not one San Diegan to step forward, show some vision (and some dough) and MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!!!

in 1998 I wrote a letter to the editor of the SD Union-Tribune (which got printed!! ) which said that the City Fathers and Mothers needed to get their act together and rebuild Qualcomm and make it soccer friendly and bring an MLS team to town, which was an up and coming league and would be great for the city and its citizens. I was obviously ignored and since I am a no name peon who can blame them, but still, not having a MLS team in town is just another issue where our City Fathers and Mothers have fallen incompetently short of in their regional vision (added to the list that includes new airport, new library, pension problems/budget deficits, etc. ad nauseum). America's Finest City indeed!!!

 

Is it really the city fathers though? Everything you listed is not their problem. They tried to get a new airport, the citizens voted it down soundly (San Diegans like having their small close to downtown airport, and who can blame them. It's convenient, it's always bustling, and it didn't cost a billion and a half dollars that the city is now desperate and unable to pay off). They're building the new library as we sit here. I've been watching it rise for months (the fact they're that committed to a dying but still needed medium like paper books is commendable). The pension problems have hit every city and state in the union, this isn't an isolated thing.

As for the soccer team, it's not up to the city to get a team, it's up to an owner with the money to build/renovate a stadium to come forward and make it happen. And we have several pretenders out there who want to make that happen, but so far none have the financial wherewithal to make it happen.

 

I remember a couple of years ago when Chula Vista/Otay wanted to build a staduim for the chargers. I thought that it was a good idea to try to bring an MLS team to that community.

Now TJ has the Xolos and I think most Chula Vista residents would rather room for them instead of the local SD team even if the team is based in Chula Vista.

 

Yeah. Sadly for the MLS effort, the Xolos have kinda become San Diego's de facto soccer team, at least in the southern half of the county.

 

Really? So, a lot of people from SD actually go down to TJ to watch and support(!) the team?

 

If all the Xolos Car stickers and jerseys I see north of the border on CA licensed cars and individuals up here respectively are any indication then yes.

 

You got to arrive 2 hours before the game to even get seat and that was when they were in 1a(2nd division).

I think a lot of Mexicans in San Diego go down to see the Xolos especially if they are playing the team they support. I bet Mexicans from LA and OC even drive down to watch them play.

 

And they're making inroads up here as well having played one friendly already and supposedly making plans for more.