Qualcomm Stadium
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Qualcomm Stadium, formerly known as San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium, is a multiple-use stadium in San Diego, California. It is the current home of the San Diego Chargers of the NFL, the San Diego State University Aztecs college football team and hosts the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl college football game every December. Until 2003, it served as the home of the San Diego Padres in Major League Baseball. The stadium has hosted three Super Bowl games — Super Bowl XXII in 1988, Super Bowl XXXII ten years later, and Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003.
In the early 1960’s, local sportswriter Jack Murphy, the brother of New York Mets broadcaster Bob Murphy, began to build up support for a multipurpose stadium for San Diego. In November of 1965, a $27 million bond was passed allowing construction to begin on a stadium. Construction on the stadium began one month later. When completed, the facility was named San Diego Stadium.
The Chargers played the first game ever at the stadium on August 20, 1967. San Diego Stadium had a capacity of around 50,000; the three-tier grandstand was in the shape of a horseshoe, with the south end open. The Chargers were the main tenant of the stadium until 1969, when the National League expanded to add the San Diego Padres. Another San Diego Padres team, this one in the AAA Pacific Coast League, played in the stadium during the 1968 season, following their move from the minor league sized Westgate Park.
After Jack Murphy's passing in 1981, San Diego Stadium was renamed San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium or simply Jack Murphy Stadium. 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 San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium to 59,022. Sixteen years later, the most substantial addition was completed at the stadium. In 1997, the stadium was fully enclosed, with the exception of where the scoreboard is located. Nearly 11,000 seats were added in readiness for Super Bowl XXXII 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.
The stadium was the first of the "square circle" style, which was thought to be an improvement over the "cookie cutter" style of so many of the 1960s stadiums. The second (and last) of this style was the since-built and since-imploded Veterans Stadium. Despite the theoretical improvements of this style, most of the seats were very far away from the action on the field.
In 2004, the Padres moved to Petco Park.