The Union-Tribune’s Logan Jenkins had an interesting column today after spending Saturday rubbing elbows with SDSU brass at Saturday’s football game. Jenkins has generally resided on the SDSU side of the Battle for Mission Valley, so his supportive tone for the university and Aztecs here should not surprise.
If there was any hard news in the piece, it was President Sally Roush indicating SDSU will unveil a plan next year that will be “significantly” different than the SoccerCity initiative. So you can probably delete any of that fanfic you’re writing where SDSU and FS Investors reunite and reconcile like Ayra and Sansa at Winterfell. (I had Papa Doug as Littlefinger in mine.)
But it was a throwaway line from Jenkins at the end of the column that caught my eye:
And, I’d add, State has the right stadium, one that looks fantastic in red and black.
If State proves it can compete in a power conference like the PAC-12 and goes on to once again manhandle the Mountain West, it’s going to get harder and harder to deny the home-field advantage of a classic NFL stadium that with a few hundred million dollars in artful renovations would look way too beautiful and too ideally sized to tear down.
Why, I wonder, does Jenkins choose to float this idea at the end of a column for which he spoke to the president of the University and, presumably, other SDSU movers and shakers? Is this a throwaway line, or is he floating a tidbit of off-the-record knowledge of SDSU’s true intentions?
And why am I asking you?
It’s interesting to me for a couple of reasons. For one, it has been reported widely that the Aztecs have about $100 million it can burn on a stadium. That’s not enough to build a new place on their own. So it seems the options are either a partnership, or remodeling/downsizing the existing structure.
Secondly, while I don’t think the NFL is ever coming back to San Diego, I can see SDSU propose keeping the old Tombstone around to appease NFL dead-enders. It’ll be here just in case, you guys! The Jags or Bills or whoever will be here annnnny day now.
Of course, there are many reasons why this is a terrible idea as Kabeer Thirty’s loyal readers were quick to point out.
All valid points!
Who knows, maybe Jenkins was just doing a little spitballing at the end of his column, and this is just an overreaction. On the other hand, OMG MAYBE HE KNOWS SOMETHING YOU GUYS.
As we sit patiently and #WaitforSDSU to come out with its plans for Mission Valley, we must ponder the possibility that STADIUM will outlive us all. Perhaps it is truly destined to be a concrete tombstone — not for San Diego’s sports and political ineptitude, but for us all.
KABEER THIRTY 