First of two parts

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SAN DIEGO >> Hawaii’s 45-year-old Aloha Stadium was condemned in December 2020, and the long-debated, long-­delayed plans to redevelop and rebuild the Halawa site kicked into high gear.

Nearly two years later, Hawaii sports and entertainment fans — as well as concerned taxpayers — are now waiting to hear Gov. David Ige’s new “different direction” plan for building a replacement stadium.

Over the same period, San Diego State University demolished its old stadium and built a new multipurpose facility — just a short walk away from a stop on its also new light rail system.

“This is exactly what Hawaii should build, maybe add more cover since it rains more there,” San Diego State athletic director John David Wicker said on the eve of his school’s first game in its new Snapdragon Stadium on Sept. 3.

Many observers — in San Diego and Hawaii — see Snapdragon as a blueprint for what a new Aloha Stadium could be.

After all, San Diego State and Hawaii faced similar stadium challenges and have similar timelines and reasons to build smaller, modern stadiums to replace aging, outdated large venues. The Chargers left San Diego in 2017. The NFL Pro Bowl left Hawaii in 2016.

Yet, as the University of Hawaii football team prepares to travel to San Diego to play the Aztecs at their new facility Saturday, state leaders have yet to unveil their latest plan for replacing the original Aloha Stadium.

After years of preliminary planning and work that cost the state $25 million on a New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District, Ige announced Sept. 21 there would be a change of direction for the stadium, with details to come “in three weeks or sooner.”

While the Aztecs and San Diego fans, businesses and officials bask in the glow of a new stadium, Hawaii appears trapped on a treadmill.

“Hey, Honolulu, state of Hawaii. Cut the red tape. Everyone in the Mountain West (Conference) wants you to have a real stadium,” said Sean Sudol, a civil engineer and former Aztecs backup quarterback, while tailgating before the Aztecs’ opener against Arizona. “Let your government leaders know you want something done today. Let’s stop the bureaucratic BS. We had some of that here. Once that was all done, it was smooth, and look what we have now.”

>> RELATED: Aloha Stadium redevelopment suffers from muddled leadership

What San Diego State has is a new, natural-grass 35,000-seat multiuse stadium, replacing the aged 70,000-seat stadium that once stood less than a quarter-mile away in the Mission Valley area.

Snapdragon Stadium was opened less than three years after the last event at the old stadium, the 2019 Holiday Bowl. Aloha Stadium held its last UH football game in December 2020.

UH athletic director David Matlin said he will go to San Diego this week, earlier than he usually does for road games, to meet with Wicker and others involved in envisioning and building the Aztecs’ new home. Aloha Stadium manager Ryan Andrews will go, too.

“I’m looking forward to going before our game to do a tour. I absolutely think it’s an opportunity to learn about how they did it,” said Matlin, who made a similar visit to Colorado State’s new stadium in 2017.

Hawaii gubernatorial election front-runner, Lt. Gov. Josh Green, received a close-up view of Snapdragon Stadium while in San Diego two weeks ago.

“It’s impressive that it went up so quickly,” Green said. “From the size standpoint, that’s what Hawaii will benefit from, and that it’s not a mega-stadium. We need something safe and attractive enough for large events.”

Hawaii planners estimated in August that a new stadium could be ready for the 2027 football season. Based on how slowly things have progressed, many in Hawaii doubt a stadium will be up and running in Halawa five years from now. The state has approved $400 million in public funds to replace and maintain Aloha Stadium, which opened in 1975. In late 2020 the stadium was deemed unsafe for spectators and closed. (Events such as the swap meet are still held in the parking lots.)

UH quickly turned its on-campus practice field into a 9,000-seat stadium. The Clarence T.C. Ching complex was ready for the 2021 season.

“David’s done a great job with what he has had to deal with,” Wicker said, speaking of Matlin.

No one knows how long the Rainbow Warriors will have to play in a small-capacity facility better suited for a lower-division program. Many fear severe consequences if it is too long, like ouster from the Mountain West Conference or even FBS Division I (the highest level of college football). That would adversely affect all UH sports, which benefit from revenue generated by the football program.

It will be at least a year before the construction job for the new Aloha Stadium is awarded, according to government officials. On Sept. 21, Ige said he is committed to expediting a new stadium in Halawa. But it is unclear whether Ige’s scrapping of several years of planning for a public-private partnership model called the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District would mean more delays.

Like a snap

This was a wager that Sudol was happy to lose.

“I said this day wouldn’t come until two years later. So now I have to buy all the drinks for these guys today,” Sudol said, speaking of Snapdragon Stadium and waving toward his tailgate party friends. “We bet on when the stadium would open. I said it wouldn’t be until two more years down the road from now, in 2024. This is a very pleasant surprise.

“I wasn’t part of building it myself, but as a civil engineer I do have a pretty good understanding of what needed to be done,” he added. “And this got done very efficiently, with very few hitches.”

The stadium is already living up to its multi-use promise.

The San Diego Wave FC of the National Women’s Soccer League, featuring superstar forward Alex Morgan, beat Angel City 1-0 in front of a sellout crowd at Snapdragon on Sept. 17. Several Monster Jam motor sports events are scheduled for January.

“The nice thing is we said that we were going to do it, and now we’ve done it,” Wicker said.

When the NFL’s Chargers announced they would leave San Diego in 2017, plans for a new, smaller facility that would be a better fit for Aztecs football began to take shape.

A group of private investors supported by then-Mayor Kevin Faulconer proposed a stadium that would be the centerpiece of a development on city-owned land in Mission Valley called SoccerCity, and where SDSU could play football.

After San Diego State and the SoccerCity group did not come to an agreement, the school proposed to buy 132 of the 166 acres of the Mission Valley parcel, including where the old stadium stood. With strong support via a citizens’ initiative, San Diegans were allowed to vote on the SDSU and SoccerCity proposals in 2018. The university’s plan proved to be the people’s choice.

Nine months after SDSU’s first offer of $68.2 million, Faulconer approved sale of the land for $88.2 million in August 2020. Construction of the stadium started almost immediately — far enough from the old stadium that destruction of it could be done at the same time as construction of the new one.

Snapdragon Stadium is the centerpiece of a large, ongoing development, similar in some ways to the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District plan, including a new light rail train station nearby.

One big difference is that the school owns the stadium and the development it’s in. SDSU will likely make a lot more money than NASED would for UH, which battled the state for decades for a piece of parking and concession revenue at Aloha Stadium.

Once construction started on Snapdragon, there were few delays, and the project was done on time and within the budgeted $310 million.

“The construction company (Clark) was really easy to work with,” said Katie Orchard, a photographer and social media specialist with STN Digital, which was contracted by SDSU to document the building of the stadium. “They let me have a lot of access so I could shoot photos that showed the progress that was being made. We got good feedback, and I think it helped generate interest.”

The stadium and adjacent 35-acre park are the beginning of a $3.5 billion project.

“The stadium is just the first piece of a master plan, including many renovations, and development of research facilities,” said Gina Jacobs, associate vice president of Mission Valley Development at SDSU. “San Diego State already has a strong research profile. This will help us capitalize on that. Academics, research and athletics are all a huge part of the community profile.”

The Mission Valley plan also includes 51 acres of open space and parks. Office and research space for the university — and nearly 5,000 housing units, with 10% for low-­income residents — are also in the works. A 400-room hotel and retail space are part of the plan, too.

“I’m really surprised how fast this went up,” said Chris Garrett, who graduated from Radford High School, less than 5 miles from Aloha Stadium. He’s now a vendor at San Diego State sports events, conventions and other gatherings. “I told people I’m working at the stadium this weekend, and they said, ‘Really, it’s open already?’ I’m very impressed.”

SDSU interim President Sally Roush was a key player in pulling it all together, Wicker said.

“She came in at a pivotal time with the citizen initiative, and she gave the go-ahead,” he said. “We’re not here if Sally Roush doesn’t take a bold step for a university president.

“There’s also a group called Friends of San Diego State that was very important to making this happen. And when (philanthropist) Dianne Bashor gave us $15 million, it allowed other folks to say, ‘This is real, this can happen.’”

Boon to community

While the new stadium was being built, in 2021 and during the pandemic-­abbreviated 2020 season, San Diego State played its home games at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., 110 miles north. Attendance was sparse in 2021 when fans were allowed.

“We are very happy to be back in San Diego,” Wicker said. He spoke the day before the Snapdragon debut, at a celebration of a new trolley stop walking distance from the stadium.

Area businesses are glad the Aztecs have returned, too.

“Without the teams that come to play them, it cost us a lot of business,” said former Hawaii island resident Alex Bercu, owner of Crust Kitchen on Hotel Circle South, less than 4 miles from the stadium. “We don’t have local regulars. We make our money on visitors staying here at the hotels who like it and come back the next day.”

Big events that stimulate the local economy are just one side benefit of the Mission Valley project.

“This helps show what San Diego State means to this community,” Wicker said. “It’s a great economic impact to the region, and we desperately need housing provided in the project.”

Lissette Castro is a San Diego State graduate and sports fan who passes the stadium daily on the way to and from work. “I grew up here, so it was sad to see Qualcomm get demolished because I have such great memories of Chargers games and Aztecs games,” Castro said. “But when I saw the plans that showed the entire area would be revamped, that’s awesome. It will be more family-friendly than before, and good for the university. I love how they’re going to do a lot of different things, including another campus.”

Orchard said the stadium reflects San Diego’s personality in many ways.

“They made it as local as possible; it’s very much inspired by the community,” she said, pointing out stadium features that reflect the area’s history and culture.

“They even used a lot of concrete from the old stadium,” she said. “Sustainability is a big deal here.”

The first game at Snapdragon had some problems, even beyond those endured on the field by the Aztecs. (They lost 38-20 to the Arizona Wildcats.)

Those in the sold-out crowd of 34,046 who did not arrive early struggled with traffic. The temperature was 100 degrees at the kickoff time of 12:30 p.m. There is almost no shade in the stands, and an estimated 200 spectators needed medical attention, with 20 requiring hospital treatment.

“We won’t be playing during the day very often,” Wicker said. “We learned from the challenges of week one. For the most part, a few hiccups here and there, but nothing daunting.”

The heat during the opener kept Garrett, owner/operator of the Maui Wowi Surfshack, busy all game, selling Hawaii-inspired drinks.

“It was nonstop,” he said. “Everyone was excited. I read a lot of stuff about people being upset about there not being enough shade. But they’re rarely going to play at 12:30, and that was the biggest complaint.”

The heat wave was unfortunate. But for most everything else in its development, the sun has shone on Snapdragon Stadium in a positive way.

Sudol, the engineer, says good luck played some part in Snapdragon’s on-time, on-budget opening. Sudol, the Aztec, says the project got off the ground and is a success because San Diego came together to make it happen.

“The school took the lead, but they also said, ‘We want it to belong to the community, too,’” he said. “Like, look at this big green field behind me. That’s for youth soccer and other things that aren’t directly related to the school.”