SDCCU Stadium - Home of Aztec Football

To help in financing the renovation project, Qualcomm, a local communications company, agreed to provide $18 million for the naming rights of the Stadium, which expired after 20 years in June 2017. The facility was renamed SDCCU Stadium in September 2017 after San Diego County Credit Union won the new naming rights bid for $500,000, which was extended through December 2018. 

SDCCU Stadium is located at the intersection of Interstates 8 and 15 in Mission Valley, less than five miles from the university. With the relocation of the National Football League’s Chargers to Los Angeles, San Diego State is the facility's lone remaining charter tenant.

In the 50-plus years since that opening night, some of the greatest names in Aztec football history have displayed their talents there - Dennis Shaw, Brian Sipe, Isaac Curtis, Willie Buchanon, Todd Santos, Webster Slaughter, Rob Awalt, Don Warren, Dan McGwire, Henry Allison, Claudie Minor, Jesse Freitas, Craig Penrose, David "Deacon" Turner, Darnay Scott, Marshall Faulk, Kirk Morrison, Ryan Lindley, Donnel Pumphrey and Rashaad Penny - to name a few.

In addition to the Aztecs, the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl has come to call it home. The Stadium has a;sp been the site of such renowned events as the Super Bowl, the World Series and baseball's All Star Game.

Constructed at a cost of $27 million, San Diego Stadium opened August 20, 1967, with an exhibition game between the Chargers and Detroit Lions. Since that game, the facility has been the stage for some of the most memorable events in San Diego State football history. A then-record attendance of 53,611 was on hand November 8, 1975, when the unbeaten Aztecs entertained and in one of the most dramatic games ever played in San Diego, the Arizona Wildcats prevailed 31-24.

In 1975, average attendance for six home games was 42,040. Two years later in 1977, a crowd of 50,453 saw the Aztecs hammer 15th-ranked Florida State, 41-16. On Jan. 6, 1981, the name of the facility was changed officially to San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Murphy, a nationally-known columnist and the sports editor of the San Diego Union Tribune, had led the campaign to have the stadium constructed. He had died in 1980.

In 1984, 49,220 fans nearly carried SDSU to an upset of UCLA, as the Bruins hung on to an 18-15 victory. The Aztecs clinched their first Western Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the Holiday Bowl with a 10-3 victory over Brigham Young on Nov. 29, 1986 in front of a Stadium crowd of 45,062. SDSU then played host to Iowa in one of the most memorable Holiday Bowls ever.

The hometown Aztecs fought the perennial Big Ten power to a standstill before losing 39-38 on a last-second Hawkeye field goal. 59,473 people were in the stands on that December 30 night in 1986 - the largest crowd ever to see SDSU in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. State's large and vocal crowds have had much to cheer about through the years. As they await the 2020 season, the Aztecs' all-time record in Mission Valley is 220-120-6 (.644).

The stadium underwent a major facelift in 1985. Built initially to seat 52,675 for football, the expansion project pushed capacity to 60,409, and current capacity is 70,561. Largely as a result, the National Football League voted to hold the 1988 Super Bowl game in San Diego where the Washington Redskins defeated the Denver Broncos 42-10. That national spectacle returned in 1998 to witness the Denver Broncos defeat the Green Bay Packers 31-24. The most recent Super Bowl hosted by the Q was 2003, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneer's routed the Oakland Raiders 48-21.

Prior to the stadium's opening, the Aztecs played their games in Aztec Bowl - a 13,000-seat facility on campus - and the 34,500-seat Balboa Stadium downtown. The team's record crowd had been the 35,342 fans who jammed Balboa Stadium to see the Aztecs meet North Dakota State in 1966. North Dakota State was the No. 1 small college team in the nation at the time, but the Aztecs won the game 36-0. The victory served as a springboard for San Diego State's national small college championships in 1966, '67 and '68 and a move to Division I-A following the end of the 1968 season.

San Diego State moved to what now is SDCCU Stadium in 1967 and has accumulated an overall record of 167-89-6 (.637) there. From 1936-66, the Aztecs played most of their home games in Aztec Bowl on campus, where they had a record of 77-44-5 (.636).

From 1921-35, the team's home field alternated between Balboa Stadium (38-42-4) and Lane Field (12-12-4) with an occasional game played on the old Normal School campus at College Field (9-3-1). Two games were also played at Aztec Field, the old track and field stadium which was located north of the Aztec Center. Since 1973, nearly 75 percent of all Aztec football games have been played at night. The Aztecs played their first and San Diego's first night football game on September 25, 1930 at Lane Field against the San Diego Marine JVs.