San Diego officials selected Monday a group that owns the San Diego Gulls minor league hockey team to be the new operator of the city’s aging sports arena, which has been run by the Hahn family since 1991.

The new operator, Anaheim Arena Management, will take over operations of the arena next May if the City Council approves a new contract that will be negotiated in coming weeks.

City officials decided this spring to solicit bids from rival operators to run the 53-year-old arena, which hosts dozens of concerts and serves as the home venue for the Gulls, the San Diego Sockers and other local sports teams. It is called Pechanga Arena as part of a naming rights deal.


AEG Management and the Hahn family, which pay the city $800,000 a year for the opportunity to host events in the arena, submitted a bid to continue operating it after their contract runs out in May.

After reviewing the bids, city officials selected Anaheim Arena Management, which also runs the Honda Center in Anaheim where the Gulls parent franchise — the Anaheim Ducks — plays its games.

“From the outset of this process, our goal was to improve the experience for the arena’s users and guests, enhance the volume and quality of programming and increase revenue for San Diego taxpayers,” Tim Ryan, chief executive of Anaheim Arena Management, said in a prepared statement. “We are excited that the selection panel agreed with this vision and selected our bid.”

Details of the bid proposal have not yet been revealed. Ryan predicted the new contract and his company would “deliver more value for the city of San Diego and its residents.”


Ernie Hahn said in a statement that AEG plans to “defend our position to be the arena operator as we have for the last 28 years,” noting that a change in operator won’t be official until a new lease is negotiated and approved.

Hahn also said his family has invested more than $30 million in the arena and that 450 local groups and businesses have supported them.

“Our team is extremely proud of our accomplishments,” he said.

The city plans to offer the new operator a three-year lease with two one-year extensions that the city would have the discretion to nullify.


San Diego officials have been cautious about agreeing to long-term leases in the area around the arena, which city officials have said is ripe for a massive redevelopment project that could include construction of a new sports arena.

The city owns roughly 100 acres of land around the arena, which includes the arena’s parking lot and some nearby retail stores.

The City Council last year approved a new growth blueprint for the surrounding area, called the Midway District, which would transform it into dense housing, modern commercial projects, 30 acres of parks and a bay-to-bay walking and biking trail.

The new blueprint says the arena could remain as it is, be replaced by mixed-use development or be replaced by a more modern arena.


Last month, a judge ruled that AEG had to disclose financial records detailing its revenue and expenses operating the arena. That ruling came after Gulls ownership sought the records and AEG refused to provide them.