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Qualcomm Stadium to close: Dec 31st 2018

Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 7:45 am
by Craig Naylor
Just received an email from SD Region. In a nutshell...

SD Region just meet with the stadium to schedule second half 2017 dates. We were told that the date for closing the stadium has been picked. The gate's will close December 31, 2018, including the parking lots.

The stadium assures us that they explained to the city that the parking lots are a valuable asset, and can make money. However, the stadium does not believe that anybody at the City listened, or cares.

All city employees that work at the stadium have been told to seek transfers to other city departments, and to not wait to the last minute expecting a reprieve. While very narrow circumstances that could extend the closing date, the stadium said not to expect that, and for all the car groups to explore other options.

Re: Qualcomm Stadium to close: Dec 31st 2018

Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 10:15 am
by Adam Tarnoff
Has there been any effort to locate a new site?

Re: Qualcomm Stadium to close: Dec 31st 2018

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 6:57 am
by Craig Naylor
Not recently, that I'm aware of.

They've had a similar attitude our region has vs. El Toro... All other sites are smaller, and therefor inferior, so their not good enough to consider as alternatives.

For example, Norton was good enough for LA region nearly a decade... Then we got access to El Toro. Now Norton is permanently listed on our minutes Lot report as: San Bernardino lot - (Norton) - too small for a big event. Sure it's a different lot, but the "too small" lot is actually bigger than the prior lot we used to run on.

In a retail comparison,... San Diego got spoiled on the Nordstroms quality lot, and refused to consider Target quality lots. Refusal to nurture the Target contacts, will likely force them to step all the way down to the 99 cent store quality lots most of the country runs on.

LA will some day face the same issue, but we have it worse. Our attendance differences between El Toro & AAA speedway show we too have lot snobbery, and that's at our Nordstroms quality lot (AAA). Nothing but name brand Beverly hills boutique quality lots for LA... BABY!!!!

Re: Qualcomm Stadium to close: Dec 31st 2018

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 8:09 pm
by Doug Teulie
Craig Naylor wrote:Not recently, that I'm aware of.

For example, Norton was good enough for LA region nearly a decade... Then we got access to El Toro. Now Norton is permanently listed on our minutes Lot report as: San Bernardino lot - (Norton) - too small for a big event. Sure it's a different lot, but the "too small" lot is actually bigger than the prior lot we used to run on.
Sad to see Qualcomm Stadium go but we had 15 years notice. And El Toro is ?????
Is the Norton lot still available? I know we ran on the EAST lot with the hill in it just before Pete lost his S2000 C/R. The old Norton flat lot had some frosting added to the surface in 2004-5 that made it undesirable. The concrete was good but I don't think we can get that anymore. Any updates?

Re: Qualcomm Stadium to close: Dec 31st 2018

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 9:26 pm
by Craig Naylor
[quote="Doug Teulie"Is the Norton lot still available? The old Norton flat lot had some frosting added to the surface in 2004-5 that made it undesirable. The concrete was good but I don't think we can get that anymore. Any updates?[/quote]

Did a photo shoot the airport about 2 months ago... wandered around out of curiosity.

There are new industrial warehouses where the old lot entry (asphalt to left & and under building). Ive attached a google earth shot... but I'm guessing what I saw in person, the satellite shot is at least a year old. So it's gone forever.
old lot area.JPG
old lot area.JPG (97.68 KiB) Viewed 4944 times
And the "new" lot area... is filled with tractor trailers.
Net lot area.JPG
Net lot area.JPG (130.86 KiB) Viewed 4944 times
...and for lot size comparison, both shots are zoomed at the same level. Using the accuracy of a ruler on my monitor...I'd say the new "to small lot" lot is 1.25 to 1.4 times the size of the old "acceptable sized" lot.
Back in 2009ish, it could have been ours exclusively per year, for what we now pay for 3-ish events at El Toro.

No idea what it would cost, to wrangle it away from the current renter.

Re: Qualcomm Stadium to close: Dec 31st 2018

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 11:14 pm
by Doug Teulie
Craig Naylor wrote:
No idea what it would cost, to wrangle it away from the current renter.
Looks like both lots are difficult to get for our needs.