San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

I really wanted to go to at least one game this year.

It really bothers me as an Aztec alumn that they cannot get it together. 20 years ago the games seemed packed, the fraternities and sororities each had their own sections, actually I remember as a frat boy that you were fined for missing the game and pledges had to put up and guard the banners. Rarely were fines issued, you wanted to go. There were chartered double decker busses complete with onboard kegs to and from the game. But the school has spent a great deal of energy trying to squash the greeks and change their image, whilst putting very little emphasis on putting out a quality football team. While i was there they eliminated frat parties open to all students, eliminated alcohol from rush week and since i left, my fraternity house and many other fell to the bulldozers. Why? A couple of mishaps and a little bad press, that is what college is for, they will not get my support until they repent and they earn it back. It seems amazing to me that schools like fresno and utah can out recruit SDSU, there is probably no place on the planet that a 18 year old would rather be than SDSU, yet they fail to put the icing on a perfect cake. San Diego has very little collegiate sports offerings while places with little or no geopgraphical appeal remain powerhouses. Explain how fresno out recruits san diego, try, it's impossible to put the blame anywhere but the administration.

On a side note, I went to the charger/raider game on sunday. San diego deserves to lose the chargers. The stadium isn't the problem, the cheapo city is the problem. Not one guy directing traffic on friars road, took 90 minutes to go 2 miles, you had to park miles away and walk, no shuttles, no signs, nothing. Then, after walking 2 miles, the parking lot that was closed because it was full was half empty. Why? because most of the knuckleheads in the parking lot didn't have tickets, they just bought a parking spot to drink and left when the game started. 70k seats, 18k parking spots, nice plan. Every parolee in the county was there and they weren't all raider fans. Total cost for two people, $300, nice game but nothing else nice to say about it and I'm an optimist. Staples, dodger stadium, angels stadium, all great venues and well run, qualcom makes the old forum in inglewood look fantastic. It pains me to say it but Los angeles runs it's sports venues so much better than SD, how is that possible, everything about LA sucks compared to SD but SD cannot seem to figure it out. I'll let you know how my experience differs when I attend my first City of Industry Chargers game. I hate to sound grumpy, but I'm done taking crap for my town from SD, the Temecula Baloon and wine festival has more staff and is better organized than a charger game, it's mind boggling.

TG: you have to take public transit on sold out games for the Bolts. You cannot drive to the Q unless it is 4 hours early. It is one of the last places to tailgate. I agree with you that more should be done as far as directing traffic but the trolley is the way in and out. If/when the city of industry gets the Bolts will they have transit??? probably not so expect delays driving in there.

You are right on the traffic issue. The stadium was built in 1967 and they still can't get it right. The trolley helps but not everybody can take the trolley and then wait an hour or so to get on it after the game. The stadium is old and the Chargers deserve better. As far as the Aztecs, I actually played for U.O.P., (when they had a team)and we played the Aztecs in 1978, it was a big deal and the stadium was nearly full. This weekend I plan on showing up a hour before the game, buying a cheap ticket and moving to the good seats. Can you imagine bringing recruits to a game and the stadium empty? That is probably the reason they can't get top notch recruits.

Desmond: I remember watching Aztecs games, back in the Marshall Faulk, Darnay Scott days and the place was packed. Those were the "Wacky WAC" days, when offense ruled and the games were an absolute blast to watch.

Now, its a ghost town. I took my youth football team to an Aztecs game a couple of years back and it was a ghost town then, too. We went to a USD game (back when Harbaugh was still there) and it was more crowded than the SDSU game.

I cannot imagine why this school has such a hard time finding recruits: Its in San Diego, for God's sake! Pat Hill up at Fresno State has a monster recruiting program for a school that is in FRESNO. Friggin' Fresno!

tg, I can't say I agree that football should be top priorities for either an institution of higher education or a city government. That football takes a back seat in both cases seems right to me.

Maybe in the case of SDSU, they are missing out on a potential revenue opportunity and could build a football program without detracting from education, but the Chargers always seem to be all take and no give.

I agree with sdduuuuude here... I lost all interest in the aztecs in the mid-80's when I was going to SDSU... they wanted to increase student fees to pay for a new stadium simultaniously with significant cuts to the hours Love Library was open. Seemed a little ridiculous to priortize sports over academics.

But then again - I'm not into football and had to schlepp to UCSD to use their library (which was open weekends and evenings!)

I feel the same way about the Chargers... I have no problem letting them go. I don't want my tax dollars to go to a for profit football franchise.

If you don't like the traffic - use one of the park-n-ride spots to get to the game. I know the one at 805 and Governor is quite popular.

My complaints weren't so much a question about how to get to the game it was a comparison about how other towns and other teams handle it so much better, either by stadium design, parking lot capacity or traffic control/traffic direction. Go to the del mar fair, there will be a sign and somebody pointing where to go, large venues usually have some sort of plan in place. Qualcomm is not user friendly, they make me want to watch on television.

As far as college football goes, I realize most of you do not feel it is important but at many universities in the country, they use their football teams for both revenue and alumni donations, the football team doesn't take away from the academics, they add to it. Look at programs like Notre Dame or USC, the revnue from the football team supports most of the other sports, activities and a chunk of the academics. If SDSU has the right product, made the right investments, they could buy five libraries and open them 24 hours a day. How many people that have never attended a university give money to those universities through television revenue, tickets and merchandise because of the football team. They do not give money freely because of a great library, but with a great football team you can afford a great library.

Here's an article from 2007, taken from forbes for notre dame's website

http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-...

Of the 45 million dollar profit from the football team, 20 million of it goes towards academics, students who never watch a game, benefit from it, I'll bet their library doesn't close on weekends.

TG a good article on my beloved Buckeyes a couple years old but timely for the discussion.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2...

Notably the two profit sports were football (28-29 million) and Men's basketball (about 7-8 million) which of course fund all other sports. Looks like they most of the sports revenue stays with sports but I see one area where they are giving $1 million per year for years is the library. Not chump change. They also kick in 1.1 million per year to the general fund.

They even fund Synchronized Swimming and the ladies have won 25 of the 33 national championships. (Outside of Stanford hardly any schools participate.