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San Diego State Football Hints at Playing in Mexico
The San Diego State Aztecs are in talks to be the first college football team to play in Mexico.
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San Diego State looks to be playing a game in Mexico.
San Diego State is in talks to play a regular season game at the home of the Tijuana Xolos in Tijuana, Mexico, becoming the first college football team to play in Mexico.
Judging by Athletic Director Jim Sterk’s track record, one can surmise that it’s only a matter of time when San Diego State football game plays across the U.S. border.
Looking at the logistics of this and since the non-conference schedule has been locked in for the next four years, the Aztecs might be able to schedule in an FCS team in one of the years the team travels to Hawaii.
Despite the quandary at the Mission Valley stadium for the foreseeable future, Jim Sterk has orchestrated the Aztecs basketball team to play in exotic places such as atop the flight deck of the USS Midway and playing inside Petco Park for the City Championship against USD.
San Diego State is beginning to embrace its impact as the only American football entity in the San Diego region by establishing a relationship with the Tijuana Xolos.
Jim Sterk’s job is to grow the athletic program and its footprint. Flanked to the north by Pac-12 schools and its alumni, having the Aztecs play across the border can draw the market of American football fans. The Aztecs can gain a notoriety that no other college football program can boast: the only college football team with a bi-national fan base.
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In the long term by building a relationship across the border, the university tries to jockey itself out of the Mountain West.
In recent weeks, Alabama head coach Nick Saban has slammed the entire college football system, by proclaiming only Power-5 schools should be playing each other, locking Group of Five conferences out of the large paychecks that sustain athletic programs.
By no means will playing a single game in Tijuana change the national perception of San Diego State, but having a bi-national presence in the foreseeable rapture of college football might be a saving factor for their athletic program. No one can tell the future of college athletics especially from a Mountain West point of view, but the way this move looks like, the Aztecs want a seat at the next iteration of FBS.
San Diego State 34, Hawaii 24.