|
Home of the San Diego Chargers for more than
four decades,
Qualcomm Stadium looks very different than when it opened.
In the early 1960s sportswriter Jack Murphy began to build
support for a multipurpose stadium in San Diego for the Chargers
and to attract a profressional baseball team. The Chargers were established in 1960 and
moved to San Diego from Los Angeles in 1961. From 1961 until 1966
the Chargers played at Balboa Stadium. In November 1965, a $27 million
referendum was
passed allowing construction to began on the stadium one month later. When completed, the facility
was named San Diego Stadium.
The
Chargers played their first game at the stadium on August 20,
1967. San Diego Stadium had a capacity of around 50,000
multicolored seats when it opened. The three tier grandstand was
in the shape of a horseshoe, with the south end open. The team was
the only tenant of the stadium until
 1969, when MLB granted
San Diego a team, the Padres. After the death of Jack Murphy in 1981,
San Diego Stadium was renamed in honor of him. The stadium
remained basically the same until 1983. Over 9,000 bleachers were
added to the lower deck on the open end of the stadium raising the
capacity of Jack Murphy Stadium to 59,022. Sixteen years later the
most substantial addition was completed at Jack Murphy Stadium. In
1997, Jack Murphy Stadium was fully enclosed, with the exception
of where the scoreboard is located. Nearly 11,000 seats were added
in readiness for the Super Bowl in 1998, bringing the capacity to
over 71,000.
Also
in 1997, the facility was renamed Qualcomm Stadium after Qualcomm
Corporation paid $18 million for the naming rights. All of
the multicolored seats were replaced with new blue seats.
Qualcomm Stadium has several amenities including over 100 luxury
suites, over 7,000 club seats, and the Charges Gold Club which is
available to Charges season ticket holders allowing service at
their seats and access to air conditioned lounges. The Chargers are
once again the only tenant at Qualcomm Stadium after the Padres
moved into their new ballpark,
Petco Park, in 2004.
Having one of
the oldest stadiums in the NFL, the Chargers are continuing to try
to build support for a new stadium. They have also been rumored to
possibly relocate to Los Angeles.
|
