SAN DIEGO–The San Diego City Council has accepted a $500,000 bid from San Diego County Credit Union for naming rights to Qualcomm Stadium here.
The 50-year-old stadium, best known as the home of the NFL’s San Diego Chargers until the team relocated to Los Angeles this year, will now be known as SDCCU Stadium.
CUToday.info first reported the credit union was negotiating for naming rights here.
The naming rights deal is good through the end of 2018, when the city has announced plans to close the stadium. However, should the stadium remain open beyond that deal, a spokesperson for the city told the San Diego Union Tribune that there is a possibility of an extension.
According to the Union Tribune, the city of San Diego is spending about $12 million annually to keep the 71,000-seat stadium open, but is discussing possible continued use with San Diego State University athletics until a replacement can be built for Aztec football.
SDCCU said it expects to install new signs, at its own cost, on the stadium within 30 days, the Union Tribune said. The credit union has released a mock-up of what those signs will look like.
One city Councilman, Mark Kersey, said the new SDDCU Stadium “doesn’t really roll off the tongue.”
He told the Union Tribune, “We need a nickname. The ‘ATM’ or something.”
San Diego County Credit Union has been a sponsor of high-profile sporting events here, including its new sponsorship of the San Diego County Holiday Bowl college football game. It had previously sponsored the Poinsettia Bowl, before that game was discontinued after the 2016 season.