[ad_1]
SAN DIEGO – San Diego State University officials are taking some heat following the Aztecs’ first game at Snapdragon Stadium
On Saturday, the team played the first game of the season in the newly built stadium but the conditions were less than forgiving.
Temps quickly climbed to over 100 degrees, the hottest game in Aztec history, at kickoff time and resulted in thousands of fans looking for refuge from the sweltering heat and the beating sun.
More than 34,000 people attended the first game at SDSU’s new home, which cost $310 million to build. Now, however, many of those fans are asking why a canopy was not included in the project’s budget.
“I think we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 medical requests during the game, obviously the overwhelming majority of those were related to the heat,” said SDSU Athletic Director J.D. Wicker during a Tuesday press conference. Wicker also said that somewhere between 10 to 20 people were transported to a hospital for further care.
Aside from not having a canopy, the stadium also has little to no shade whatsoever.
The situation became so dire that Snapdragon Stadium staff began handing out water and ice during the second half of the game.
“People just aren’t used to it being that incredibly hot and, you know, we still felt good about the turnout– we felt good about how the building operated,” said Wicker.
FOX 5 reached out to the San Diego Fire Department Tuesday for an official number of people treated or transported during the game, but they did not respond by the time of publication.
Wicker did say that adding a canopy would cost roughly $50-100 million and that the school would be open to it if they secure major league soccer or football partner in the future.
[ad_2]
Source link
