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San Diego State University ends negotiations with San Diego MLS group

With San Diego State University pulling out of negotiations, San Diego is the latest MLS candidate to experience a surprise shift in their stadium landscape.

The University announced on Wednesday that negotiations had ended with the group behind the proposed Soccer City development on the current Qualcomm Stadium property. The original plan for the San Diego MLS group was to build the stadium as part of a ground-share with SDSU Aztecs football, with the development set to go to a public vote in November.

“For well over a year, San Diego State University has engaged in discussions with FS Investors on a possible partnership opportunity at the Mission Valley site,” a school statement said. “Unfortunately, a fair, equitable deal that would provide opportunity for the long-term success of SDSU and Aztec football, as well as a transparent deal for the citizens of San Diego, could not be reached.

“Recently, Mayor Kevin Faulconer reached out to SDSU in an attempt to facilitate a deal on behalf of SDSU with FS Investors,” the statement continued. “SDSU reiterated our offer to purchase land and to provide our fair share of infrastructure costs, but still no agreement could be reached.”

City officials went on to state their disappointment with the lack of an agreement, as the city can only afford to keep Qualcomm Stadium open until 2018 and the San Diego Padres have stated that the Aztecs can only play at Petco Park for one year beyond that, potentially leaving the football team homeless. The potential MLS ownership group and city have stated that they will continue the proposal without SDSU involved.

“While we are still willing to engage with SDSU, this decision has unfortunately put the university in a situation where this process will move forward without their involvement.” said Matt Awbrey, the city’s deputy chief of staff stated.

“Despite this announcement, we stand ready to work with new leaders at SDSU to support the long term goals of an institution we care about deeply.” Nick Stone, project manager of Soccer City, concluded.

Comments

  1. Why is San Diego out? They’ll be the sole tenant of the stadium developed on the land instead of being colocated with a college football team. If anything, perhaps cost sharing is limited, but it certainly doesn’t hurt their chances of landing a team should they strike a deal on the stadium.

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  2. Since the average fan is not privy to the negotiations, one can only speculate. However, the University’s decision seems to make no sense. As a SDSU alum who follows their sports programs closely and a former City of San Diego middle manager, I can’t understand the university’s position. The City doesn’t have the money and this is all City owned land so that anyone wanting to develop it will be required to pay fair market value and then demolish the old stadium. It will then require hundreds of millions to develop the site. As far as I know, the state university system doesn’t have a lot of money lying around since they recently had to approve a tuition hike to meet expenses.

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  3. If you can’t afford your own stadium, then you aren’t ready for entry.

    We don’t need more turf-football lined pitches or baseball/reduced size pitches continuing to be an eye sore for MLS and it’s fans.

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    • X2 unless there is a deal in place with a quality venue along with definite plans to have the their own stadium completed within a few years.

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    • Bro, by that logic, Sounders and NY alphabet soup would’nt be in the league. One draws really well and the other is nothing to sneeze at.

      Sometimes, it’s better to not to be too inflexible…

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    • Bro, by that logic, Sounders and NY alphabet soup would’nt be in the league.

      …and they were both done with MLS 1.0 mindsets in terms of infastructure. Whether or not NYCFCFCFCCFC sells out, their product is embarrasing to view on TV and Seattle would be the marquee club of the league if not for their horrific playing surface.

      Just because they were done, doesn’t mean they were done right. Why not ensure the proper structure is in place prior to entry rather than wait for an indefinite period of time (see NYCFC never getting a stadium).

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