The San Diego Stadium Authority was formed when the Stadium opened in 1967. In 1980, then Mayor Pete Wilson and the City Council voted to rename it San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.  After the 1997 renovation, the name changed again to Qualcomm Stadium, the naming rights deal expired in 2017.

Durning Lee’s tenure, Jack Murphy Stadium was home to the NFL San Diego Chargers, the San Diego Padres, numerous rock concerts, and other special events. In 1994, Lee signed the bond indenture for a debt refinancing of $6,220,000. Also, under the guidance of City Attorney Curtis Fitzpatrick he undertook a property line split which enabled a 1997 expansion at a total cost was $78 million, which enabled the Stadium to  host (1998) Super Bowl XXXII, with the Denver Broncos defeating the Green Bay Packers. That same year, the Stadium hosted Games 3 and 4 of the World Series between the San Diego Padres and New York Yankees.

To learn more, please visit https://www.sandiego.gov/stadium.

“The Chargers, also in 1994, made it to Super Bowl XXIX. The American Football Conference champion San Diego Chargers and the National Football Conference champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League champion for the 1994 season. The game was played in Miami. A devastating loss, but one which the legendary handicapper Danny Sheridan used to portray why the spread drives television viewing.

”It was the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XXIX. The San Francisco 49ers, favored by 18 points, were routing the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers had trailed by as many as 32 points, but had managed to cut the lead to 23. There are still a lot of people interested in the final score of this game,” said ABC announcer Al Michaels.

Indeed they were. With one minute to go, the Chargers were on the 49ers’ 20-yard line. A touchdown would have been meaningless to the outcome of the game, but for anyone betting, that meaningless touchdown would have meant that the Chargers had covered the spread. San Francisco held.”

The lesson Danny taught was that one of the most watch quarters in NFL history was when the game was a blow-out. People tuned in because of the “spread” and the size of that audience determined advertising rates. So billions of dollars of advertising revenue and billions of dollars of wagering revenue changed hands based on the “useless” last minute drive.

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