Growing with each season, Major League Soccer (MLS) will once again expand. A club will soon be joining the competition and will be based in San Diego. It will be the league's 30th team and its home will be the newly opened Snapdragon Stadium.

New from San Diego club from 2025

MLS commissioner Don Garber announced at the end of May that a team from San Diego will join the competition as early as 2025.  It will be owned by Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour and the Native American tribe Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation. The seat in the competition was acquired for $500 million. The group of investors also included, among others, six-time MLB all-star game participant and current San Diego Padres player Manny Machado.

© Sea Sidewalk to Sand

Mohamed Mansour said on the occasion: We couldn’t be more excited to partner with the Sycuan Tribe to bring Major League Soccer to such a deserving community and legion of San Diego soccer fans. This is a real opportunity to create a powerful and lasting legacy for the city and region.

The Sycuan Tribe becomes the first Native American tribe to have a stake in professional football in the United States. Sycuan, one of the 12 Kumeyaay tribes in San Diego County, is a long-term partner with several major institutions in the community, including the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise San Diego Padres.

Snapdragon Stadium home of new team

The new club will play under a 30-year lease agreement at Snapdragon Stadium, which opened last year. With a capacity of 35,000 spectators, the facility currently plays host to the San Diego State Aztecs and San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) university football team. 

© Sea Sidewalk to Sand

The state-of-the-art facility features unroofed stands that have been created with a mosaic of seats in shades of grey and maroon present in the upper sections. The stadium has a wide range of catering options and extensive premium options. San Diego has been a target market for MLS since the league launched in 1996. Major League Soccer wanted to bring the operators of Snapdragon Stadium to Southern California. San Diego beat Las Vegas in the race for the 30th franchise. Further expansion of the league is not planned at this time.

The arena, which is located on the campus of San Diego State University, hosted a Liga MX friendly match in March between Club Tijuana and Club América. The main international football events to take place this year are Mexico's match against Cameroon, due to take place on 10 June, and the semi-final match of the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup, scheduled for 12 July.

Snapdragon Stadium was among the 36 football arenas nominated for our prestigious Stadium of the Year award. Check out how it fared against them: