An MLS team tenant was not part of San Diego State’s pro forma when the school was planning Snapdragon Stadium, but it was central in the venue’s design. MLS announced recently that the league’s 30th team will be based in San Diego, playing at Snapdragon Stadium, which has the center walkout tunnel that MLS expects in its clubs’ venues. SDSU AD John David Wicker said that the California State University system requested a conservative pro forma, so the addition of an MLS tenant is another boost to revenue. “The pro forma was built on six and a half (SDSU) football games, so that was it,” said Wicker. The lease between the MLS club, whose major investors are Mohamed Mansour and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, and Snapdragon Stadium is pretty much final, Wicker said, though it hasn’t been made public yet. The contract includes an annual lease payment, a revenue share agreement, and a facility use fee.
FULL HOUSE: The MLS team -- it’s not been named yet -- will do some work to reorganize locker rooms, and the stadium has to add camera positions at the 18-yard box. The team won’t be adding canopies to the 35,000-seat stadium, as some thought might happen eventually. The lease has a standard routine maintenance agreement, meaning the stadium operators will be charged with taking care of the playing surface. The addition of the MLS team means four teams play at the stadium now -- the NWSL Wave, Major League Rugby’s Legion, San Diego State football, and the new MLS club. With dirt shows and concerts -- the stadium had its first two in May, Jimmy Buffet and the Red Hot Chili Peppers -- the venue is likely hosting 40-something events per year. Stadium operator OVG360 handles booking. “We’re full," said Wicker, smiling. "We can’t take any more tenants at this point.”
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS: Beyond the stadium, there is still largely a blank slate in the Mission Valley development that is planned to surround the venue. Wicker said the school recently awarded the first residential building contract; construction should begin in the first quarter of 2024. The development's affordable housing component will begin construction in 2024, too, while the first contract has been signed for the Innovation district, with projected groundbreaking near the end of 2025. More immediately, though, work on the 34-acre River Park, which will border the southern part of the development and sits near the monorail that connects the development to SDSU’s main campus, will be finished before the end of the year, providing Snapdragon Stadium attendees a scenic area in which to tailgate or congregate before and after events.
River Park x Innovation District
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Work on the 34-acre River Park will be finished before the end of the year
Photo: Schmidt Design Group 
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The Innovation District has a projected groundbreaking near the end of 2025
Photo: Gensler PREVIOUS
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