San Diego Stadium, Multi-purpose sports venue in San Diego, California.
San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose sports venue in San Diego with a capacity of 70,561 seats used for a range of sporting events and competitions. The brutalist design featured angular concrete structures and clear geometric shapes throughout the facility.
Local sportswriter Jack Murphy campaigned for a multi-purpose stadium, and a $27 million bond passed in November 1965; construction began a month later. The Brutalist design by Frank L. Hope & Associates was the first of the square-circle "octorad" style, and the Chargers played the first game there on August 20, 1967. The Chargers left after the 2016 season, and the last freestanding section fell on March 22, 2021.
Fans nicknamed the venue "The Murph" after sportswriter Jack Murphy, who campaigned for a multi-purpose stadium and was honored with the name from 1981. The stadium hosted three Super Bowls (1988, 1998, 2003) and is the only venue to have staged both a Super Bowl and a World Series in the same year, 1998. Metallica, Guns N' Roses and Motörhead played there in 1992.
The facility offered adjustable seating configurations for football and baseball, with arrangements designed to provide good viewing angles for each sport. Visitors could move through wide concourses between the stands.
The structure went through several name changes, including Jack Murphy Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium, and SDCCU Stadium. During its existence, the grounds also temporarily featured a baseball field with adjusted dimensions for the Padres.
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