Aztecs surveying fans, alums about new football stadium

San Diego State this week sent out a survey to football season ticket holders and other alumni to gauge their interest in a new stadium located in Mission Valley.

A similar survey was sent out to local soccer fans by Major League Soccer, a potential partner in the plan for a new college football and professional soccer stadium.

Much of the survey focused on pricing and amenities at a new stadium. Jenny Bramer, SDSU’s interim director of athletics, included a letter with the Aztecs survey that read, in part:

“As part of our continued commitment to competition at the highest levels, we are pursuing stadium options for the SDSU Football program. We are asking for your input into this process.

“A third-party market research firm has been engaged to conduct a market feasibility study. This study is designed to determine interest in attending events at a new college football and professional soccer stadium, to be located in Mission Valley, as well as to understand preferences for various amenities that could enhance the game-day experience.

“We ask for your participation in this survey so that informed decisions can be made regarding the future home of Aztec Football, as well as a potential Major League Soccer franchise, in San Diego.”

In April, San Diego State President Elliot Hirshman endorsed a plan that would turn the 166-acre Qualcomm Stadium site into an extension of the SDSU campus.

A rendering for San Diego State West showed school offices, academic and research buildings, student and faculty housing, parking, an amphitheater, a river walk area and reconfigured trolley station.

Tucked into the northeast corner of the property was a proposed 40,000-seat football/soccer stadium.

“This is a chance to really look into the Mission Valley area and see if it’s a good fit and whether our fans think that’s a good place for them to come cheer for our student-athletes,” Bramer said by phone on Friday. “We ask a series of questions (in the survey). We sent it out to this huge group of people, 18,000, in hopes of really getting a better idea of what matters to them.

“Is it where they sit? Is it how the stadium looks? What kind of expenses they’re willing to spend to have a great seat, so that if we pursue this option we can do it in a way that is very fan-friendly.”

A new downtown Chargers stadium ballot measure will go before San Diego voters in two months, but Bramer said the timing of the SDSU survey did not have anything to do with the issue.

“I don’t know that we’re focused on them because that’s outside of our control,” Bramer said. “We’re doing the survey now because that’s something that’s within our control. In order to move forward with the process, we have to pursue our side of it.”

The survey was sent out just Thursday evening but already has generated a very positive response from passionate SDSU fans, those who comment on Aztecs chat boards, anyway.

One such person wrote:

“I’d sit on broken glass during games if necessary to get an Aztec Stadium built.”

If it comes to that, one would hope the first promotion at the new stadium would be Cushion Night.

kirk.kenney@sduniontribune.com / on Twitter: @sdutkirKDKenney