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NWSL’s Wave pitch new stadium at Del Mar Fairgrounds as Snapdragon Stadium frustrations grow

The NWSL San Diego Wave earlier this week met with the body overseeing the Del Mar Fairgrounds and “proposed a sweeping development project that includes a 12,000- to 16,000-seat stadium,” according to Mark Zeigler of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. Wave Alternate Governor Zachary Leichtman-Levine and his mother, Wave controlling owner Lauren Leichtman, “made a 20-minute presentation to the 22nd District Agricultural Association board.” The stadium is the “centerpiece of what is called Del Mar Dreams,” situated in conceptual renderings on the 324-acre property’s southeast side near the track’s first turn. It also includes a “multi-level parking garage for 1,300 cars” and “350,000 square feet of retail stores and restaurants.” The estimated cost of the project was not disclosed, but Zeigler noted the “going rate for a 12,000-seat soccer stadium in California” is in the $200M range. Leichtman-Levine said, “We’ve been tenants, as you know, of Snapdragon Stadium. … What we found at Snapdragon is something resembling a fourth-class citizen. We are fourth on the list of selecting dates for the games.” Leichtman-Levine “requested a two-year exclusive negotiating window” that he “hopes the board would approve” at its Nov. 10 meeting. The DAA would “ultimately provide the land,” while the Wave owners and their partners “would fund the development” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/14).