Tyler Heaps: State of playing surface is “something we have talked to them quite a bit about”

Clumps of turf scatter Snapdragon Stadium’s pitch after San Diego FC’s inaugural home match on Sat. March 1, 2025. Turf has been a constant concern at the stadium, shared by the San Diego Wave and San Diego State Athletics.
Photo: Nate Tubbs/Prost International

Snapdragon Stadium is set for a busy year. Even though, the rugby side San Diego Legion were persuaded to decamp to Torero, there will still be three sides using the field in 2025.

San Diego FC began the use on March 1st with their MLS opener against St Louis which ended in a 0-0 tie. As you can see from the photo above, the field did cut up in places.

On March 22, the NWSL San Diego Wave entertain Utah Royals in their home opener. Although it seems distant, the San Diego Aztecs open their 2025 season on August 28 against Stony Brook.

Early signs that the field could withstand even the wear and tear of just two soccer teams were not good. The field started to tear up on matchday one.

SDFC key signing Mexican Chucky Lozano went down in the 31st minute holding his left hamstring and pulled up short. He was chasing a ball down San Diego’s left side that had already seen a good share of play by then.

There is no further information at this point if the field played a part so it would be premature to jump to conclusions but it would not be not inconceivable if the agents of signing target Kevin De Bruyne were watching events in Southern California, and were asking for clarification.

After the game, we asked SDFC Sporting Director Tyler Heaps on whether he had any fears for the rest of the season.

Heaps pointed out, correctly, that his side had attempted to play very good football on it and, almost with a hint of embarassment, that “they did have monster trucks on it not too long ago“.

The last monster truck show was on January 12th, a full 48 days previously. If those trucks did affect the surface in a way that still had repercussions seven weeks later, that must also be of concern.

He shared the concerns and confirmed that the state of the field is “something we have talked to them (Snapdragon) quite a bit about.”

On the evidence so far, San Diego would appear to be disadvantaged by a poor surface. St Louis City were fairly defensive and the lack of a reliable surface hampered the visitors’ game plan less than SD’s more open attacking approach.

Heaps’ assurance of constant communication is good news but will do little to reassure fans that they have a solution even if San Diego Wave players and their opponents in total do weigh considerably less than the average monster truck, which comes in at 10,000 pounds, but can weigh as much as 12,000!

There are other events scheduled for Snapdragon Stadium. Chivas host Xolos of Tijuana on March 23rd, just a day after the Wave make their season debut.

Some sites are insinuating that this is a competitive Liga MX match, including Snapdrgon’s own website, presumably moved from Tijuana or Guadalajara but that is in fact not the case.

The match is part of Chivas’ and Soccer United Marketing’s (SUM) Tour Rebaño, a tour of Chivas friendlies whose purpose is to make money from Chivas fans in the USA.

The Snapdragon fixture is not a Liga MX match

Xolos are always welcome in San Diego and have many fans here.

That is not the issue.

However, with the game not even involving San Diego FC, it is hard to see what benefit the California club gets out of it.

LAFC visit Snapdragon in an MLS Fixture six days later and SDFC host the Sounders a week after that. Seven days later San Diego Wave host Kansas City. Wave fans will be well aware that their final home game of 2024 had to be moved to Louisville, due to the unplayable nature of the surface.

Shakira has a concert there on June 26th.

At this point, SDFC have little alternative but to take Snapdragon’s word that the surface can survive a packed March and beyond with sufficient turnover time betwen events.

Fans of good football across San Diego will hope that faith is justified.