Football is no longer banned at Petco Park

After more than four decades in the University Valley, university football players in the Holiday Bowl officially move to downtown Petco Park, a ball park owned by the city and maintained by the San Diego Padres, where football has been banned throughout its existence.

San Diego City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to lift the football ban from the city stadium agreement with the baseball club, meaning a ball field whose voters OKd in 1998 can be converted into a multi-purpose facility.

The action, planned by the city and team as the only way to maintain the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, will pave the way for an estimated $ 2.2 million in changes that will increase football capacity from 44,500 to 50,000 when a stand is included. -ain sections.

Approval by the city council is an exciting step that will allow the Holiday Bowl to stay in San Diego and continue to provide economic, tourism and cultural benefits to our region, Padres CEO Erik Greupner said in a statement. Petco Park is an iconic sports and entertainment venue in San Diego, elevating the Holiday Bowl experience in the heart of downtown San Diego.

With the operation, San Diego is hooked to 30 percent of the stadium’s conversion costs, or $ 650,000, as required by the stadium’s terms of use. The city is also guaranteed 30 percent of the event’s proceeds. Padres initially selects the construction tab and invoices the city as revenue items, with costs spread evenly over a five-year period.

Even after deducting rebates, the city expects to equalize a total of $ 994,825 in Holiday Bowl products over five years, according to an economic model developed by Padres.

In November 1998, voters in the City of San Diego approved Proposal C, which included a memorandum of understanding between the city agencies and Padres outlining the terms, access rights, and costs associated with the baseball park. The contract language accepted by voters included a clause stating that no amateur or professional football games may be played at Ballpark.

On Tuesdays, a vote will allow the mayor to lift the ban. In doing so, the city council also drew the required conclusions that the change is in the interests of the city, among other things, and does not reduce the city’s rights or increase its obligations.

City council members supported the football move and praised the ability of baseball clubs to host the Holiday Bowl, which is said to have generated $ 977 million in economic benefits for the San Diego area since 1978.

Moving the Holiday Bowl to downtown San Diego is something to celebrate. It will host this nationally televised bowl game and the famous Holiday Bowl parade in San Diego, and will showcase our beautiful downtown to college football fans around the country, said Stephen Whitburn, a councilor representing the downtown area. In addition to distributing revenue to the city, football fans from rival schools spend millions of dollars while here and generate (transient rental taxes) and sales tax revenue.

Public speakers, most of whom were affiliated with local business organizations and the non-profit San Diego Bowl Game Association, also praised the opportunity to host a bowl game at Petco Park. However, one speaker objected to the cities’ conclusion that an environmental inspection was not needed.

(According to the California Environmental Quality Act), it is very clear that if you are going to hold such an event, borrow one of the supporters, if you are going to grow the game, borrow another supporter that is significant and cumulative, said former assembly Lori Saldaa. So what you are going to accept violates the CEQA exemption.

To make room for the football field, Padres dismantles about 200 field-level seats next to the seats and replaces them with 11 moving pieces, Greupner previously told Union-Tribune. He said the 37-foot section of the left midfield outer wall wall needs to be changed.

The Holiday Bowl is scheduled for Dec. 28 and will be televised on Fox.