Sports in San Diego

San Diego is the largest United States city to have not won a Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, or NBA Finals; however, the city does have one major league title to its name, the 1963 American Football League (AFL) Championship won by the Chargers. Some fans believe that there is a curse on the major league teams in the city.[1] While team tennis is not regarded as a major sport, the San Diego Buds did win the TeamTennis championship in both 1984 and 1985, and the San Diego Aviators won the World TeamTennis title in 2016.

Petco Park

Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres play in Petco Park. The semi-final and final games of the inaugural World Baseball Classic were played there in 2006, and an earlier round of the second WBC was held there in 2009. Hosted the MLB All-Star Game in 2016 which was the last All Star game to determine home field advantage in the World Series.

The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team based in San Diego. The Chargers competed in the National Football League (NFL). The club began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL), and spent its first season in Los Angeles before moving to San Diego in 1961.[5] The Chargers joined the NFL as result of the AFL–NFL merger in 1970, and played their home games at the venue now known as SDCCU Stadium.

On January 12, 2016, the Chargers were given a one-year option to join the Rams in the Los Angeles area.[6] Team chairman and CEO Dean Spanos announced on January 29, 2016, that the Chargers would remain in San Diego for the 2016 season.[7] In 2017 the Chargers moved back to their original city of Los Angeles, leaving San Diego without a professional football team for the first time since 1961.[8]

On May 29, 2018, the Alliance of American Football (AAF) announced they would start a franchise in San Diego, the San Diego Fleet.[9] The team played their home games at SDCCU Stadium, while San Diego native and former St. Louis Rams head coach Mike Martz was the head coach.[10] The league suspended operations before it could complete its inaugural season.

San Diego has had two NBA franchises, the San Diego Rockets and the San Diego Clippers. The Rockets represented the city of San Diego from 1967 until 1971. After the conclusion of the 1970–1971 season, they were bought and moved to Texas where they became the Houston Rockets. Seven years later, a relocated NBA franchise (the Buffalo Braves) moved to town and was renamed the San Diego Clippers. The Clippers played in the San Diego Sports Arena from 1978 until 1984. Prior to the start of the 1984–1985 season, the team was controversially moved to Los Angeles, and is now called the Los Angeles Clippers.

San Diego has a long history of minor league ice hockey teams, starting with the San Diego Skyhawks that played in the Pacific Coast Hockey League from 1948 to 1950. Hockey returned in 1966 with the San Diego Gulls of the Western Hockey League, which were created by Robert Breitbard to have a tenant for his upcoming arena – now known as the Valley View Casino Center.[11] The Gulls soon grew a fanbase in San Diego, with averages of over 9,000 spectators. By 1971, the year Breitbard's National Basketball Association franchise relocated to Texas to become the Houston Rockets, the Gulls had attendances bigger than both the Rockets and the Californian National Hockey League teams, the Los Angeles Kings and Oakland Seals.[12] The Gulls ceased operations in 1974 to give way for the relocated San Diego Mariners of the World Hockey Association, which folded in 1977. Another Mariners team was one of the charter teams of the short-lived Pacific Hockey League that same year, being renamed Hawks in the following and last PHL season. The arena remained without hockey until 1990, when another San Diego Gulls team was founded in the International Hockey League (1990–95). After the IHL team moved to Los Angeles, another Gulls team played for over a decade in both the West Coast Hockey League (1995–03) and ECHL (2003–06). The current San Diego Gulls, of the American Hockey League, started playing in 2015, and are owned by the NHL's Anaheim Ducks.[11]

The original North American Soccer League was awarded an expansion franchise known as the San Diego Sockers. The original Sockers indoor franchise also played in the NASL indoor league, Major Indoor Soccer League, Continental Indoor Soccer League, World Indoor Soccer League and second Major Indoor Soccer League. The current Sockers play in the indoor Major Arena Soccer League.

With the expansion of the minor professional league National Premier Soccer League, the San Diego Flash saw the addition of the North County Battalion and Albion SC Pros. The San Diego SeaLions play in the Women's Premier Soccer League, and the San Diego Zest play in the USL Premier Development League with the SoCal Surf.San Diego Internacional FC began playing in the UPSL in 2019.[13]

Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber mentioned San Diego as an expansion candidate in February 2014. Garber reiterated in April 2016 that San Diego is one of the expansion candidates. The owners interested in bringing MLS to San Diego include MLB San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler.[14] An MLS team in San Diego would be located close to two MLS teams in Los Angeles, as well as the Liga MX side Xolos of Tijuana.[15]

The NFL's Chargers 2017 relocation to Los Angeles has accelerated the chances for an MLS expansion team in San Diego.[16][17][18] On February 20, 2017, a new plan for the Qualcomm Stadium site in Mission Valley was unveiled by a La Jolla investment group that's trying to lure a MLS team to San Diego.[19] On 3 March 2017, former LA Galaxy forward Landon Donovan joined the ownership group trying to bring the next MLS expansion team to San Diego.[20]

On June 25, 2017, it was announced that a San Diego 1904 FC franchise would join the second tier of the American soccer pyramid North American Soccer League in 2018. The club's founders include professional soccer players Demba Ba, Eden Hazard, Yohan Cabaye and Moussa Sow.[21][22] The club intends to build a soccer complex somewhere in San Diego's North County and will play its games at the University of San Diego in the meantime.[23] Due to the cancellation of the 2018 NASL season, the expansion team announced it is negotiating an agreement to join the United Soccer League in 2019.[24]

On June 19, 2019, it was announced that Landon Donovan would be bringing a new USL Championship team to San Diego. The club, San Diego Loyal SC, will participate in the upcoming 2020 USL Championship season.[25]

On August 30, 2017, the National Lacrosse League awarded an expansion franchise to the city of San Diego and owner Joseph Tsai. On October 24, the NLL and San Diego owners unveiled the San Diego Seals identity. Also revealed were the colors, purple, gold, gray, and black, and the team logo. The team began play in December 2018 at Pechanga Arena and earned the second overall playoff seed in the West Division after a successful 10-8 regular season. Home game attendance during the season averaged 7,769 fans per contest.

Rugby union is a developing sport in San Diego. A diversity of clubs, ranging from men's and women's clubs to collegiate and high school, are part of the Southern California Rugby Football Union.[26] The United States national rugby sevens team train at the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, San Diego. Additionally, the USA Sevens, an event in the annual World Rugby Sevens Series for international teams in rugby sevens, was held in Petco Park from 2007 through 2009 before moving to Las Vegas for 2010 and back to Los Angeles more recently.

The following is a list of rugby teams in San Diego;

The San Diego Aviators of World TeamTennis (WTT) moved to San Diego from New York prior to the start of the 2014 season. They were formerly known as the New York Sportimes. They played their 2014 home matches at Valley View Casino Center. In 2015, they moved to Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad. In their first three seasons in San Diego, they finished with the league's top regular-season record twice (2014 and 2016), and won the King Trophy as 2016 WTT champions.

San Diego has had two previous WTT franchises. The San Diego Friars were a WTT expansion franchise that began play in 1975. They used the San Diego Sports Arena (now Valley View Casino Center) as their primary home venue but played some home matches at the Anaheim Convention Center between 1975 and 1977, before Anaheim got its own team in 1978. After missing the playoffs their first two seasons, the Friars qualified in 1977 and 1978, and were the 1978 Western Division champions, but lost in the quarterfinals. The team folded after the 1978 season. International Tennis Hall of Famers Rod Laver and Dennis Ralston played for the Friars.

In 1981, the Friars returned as an expansion franchise as WTT resumed operations rebranded as TeamTennis after a hiatus. After three seasons as the Friars, the team was renamed the San Diego Buds before the 1984 season. The Buds won both the 1984 and 1985 TeamTennis championships but folded following the 1985 season. Hall of Famer Rosie Casals was the Friars player-coach in 1983.