SDCCU Gains Naming Rights To Qualcomm Stadium
The San Diego County Credit Union bid a one-time $500K fee for naming rights at Qualcomm Stadium, causing the San Diego City Council to change the 50-year-old sports facility’s name to SDCCU Stadium, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The new name will stay on the stadium through the end of next year, when the city plans to close the stadium, but an extension could be negotiated for an additional fee if the facility should remain open after the end of 2018.
The stadium is being used for San Diego State University Aztecs football games, as well as other events, like this week's U2 concert. Despite the $12M annual maintenance cost, the city is considering keeping the stadium open until SDSU Athletics builds a new stadium for the Aztecs.
Naming rights cost Qualcomm $18M in 1997, but that contract expired June 13. SDCCU is expected to erect a new sign with its logo on the stadium within 30 days. The credit union’s name will not automatically replace Qualcomm’s name on Qualcomm Way signs, the street west of the stadium that is a northern extension of Texas Street. Changing the street’s name would require action by Caltrans and other governmental agencies, which is not yet proposed.
The fate of the 166-acre stadium site, which represents the largest contiguous development opportunity in the city, remains in limbo. A November ballot initiative would allow La Jolla-based FS Investors to redevelop the site as SoccerCity, a $1B mixed-use development with an 18,000-seat stadium, 4,800 residential units, 3.1M SF of commercial space that includes hotels, retail and office space, and 55 acres of parkland — a plan favored by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer. But other interests continue to coalesce around a plan to use the site to expand the SDSU campus and provide housing for students, faculty and staff.
