San Diego State and San Diego will not be taking a break and will play each other this December, but with a twist -- the game will be played at Petco Park, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The game will take place in early December, and this is not the first time that Petco has been used to host to host a sporting event other than baseball.
A Davis Cup tennis match took place last year and the same set up will be used for this basketball game. The layout will have the game played in left field and out of the wind to avoid wayward shots, and there will be approximately 20,000 seats for this game.
This is not the first time that San Diego State has played in an outdoor game when the played Syracuse in their season opener in 2012 on the USS Midway, a game the Aztecs lost, 62-49.
According to the Union-Tribune, the Aztecs wanted to bring in a high-profile team to Petco, similar to the Syracuse matchup. However, the chair of the Padres ownership group is Ron Powers and he is a high-profile booster to San Diego and wanted to set up a matchup between his alumni and the Aztecs.
The recent four-year contract between the two schools recently expired and with the Aztecs regularly making NCAA tournament appearances compared to the Toreros losing seasons, the appetite for this game was nearing an all-time low with San Diego State winning the last nine.
Playing this game at Petco will be of interest just because of the venue and not due to the matchup on the court.
As for who can go to the game, it is expected that San Diego State will receive less than the standard 2,500 free tickets for students at home games. Also, this one-off game is not expected to be part of either schools season-ticket package. Also, each team will receive a payout for this game and it is very likely that the Aztecs will garner a larger amount, as they should.
An official announcement is not expected until later this spring.