It’s time for us to start assessing our options, now that there appears to be an option.

So my self-imposed shushing has ceased.

It has been a few glorious months since I voiced any opinion at all on what we should do with the Mission Valley property where SDCCU Stadium and its immense parking lot currently sit.

Those with any interest – especially those disposed to feel San Diego State should get the land regardless of any other argument – remember well that I think the SoccerCity plan put forth by FS Investors is a good one. The explicitly elucidated, privately funded proposal for housing, entertainment, educational space and a stadium has also been the only plan, which made it even better.


Now there is a nascent proposal put forth by supporters of San Diego State (“Friends of SDSU”) that calls for the city to sell the property to the school for its own development and stadium plan.

Signatures are being gathered to get an initiative on the ballot. City voters will almost certainly have a choice in November 2018 between SoccerCity and SDSU West, the winner being the initiative with the most votes.

My affinity for SoccerCity remains strong, but not binding. I’ve been upfront about that from the start. Show me something better, I have practically begged.

My sole desire is to see whatever is done on that property be the best for San Diego’s economic and cultural advancement and the long-term viability and improvement of the Aztecs football program.


No final judgment can be made right now.

The 14-page initiative put forth by Friends of SDSU leaves the details of how the university would develop the land up to the university. We have scant details about the entire project.

But before all that is vetted, straight away, I can ask some questions that pertain to the football program.

If there are satisfactory answers to these queries – as in, assurances that measure up to the private funding committed by FS Investors that lowers SDSU’s need for capital commitment – then SDSU West just might be the answer we’re looking for.


These are rudimentary questions about the capability of SDSU to undertake this project without incurring burdensome debt and/or having their expansion and stadium effort carried on the shoulders of student fees.

There is a measure of reality in these questions. Like, they are the questions you have to ask before you even ponder what SDSU considers “fair market value” for the land and other ramifications. Before we address the serious questions of how SDSU’s proposal will meet environmental qualification and necessary traffic mitigation, we must understand how SDSU can afford this project.

SoccerCity would face some of the same hurdles as SDSU West. But we know FS Investors has the money to get this thing done.

So what follows are questions infused with reality.


How will SDSU and its friends pay for this?

There are some rich folks whose names are attached to this who could conceivably pitch in $200 million or so.

Just because a good number of the people pushing SDSU West are developers doesn’t mean they don’t have good hearts and aren’t interested in the greater good. It might mean that. But it doesn’t automatically mean that.

Many generous souls have pitched in to help SDSU in all its many endeavors. But this project is a monster.


By my simple(ton) math, the cost of maintaining the Aztecs’ current stadium and building that new stadium is going to be a larger number than the current endowment for the entire university.

The school has set a budget of $150 million for hard construction costs on the stadium. The whole shebang – with land acquisition and improvements – could easily top $200 million.

The Campanile Foundation, the university’s fundraising arm, had $251 million in assets as of June.

That is is not to say the endowment will have anything to do with how a stadium project will be funded. But it is appropriate to point out that number as a benchmark to know what is possible when it comes to SDSU’s fundraising.


How is this immense new capital requirement going to be filled?

The athletic department has in the past had difficulty meeting some (much smaller) fundraising goals. This would be the biggest (and most important) ask in the department’s history.

And before we even get to the new place, who is paying for the operation of SDCCU Stadium for the next seven or eight years?

The new estimate of that annual cost is around $7 million. San Diego State says it can get its stadium built by 2022. If that happens – no laughing, please, as you recall Petco Park delays and just the basic lethargic pace of major projects in these parts, lawsuits and other impediments considered – SDSU (or someone) will have to pay $21 million from 2019-21. (Plus $7 mil per for every year the new stadium is delayed.)


That is something like $1 million a game. San Diego State currently pays about $100,000 a game.

How will this be accomplished?

I’m told the university has been talking to potential management partners, who could help maintain SDCCU and then be in position to run the new stadium. We’ll see if that pencils out for those businesses.

To cover whatever SDSU’s portion is to keep the stadium upright, will ticket prices be raised?


Aztecs football tickets are reasonable when compared to what Chargers ticket prices were. Extremely reasonable.

But, anecdotally, I’ve heard from a number of people complaining about the cost relative to the experience in a cavernous stadium that is something like half- or two-thirds-full with bad pipes and a bad sound system. Will the market bear higher prices?

Speaking of the 50-year-old stadium that hasn’t been adequately taken care of, who will be on the hook if major maintenance requirements (last estimated to be over $100 million in total) come due while the Aztecs are still playing at SDCCU?

Can a ticket increase cover the entire $7 million a year? Would some money need to come from the university’s budget? We’ll have to check with the faculty on how they feel about that. Would student fees be raised? We’d have to see what the students say about that.


Just questions for which we need answers.

kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com