New San Diego State expansion proposal includes plans for an on-campus football stadium

Over the past few months as news poured in of the San Diego Chargers imminent move to Los Angeles, discussion began on the future of the Qualcomm Stadium site with much of it focused on using that land vacated by the Chargers toward an SDSU campus expansion effort that would also include a smaller football stadium for the university team.

The Aztecs have for a long time struggled to build any sort of home field advantage at the enormous 70,000 plus Qualcomm Stadium, and a reduction in seating in theory will help create a game day atmosphere worthy of the on field product San Diego State has produced in recent years.

Much of the SDSU stadium talk quitted down however in late January once the Chargers announced their commitment to San Diego for 2016 with hopes of building a new stadium for the club in either Mission Valley or Downtown.

Though weeks later in February the club voiced preference and desire to move to Downtown over Mission Valley, leaving the door once again open for SDSU.

On Tuesday, an unveiling made by JMI Realty and Cisterra Development detailed exactly how that vacancy left in Mission Valley will be used in benefit of SDSU and the community as a whole. One of the benefits detailed was a 40,000 football stadium for the Aztecs program.

And while SDSU has not formally partnered with anybody or approved any plan including the one above, the President of the school Elliot Hirschman in a post on his blog let it be known that San Diego State does envision a future in Mission Valley.

"We see a future in Mission Valley with community parks and recreational opportunities, low- to medium-density housing, a small number of research/technology transfer facilities and, possibly, a stadium - one on a significantly smaller scale than Qualcomm Stadium - that could be shared by San Diego State, a Major League Soccer franchise and other community partners.  We are eager to join members of our community in discussing this vision."

That certainly sounds like SDSU has thought a great deal about this possibility and are looking to make it a reality.

Aside from the game day atmosphere stuff went over earlier, this new stadium will bring other added advantages. The main one is it increases the chances SDSU gets an invite to a Power Five conference, like the Pac 12 or Big 12. A move to a big conference brings with it monetary gains that a conference like the Mountain West cannot dream of matching.

And if such move were to go down, the other sports besides football will reap in the profits as well, from money to recruiting to postseason opportunities.