San Diego Stadium

The outside of San Diego Stadium, Aug-1997.

The new name of the ballpark is clearly visible on the scoreboard.

Chronological Tour: Stop 125

• Location: Friars Road and I-15, San Diego, Calif. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1967 as San Diego Stadium (1968 for baseball)
• Additional names: Jack Murphy Stadium (1979), Qualcomm Stadium (1997), SDCCU Stadium (2017)
• Closed: 2003 for baseball
• Demolished: 2021
• Home team: San Diego Padres, Pacific Coast League (1968), National League (1969-2003); San Diego Chargers, National Football League (1967-2016)
• Capacity: 46,510 for baseball

Rating: 2 baseballs

The park was originally named for its city and county. In 1979, the sportswriter Jack Murphy, who was instrumental in bringing Major League Baseball to San Diego, got his name on the park. Alas, the march of progress could not be stopped, and cell phone manufacturer Qualcomm bought the naming rights in 1997, anticipating a blitz of media coverage when the National Football League brought its championship game into town the next January.

The Mission Valley stadium was the first to have Internet terminals available at select box seats. They were first in operation the day I showed up for a Thursday matinee.

The facility continued to be used for football’s San Diego Chargers through 2016, but the Padres moved into a downtown stadium known as Petco Park that opened in 2004. With the Chargers moving up the coast to Los Angeles for the 2017 season, the stadium only saw use for San Diego State football. The school now owns the site; the Aztecs moved their games out after the 2019 season, and the stadium is now set to be demolished in 2021 and replaced by a new Aztec Stadium for 2022. Demolition began in December 2020.