San Diego State University’s Aztec Stadium is starting to look like a … stadium.
Construction crews recently added the steel structure that forms the upper bowl of what will be a 35,000-seat stadium in Mission Valley.
On Wednesday, SDSU, Clark Construction and the city of San Diego celebrated a topping-off ceremony with the placement of a large steel beam on top of the scoreboard in the southern endzone.
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“It’s happening. It is happening. Look at it. Just look at it,” a gasping Nikki Clay said as she stood near the 50-yard line. “When you came in here today, it is a stadium!”
Clay is the chair of the school’s Campanile Foundation and a huge supporter of San Diego State athletics.
“We’re going to be playing football here,” Clay said with a smile.
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“What an amazing day,” exclaimed SDSU Athletic Director J.D. Wicker.
Wicker said the look in Mission Valley really changed recently.
“When the steel came up, you can really see the building and how intimate it’s going to be,” Wicker said. “We wanted to create a stadium that was unique to San Diego.”
There are two giant scoreboards in the shapes of parallelograms a wide porch with rows of seats sticking out from the second level and a standing-room-only “pier” that jets out over the stands near the southern endzone.
“We took our vision from the coastline,” Wicker said as he looked out over the stadium. “This will truly be an amazing building in San Diego.”
Wicker said stadium construction might be a little ahead of schedule and it’s on budget. He said it will be ready for kickoff Sept. 3, 2022 when SDSU takes on Arizona.
Clay can’t wait.
“Oh! I’m probably going to be in tears I’m going to be so excited!” Clay said.
