San Diego State and San Diego have made it official that the two schools play a regular season basketball game at Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. This game has been in the works ever since the baseball stadium hosted a Davis Cup tennis match last year.
Things heated up with a report just over a month ago saying that a game was liniment between the Aztecs and Toreros at Petco Park. The official announcement came on Friday with the game taking place on Saturday Dec. 5 at 5 p.m. ET, there is still no announcement yet of how this game will be broadcast.
There have been issues with recent college basketball games being played on aircraft carriers, but weather could still be an issue for this game. If there is any rain or delay of the game due to weather the two teams will attempt to play the game the following day.
"We are thrilled to team up with the Padres organization to put on a very special and unique day of basketball in San Diego," Aztecs athletics director Jim Sterk said in a released statement. "Ron Fowler, Mike Dee, Jeremy Horowitz and everyone that works for the Padres have done a great job bringing the details necessary to pull off the special event we are announcing today."
Head coach Steve Fisher see's the benefits of playing this game at a unique location.
"We are excited for the opportunity to bring a basketball game to Petco Park and can't wait to see the configuration for the event," Fisher said. "It should make for a great event in one of the most beautiful parks in the country.
"To have this event with USD is a natural," Fisher added. "These two teams playing in this venue should be a great attraction in the city, county, state and around the country."
This will mark the 18th straight year that these cross-town teams will meet in basketball.
San Diego State has won 12 of the last 13 meetings with the Toreros and this game next year marks a new five-game series with the next four being played at each teams arena.