Qualcomm Stadium (a.k.a. "
The Q", "
The Murph"), formerly known as
San Diego Stadium and
Jack MurphyJack Murphy was a sports editor and columnist for the San Diego Union newspaper from 1951-1980 and the brother of New York Mets broadcaster Bob Murphy...
Stadium, is a
multi-purpose stadiumMulti-purpose stadiums are a type of stadium designed for use by multiple teams playing baseball, American football, soccer, and, in some cases, basketball and ice hockey or other sports...
in
San DiegoSan Diego , named after Saint Didacus , is the second-largest city in California and the ninth largest city in the United States, located along the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of the United States. The US Census Bureau estimates the city's population at 1,279,329 as of 2008...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
. It is the current home of the
San Diego ChargersThe San Diego Chargers are an American Professional Football team based in San Diego, California. They are currently members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . The club began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League...
of the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
and of the
San Diego State UniversityFor a railway station that serves the campus, see SDSU Transit Center.San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
Aztecs college football team. It hosts the
Pacific Life Holiday BowlThe Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that has been played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, since 1978...
and the San Diego County Credit Union
Poinsettia BowlThe Poinsettia Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was created in 2005. The game was created by the organizers of the Holiday Bowl and is played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California...
college football games every December. Until 2003, it served as the home of
San Diego PadresThe San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times.The Padres are one of four teams...
of
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
. The stadium has hosted three
Super BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League, the premier association of professional American football. In most years, the Super Bowl is the most-watched American television broadcast. Many popular singers and musicians have performed during the event’s pre-game and...
games:
Super Bowl XXIISuper Bowl XXII was an American football game played on January 31, 1988 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1987 regular season...
in 1988,
Super Bowl XXXIISuper Bowl XXXII was an American football game played on January 25, 1998 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1997 regular season...
in 1998, and
Super Bowl XXXVIISuper Bowl XXXVII was an American football game played on January 26, 2003 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 2002 regular season...
in 2003. It has also hosted the 1978 and 1992
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
All-Star GamesThe Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also popularly known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers...
, the 1996 and 1998
National League Division SeriesIn Major League Baseball, the National League Division Series determine which two teams from the National League will advance to the National League Championship Series...
, the 1984 and 1998
National League Championship SeriesIn Major League Baseball, the National League Championship Series is a round in the postseason that determines who wins the National League pennant and advances to Major League Baseball's championship, the World Series, facing the winner of the American League Championship Series...
, and the 1984 and 1998
World SeriesThe World Series has been the annual championship series of the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada since 1903, concluding the postseason of Major League Baseball...
. It is the only stadium ever to host both the Super Bowl and the World Series in the same year (1998).
The stadium is located immediately northwest of the interchange of Interstate 8 and Interstate 15; the neighborhood surrounding the stadium is known as Mission Valley, in reference to the
Mission San Diego de AlcalaMission San Diego de Alcalá, in San Diego, California, was the first Franciscan mission in the Alta California region of New Spain. It was founded in 1769 by Spanish friar Junípero Serra in an area long inhabited by the Kumeyaay Indians. The mission and the surrounding area were named for the...
, which is located to the east, and its placement in the valley of the
San Diego RiverThe San Diego River is a river in San Diego County, California. It originates in the Cuyamaca Mountains northwest of the town of Julian, then flows to the southwest until it reaches the 112,800 acre-foot El Capitan Reservoir, the largest reservoir in the river's watershed. Below El Capitan Dam,...
. The stadium is served by the
Qualcomm StadiumQualcomm Stadium is a station on San Diego Trolley's Green Line and Special Event Service Line. The elevated station has an island platform as well as side platforms. It is located in the parking lot of the Qualcomm Stadium, home to the San Diego Chargers football team...
San Diego TrolleyThe San Diego Trolley is a trolley-style light rail system operating in the metropolitan area of San Diego, California. The operator, San Diego Trolley, Inc. , is a subsidiary of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System ...
station, accessible via the Green Line and a Special Events line from the 12th and Imperial Transit Center.
History
In the early 1960s, local sportswriter
Jack MurphyJack Murphy was a sports editor and columnist for the San Diego Union newspaper from 1951-1980 and the brother of New York Mets broadcaster Bob Murphy...
, the brother of
New York MetsThe New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. The Mets are a member of the East Division of Major League Baseball's National League....
broadcaster
Bob MurphyRobert Allan Murphy was an American sportscaster who spent 50 years doing play-by-play of Major League Baseball games on television and radio. The Oklahoman was best-known for announcing the New York Mets, from their inception in 1962 until his retirement in 2003...
, began to build up support for a multipurpose stadium for San Diego. In November 1965, a $27 million
bondIn finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...
was passed allowing construction to begin on a stadium, which was designed in the
Brutalist styleBrutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement...
. Construction on the stadium began one month later. When completed, the facility was named San Diego Stadium.
The Chargers (then a member of the
American Football LeagueThe American Football League was a major Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when it merged with the established National Football League . The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
) played the first game ever at the stadium on August 20, 1967. San Diego Stadium had a capacity of around 50,000; the three-tier grandstand was in the shape of a horseshoe, with the east end low (consisting of only one tier, partially topped by a large scoreboard). The Chargers were the main tenant of the stadium until 1968, when the AAA
Pacific Coast LeagueThe Pacific Coast League is a minor league baseball league operating in the West, Midwest, and Southeast of the United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League...
San Diego PadresThe San Diego Padres were a minor league baseball team which played in the Pacific Coast League from 1936 through 1968. The team that would eventually become the Padres was well traveled prior to moving to San Diego. It began its existence in 1903 as the Sacramento Solons, a charter member of the PCL...
baseball team played its last season in the stadium, following their move from the minor league sized
Westgate ParkWestgate Park was a former baseball stadium located in San Diego, California. The ballpark was home to the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League from 1958 to 1967.The ballpark was located in the Mission Valley region of San Diego...
. Due to expansion of Major League Baseball, this team was replaced by the current
San Diego PadresThe San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times.The Padres are one of four teams...
major-league team beginning in the 1969 season. (The Padres moved out of QUALCOMM Stadium following the 2003 season.)
After Jack Murphy's passing in 1980, San Diego Stadium was renamed San Diego-Jack Murphy Stadium or simply Jack Murphy Stadium. In 1983, over 9,000 bleachers were added to the lower deck on the open end of the stadium raising the capacity to 59,022. The most substantial addition was completed in 1997, when the stadium was fully enclosed, with the exception of where the scoreboard is located. Nearly 11,000 seats were added in readiness for
Super Bowl XXXIISuper Bowl XXXII was an American football game played on January 25, 1998 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1997 regular season...
in 1998, bringing the capacity to over 71,000. Also in 1997, the facility was renamed QUALCOMM Stadium after
QualcommQualcomm is a wireless telecommunications research and development company, as well as the largest fabless chip supplier in the world, based in San Diego, California.-Corporate history:...
Corporation paid $18 million for the
naming rightsNaming rights are the right to name a piece of property, either tangible property or an event, usually granted in exchange for financial considerations. Institutions like schools, places of worship and hospitals have a tradition of granting donors the right to name facilities in exchange for...
. The naming rights will belong to QUALCOMM until 2017. In order to continue to honor Murphy, the city named the stadium site Jack Murphy Field. However, as part of the naming agreement Jack Murphy Field was not allowed to be used alongside QUALCOMM Stadium. Many San Diegans, however, still refer to the stadium as "Jack Murphy" or simply "The Murph." The most common nickname these days is "the Q". Bob Murphy before his death in 2004, during New York Mets broadcasts still referred to it as Jack Murphy Stadium, even after it was renamed.
The stadium was the first of the square-circle "octorad" style, which was thought to be an improvement over the other cookie cutter stadiums of the time for hosting both football and baseball. (The second and last of this style was the since-imploded
Veterans StadiumPhiladelphia Veterans Stadium was a professional sports facility located at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex...
.) Despite the theoretical improvements of this style, most of the seats were still very far away from the action on the field, especially during baseball games. It is one of the few "cookie-cutter" stadiums to still remain active, along with
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial StadiumRobert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, better known as RFK Stadium or RFK, is a multi-purpose stadium in Washington, D.C., United States, and the current home of Major League Soccer's D.C. United....
.
Configurations
In order to accommodate the dimensions of both football and baseball fields, the stadium was constructed with half of the Field-level seating permanent (built of concrete, in the southern quadrant of the stadium), and the other half portable (modular construction using aluminum or steel framing).
When the stadium was configured for baseball, the portable sections would be placed in the western quadrant of the stadium and serve as the third-base half of the infield. Open bullpens were located along both foul lines just beyond the ends of the Field-level seats.
In the football configuration, the portable seating sections are placed in the northern quadrant of the stadium (covering what is used as left field in the baseball configuration) to allow for the football field to be laid out east-west (along the first base/right field foul line, with the western end zone placed in the area occupied by the portable seating sections in the baseball configuration, and the eastern end zone along the right-center field wall).
Doorways are cut in the walls of the stadium in order to allow access to these seats from the tunnel below the Plaza level in both configurations (in baseball configuration, the football doors could be seen above the left field inner wall; in football configuration, the baseball doors are visible above the west end zone, opposite the scoreboard). These doors are rolling metal overhead doors, with the field side painted to match the surrounding walls facing the field.
The Padres
From their inception in 1969 until the end of 2003, when they moved into
PETCO ParkPetco Park is an open-air ballpark in downtown San Diego, California, USA. It opened in 2004, replacing Qualcomm Stadium as the home park of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres. Before then, the Padres shared Qualcomm Stadium with the NFL's San Diego Chargers...
in the downtown area, the
National LeagueThe National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league...
's San Diego Padres called the stadium home.
The baseball field dimensions had varied slightly over the years. In 1969, the distance from home plate to the left and right field wall was , the distance to the left- and right-center field power alleys was , and the distance from home plate to the center field was . A wall, whose top was the rim of the Plaza level, surrounded the outfield, making home runs difficult to hit. Later, an eight-foot fence was erected, cutting the distances to 327, 368 and , respectively. In 1996 a note of asymmetry was introduced when a high scoreboard displaying out-of-town scores was erected along the right-field wall near the foul pole and deemed to be in play, and so the distances to right field and right-center field were and , respectively, while the remaining dimensions remained the same.
Rickey HendersonRickey Henley Henderson is a former baseball player who played left field in Major League Baseball for nine teams from 1979 to 2003, including four stints with his first team, the Oakland Athletics...
collected his 3000th major league base hit here on October 7, 2001 as a Padre, in what was also the last major league game for eight-time
National LeagueThe National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league...
batting champion and Hall of Famer: "Mr. Padre"
Tony GwynnAnthony Keith Gwynn is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball, statistically one of the best and most consistent hitters in baseball history. He played his entire 20-year career for the San Diego Padres. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on January 9, 2007 and was inducted on...
, who played his entire career here. Recent fans were treated to a recording of the song "
Hell's Bells"Hells Bells" is the first track of the album Back in Black of Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the first song on their comeback album after the death of vocalist Bon Scott, introducing his successor Brian Johnson....
" by the heavy metal
rock bandRock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
AC/DCAC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Although the band are commonly classified as hard rock and are considered pioneers of heavy metal, they have always classified their music as "rock and roll".AC/DC underwent several line-up...
whenever ace reliever
Trevor HoffmanTrevor William Hoffman is a right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Milwaukee Brewers. A long-time closer, he is currently the Major Leagues' all-time leader in saves with 591, having broken the previous record held by Lee Smith on September 24, 2006...
arrived in a game in the 9th inning in a save situation. Victories by both the Padres and Chargers have been celebrated by the playing of the song "Gettin' Jiggy With It" recorded by singer and actor
Will SmithWillard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. is an American actor, film producer and rapper. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film. Newsweek has called him the most powerful actor on the planet...
.
The Chargers
The
San Diego ChargersThe San Diego Chargers are an American Professional Football team based in San Diego, California. They are currently members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . The club began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League...
teams that played football here in the 1970s and 1980's featured a high-scoring offense led by quarterback
Dan FoutsDaniel Francis "Dan" Fouts is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League. Fouts played for the San Diego Chargers from 1973 through 1987, and is famous for being one of the most prolific quarterbacks of the Super Bowl Era...
and featuring running back
Chuck MuncieHarry Vance "Chuck" Muncie is a former American football running back who played for the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers in the National Football League from 1976 to 1984...
, tight end
Kellen WinslowKellen Boswell Winslow is a former professional American football tight end with the Missouri Tigers and the San Diego Chargers. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest tight ends in the history of the game...
, receiver
Charlie JoinerCharles Joiner Jr. is a former football player who starred in Professional Football for eighteen seasons, virtually exclusively at the position of wide receiver. He was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996. Joiner is currently the wide receivers coach of the San Diego Chargers...
and place-kicker
Rolf BenirschkeRolf Joachim Benirschke is a former American football placekicker in the National Football League for the San Diego Chargers from 1978 to 1987.-Early career:...
; however, the first Chargers team to advance to the Super Bowl (in 1994,
Super Bowl XXIXSuper Bowl XXIX was an American football game played on January 29, 1995 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida to decide the National Football League champion following the 1994 regular season...
) featured a strong defense anchored by linebacker
Junior Seau Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau Jr. is an American football linebacker for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. He was drafted fifth overall by the San Diego Chargers during the 1990 NFL Draft...
and an unspectacular but efficient offense led by quarterback
Stan HumphriesWilliam Stanley "Stan" Humphries is a former professional American football quarterback. He played for the Washington Redskins and San Diego Chargers of the National Football League. He played college football at Northeast Louisiana...
and running back
Natrone MeansNatrone Jermaine Means is a former professional American Football running back who played for the San Diego Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Carolina Panthers of the NFL from 1993 to 2000...
.
The stadium played host to the
1980 AFC Championship GameThe NFL playoffs following the 1980 NFL season led up to Super Bowl XV.Note: As per the rules of the NFL playoffs prior to the 1990 season , the San Diego Chargers did not play the Oakland Raiders in the Divisional playoff round because both teams were in the same division.-AFC: Oakland Raiders 27,...
, which the "Bolts" would lose to
AFC WestThe AFC West is a division of the National Football League's American Football Conference, formed in 1960 as the American Football League's Western Division. In 1970, it became the AFC West as a result of the AFL-NFL merger...
and in-state rival, the
Oakland RaidersThe Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team in the NFL based in the city of Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, 34-27. The Chargers also hosted Wild Card and Divisional Playoff games here in 1980, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008, going 5-4 in all playoff games held at the stadium.
The Aztecs
Since its inception, the stadium, which is approximately five miles from campus, has been the home of the
San Diego State UniversityFor a railway station that serves the campus, see SDSU Transit Center.San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
Aztecs. Before the building of the stadium, they had played their games at
Balboa StadiumBalboa Stadium is located in San Diego, California, and was built in 1914 as part of the many buildings erected for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition located in Balboa Park. Originally called City Stadium, and designed by the Quayle Brothers architectural firm, it is located to the East of San...
and their small, on-campus stadium, the
Aztec BowlAztec Bowl was a stadium in San Diego, California. It hosted the San Diego State University Aztecs football team until they moved to Qualcomm Stadium in 1966. The stadium held 12,592 people at its peak and was opened in 1936. Currently Viejas Arena Aztec Bowl was a stadium in San Diego,...
(which is now the site of
Cox ArenaViejas Arena, located on the San Diego State University campus in San Diego, California, USA, is the home of the SDSU Aztecs men's and women's basketball teams. Viejas Arena opened its doors to the campus and community in July of 1997 and seats 12,414 for basketball and up to 12,845 for concerts....
, the home of the university's basketball teams). Traditionally, the team, clad in all-black uniforms and red helmets, has played its home games at night, a tradition started during the days of former head coach
Don CoryellDon Coryell is a former American football coach, who coached in the NFL first with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1973-1977 and then the San Diego Chargers from 1978-1986. He is well-known for his innovations to football's passing offense. Coryell's offense today is commonly known as "Air Coryell"....
before the stadium was even opened. There have been attempts in the past to change from "The Look," but all have led to poor play by the Aztecs and a reversion back to the traditional look.
College Bowl Games
Following the 1978 college football season, the stadium began hosting the Holiday Bowl, an annual bowl game held before New Year's Day. It originally hosted the
Western Athletic ConferenceThe Western Athletic Conference was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision...
champion (at the time, the hometown Aztecs had just joined this conference) against a nationally ranked opponent. The game has traditionally been a high-scoring affair, and no team has ever managed to score less than ten points (which occurred in the 2006 game, when the
Texas A&MTexas A&M University, often referred to as A&M or TAMU, is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas. It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The seventh-largest university in the United States, A&M enrolls over 48,000 students in ten...
Aggies lost 45-10 to the California Golden Bears) and only 1/3 of the games have had a team even score less than twenty points. The 1984 game is well-known for it being the culmination of BYU's championship season, the last championship not won by a member of the current
BCSThe Bowl Championship Series is a selection system designed to give the top two teams in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision an opportunity to compete in a "national championship game"...
alliance.
On December 22, 2005, a second bowl game came to San Diego when the inaugural San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl was played at Qualcomm, with
NavyThe United States Naval Academy is an undergraduate college in Annapolis, Maryland, United States, that educates and commissions officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The Academy often is referred to simply as "Annapolis". It is also called "The Academy", "The Boat School", or "Canoe...
beating
Colorado StateColorado State University is a public institution of higher learning located in Fort Collins, Colorado in the United States. Colorado State University is the state's land grant university and the flagship campus university of the Colorado State University System. The enrollment is approximately...
.
Soccer
Qualcomm Stadium has been a venue for many international soccer matches. The stadium has hosted
FIFAThe International Federation of Association Football, commonly known by its French acronym, FIFA , is the international governing body of association football. Its headquarters are in Zürich, Switzerland, and its current president is Sepp Blatter...
tournaments, including the
CONCACAFCONCACAF is the continent-wide governing body for football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean...
Gold Cup, and the
U.S. CupU.S. Cup was a soccer cup held annually in the United States from 1991 to 2000, except for the World Cup years of 1994 and 1998...
(an international invitational), as well as many international friendly matches involving the
Mexican National TeamThe Mexico national football team represents Mexico in international football competition and is managed by the Mexican Football Federation Association...
. The most recent international friendly at Qualcomm set an all-time attendance record for the sport in the region. The match between Mexico and
ArgentinaThe Argentina national football team is the national football team of Argentina and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association . Argentina has won most international titles by any national team - 19, a record shared with Uruguay....
which was held on 4 June 2008 drew 68,498 spectators.
The
San Diego SockersThe San Diego Sockers were one of the most successful indoor soccer teams in the sport's short history. The team won ten championships in both the original Major Indoor Soccer League and the North American Soccer League....
of the
North American Soccer LeagueNorth American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
played at the stadium from 1978 to 1983.
Other Sports
CIFThe California Interscholastic Federation is the governing body for high school sports in the state of California. It mirrors similar governing bodies in other states; however, it differs from others in that it covers most high schools in the state of California, both public and private...
San Diego Section Finals for
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
footballFootball is the name of several similar team sports, all of which involve kicking a ball with the foot in an attempt to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer"...
are held at Qualcomm Stadium. These usually take place on a Friday in early December, and four games are played (with eight teams representing four separate divisions, which are determined by the enrollment sizes of the indiviual schools).
Old Mission Beach Athletic Club RFCOld Mission Beach Athletic Club Rugby Football Club is a SuperLeague rugby union team based in San Diego, California. OMBAC RFC is directly affiliated with the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club...
play rugby union at the adjacent mini-stadium, so-called
Little Q.
BMX Motocross and monster truck events have been held in the stadium as well.
ESPNESPN is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting and producing sports-related programming 24 hours a day....
held their inaugural Moto X World Championships at Qualcomm in April 2008, and has previously used the stadium parking lot and surrounding streets as a venue in the X Games Street Luge competition.
Concerts On The Green
Concerts on the Green is a sports field converted into a music and entertainment venue, located on the southwest corner of the stadium parking lot. The field was originally used as a practice venue for the San Diego Chargers. After the team moved to Chargers Park about a mile north of the stadium, the area was used primarily for
rugbyRugby football may refer to a number of sports through history descended from a common form of football developed in different areas of the United Kingdom. Today it refers to either rugby league or rugby union.- History :...
.
AEGThe Anschutz Entertainment Group is a sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports events, the owner of the world’s most profitable sports and entertainment venues, and under AEG Live the world's...
leased the area and retrofit it into an open-air amphitheater for concerts and other entertainment shows. The venue had the capability to hold 12,500, making it the second biggest entertainment venue in the Greater San Diego area; only Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre seats more.
Other uses
Jehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses is a restorationist, millenarian Christian denomination. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism; they report convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual Memorial attendance of over 17 million...
usually host their District Conventions here, where thousands attend.
Billy Graham William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr., , is an American evangelist and an Evangelical Christian. He has been a spiritual adviser to multiple United States presidents and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for the 21st century. He is a Southern Baptist...
has also held a few reunions here. Many concerts have also been held inside the stadium over the years.
American Idol (season 7)The seventh season of American Idol, the annual reality show and singing competition, began on January 15, 2008 and concluded on May 21, 2008. Ryan Seacrest continued to host the show with Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returning as judges...
held auditions there in July 2007; a total of 30 people who auditioned there made it to the next round.
During the
Cedar FireThe Cedar Fire was a human-caused wildfire which burned out of control through a large area of Southern California in October 2003. Driven by Santa Ana Winds, the fire burned 2,820 buildings and had killed 15 people including one firefighter before being contained on November 3, making it the...
in October 2003 and the
October 2007 California wildfiresThe October 2007 California wildfires were a series of wildfires that began burning across Southern California on October 20. At least 1,500 homes were destroyed and over 500,000 acres of land burned from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.–Mexico border...
, the stadium served as an evacuation site for those living in affected areas. (This was similar to the use of the Houston AstroDome and the New Orleans SuperDome during Hurricane Katrina).
In the 1980s and early 1990s, the San Diego County Council of the Boy Scouts of America used the stadium's concourse areas (between the rear of the grandstands and the freestanding wall which contains the entrance gates) as well as portions of the parking lots as the site of its annual Scout Fair. (The San Diego County Council has since merged with the council representing Imperial County to form the San Diego-Imperial Council.)
In a January 30th, 2009 episode of
MonkA monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
, Qualcomm Stadium was known as Summit Stadium in the episode
Mr. Monk Makes the Playoffs with the fictitious San Francisco Condors as the hometeam.
The future
With the departure of the Padres following the 2003 season and even beforehand, there has been much talk of replacing the increasingly obsolete (by NFL standards) stadium with a more modern, football-only one. There have been many problems with this project, the most obvious one being the city's inability to fund such a stadium.
The team and city have both attempted to bring business partners in on the proposed $800 million project, which would be located in the parking lot of the current stadium and include upgrades to the area and infrastructure, but all efforts have failed so far. The Chargers had a clause in their contract, to the effect that if they paid off all debts to the city and county for the upgrades to the current stadium by 2007, then the team could pull out of its lease in 2008; however the clause has not, as yet, been activated.
The NFL has said that if San Diego wants to host another Super Bowl, it would have be in a new stadium and not Qualcomm Stadium. In recent years, the NFL has awarded Super Bowl games to cities that have new stadiums.
External links