Could San Diego State’s proposed new football stadium push the program to new heights?

The San Diego State Aztecs won’t have a place to play football after the end of 2018. That is, if they can’t find a place after their lease of SDCCU Stadium (formerly Qualcomm and Jack Murphy) is up.

For the last 50 years, the Aztecs have played in the same stadium the San Diego Chargers played in — that is until 2016. Two years ago, the NFL approved the Chargers’ move to Los Angeles, leaving the Aztecs behind to fend for themselves.

They’d considered a joint plan with MLS, but that fell through. For now, San Diego State is seeking an extension on its current deal — that would save the team some time and keep them where it is for now.

“We plan on playing in SDCCU Stadium — or whatever it is — in 2019,” SDSU AD John David Wicker said via the San Diego Tribune in May.

In April, the school unveiled a proposal for a brand new, $250 million stadium in Mission Valley, about seven miles west. The school’s plan is to make the stadium part of a satellite campus, called SDSU West. It would feature 95,000 square feet of campus and neighborhood-serving retail shops and businesses. The school’s proposal includes the potential for an NFL team, too.

It’d be a multi-use facility to host concerts, corporate events, and more. From the school’s official release:

The stadium would be a community resource, available to host collegiate football, professional and collegiate soccer, NCAA championship games, concerts and other events. Plans include the option to expand to 55,000 seats to accommodate professional football, should an NFL team return to San Diego.

“You name it, we’ll host it,” said Wicker. “We have the opportunity to build a right-sized, high-quality, multi-use stadium, one that San Diegans can utilize every day of the year.”

The Aztecs are finally taking advantage of their proximity to some of the country’s best recruiting, having gone to eight straight bowl games and had three straight 10-win seasons. Bill Connelly describes the Aztecs as realizing their potential, and this season, they could capitalize:

A decade later, SDSU is increasingly relevant. The program made a good hire, then a great hire. Brady Hoke doubled the Aztecs’ win total twice, to four wins in 2009 and nine in 2010. When Hoke left for Michigan, Rocky Long took over and averaged eight wins per year over his first four seasons and has now averaged 10.7 over his last three. After bowling four times ever before the 2010s, they have played in the postseason every year this decade.

The progress has been slow and sure. Following back-to-back MWC titles, attendance was nearly 40,000 per game. The Aztecs disappointed by merely winning 10 games in 2017. There is talk of a new stadium to replace the aging fortress formerly known as Jack Murphy Stadium. One of college football’s most frustrating sleeping giants is lively.

There’s no reason to think this will change this fall. SDSU’s identity is as strong as ever, and the Aztecs get to reap the rewards of a 2017 youth movement.

It’s also helpful that SDSU’s only major local sporting competition now is the Padres, who play in a different time of year and are rarely good.

As far as the pricing goes, $250 million will be a bit higher than some of the other new stadiums that have been built at SDSU’s level of competition — for example, Colorado State’s new stadium that was unveiled last year cost $240 million, Houston’s from 2014 was $125 million, and Tulane’s cost $75 million in 2014. That doesn’t account for local construction differences and stadium sizes, but either way, imagine the additional recruiting advantage for SDSU if it had the newest, most high-end stadium in the Mountain West.

The school says the proposal would be funded through bonds and/or public-private partnerships that would be repaid back by revenue generated through the development. This is similar to how the new Atlanta Falcons’ stadium was funded in Atlanta, with some extra funding coming from the team’s owner, Arthur Blank. SDSU West would not increase tuition or fees, per the school.

While this proposal isn’t guaranteed to be passed — it will be voted on in November during city elections — it’s a promising one.