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“Aztecs–Leaving Town”

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The future looks promising at San Diego State, but this coming season, not-so-much.

In a stunning development, SDSU football is taking the show on the road…for the spring schedule they will play and for the fall schedule they will play in 2021.

San Diego State will play its home games at the Dignity Health Center in Carson, where the transplanted Chargers played for 3-years.

The move comes as SDSU hopes to fast forward the construction plans of its own Aztecs Stadium on the SDCCU sight.  They want all the time possible to tear down the old stadium, prepare the lands for all the on-campus construction, and not have to pay 12M a year operational costs of the old stadium.

But in doing so, the Aztecs will likely play many of the games without their home fans, who won’t make the trip north to Orange County.  It means Brady Hoke’s team will be a road team for the next two football seasons, covering 8-games in the spring and 12-games in the fall.

Athletic Director John David Wicker, who has guided the Aztecs Athletics Program thru the Covid crisis, and helped engineer the land purchase from the city for the campus expansion, has made the boldest move ever in his tenure as AD.  His comments:

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Significant announcement as to the future of the football program

We did not enter into this lightly
End of the day, opening the new stadium in 2022-we needed parking-spaces construction.
It is a cost saving us too
We were looking forward to opening at home
We are certain with starting of construction early…we can open for 2022.
Gives us additional time to demolish old stadium
Excited for students to play in what was an NFL stadium
Fans see better experience too
We have large presence of alums in Orange and LA counties
We are still San Diego State University-will be here forever
We will run up the road to play football
We will open a phenomenal stadium in 2022.

We looked in San Diego..but we are Division 1-team
Was not a facility in town-size wise  that could present a venue for us
Carson gives us great TV experience…fans experience

Biggest thing was timeline was to move forward with the sight
We needed time space for sewer-electrical lines installation-we get extra time

We have to tear down SDCCU stadium in first quarter in 2020 to clear land sight
Parking-ingress-egress-all the infrastructure…alot of things we have to do
We have been talking-looking at ideas for 3-years..learned more about sight

Covid and the 2020 season impacted the decision also.
We don’t know yet if fans will be in the building in the spring
We hope to have full house in the fall for the 2021-season

Not worried about being linked to the Chargers move to Carson
The Chargers left and couldn’t build a stadium.
We are building a stadium for San Diego here
We are disappointed we cannot close the old stadium the way we wanted
We are taking quick trip up the freeway-we will be back

Renting Carson is better financially for us
Getting the keys to the old stadium-we learned alot about costs to play there
We are happy for the price we have to pay and experience we will have

We have studied move for awhile while escrow was going on.
Getting on sight, understand construction timeline, had to move out
We just daylighted this idea..we have to see how many fans will travel north with us.

We hope fans will get much better experience in Carson.
Have had alot of conversations with Brady Hoke..he understands it helps us
The close up experience with the fans will be fun

Conference has been very supportive of this move
Spring schedule-alot of time with ADs and Medical groups
We are still going thru testing protocols with testing companies
It will be conference only schedule..in spring

Tear down of stadium will be slow process.
We must remove stadium infrastructure first
Must decide if we grind up cement to use in new construction
Stadium not in very good condition…cannot have a farewell for fans

Scheduling talks with Carson and MLS to share dates with LA Galaxy
Carson has no concerns about making schedule work

We will have Utah and Boise State among 7-home games in fall
Still talking about UCLA and whether they can be part of 2021 schedule.

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The Reaction via Social Media towards the Aztecs decision was not favorable:

Idiots
Terrible decision
2-hour drive-no way
Let the real fans see the game
Seen my last game
Give me my money back
Horrible decision
Division 1-team to draw crowds 5-to-10,000
We are out
One city-one team where.
Dumb
Lost my support
Big crowds-not
Worst decision all time
Shame on you SDSU
Wicker-you are Spanos
How did it work out for the Chargers
Failed promises
JD Wicker-liar
How is this a student centered decision
Punishing loyal fans
Abandon season ticket holders

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