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San Diego and Snapdragon Stadiu.
Good evening.
Thanks so much for joining us.
I'm Marcella Lee. I'm
Carlo Chicketto.
The official announcement came
today at Snapdragon Stadium,
which will be home to the
yet to be named team in 2025.
Tonight we have team coverage.
Our Jake, Gary, Annie is here to
talk about how significant thiss
for our local sports scene and the city.
But first, let's go live
to CBS8's Kirsten Holmes.
She's at the stadium with reaction from
really excited sports fans. Kir.
Yes, indeed. Now the stadium
is empty behind me right now,
but it was packed with people ry
to celebrate the new expansion
of MLS right here in San Diego.
Now this might be the worst
kept secret in the city,
because the announcement didn't
really surprise a lot of San Diego's.
But at today's announcement,
we asked some of the key players
some key questions.
Take a look my friends.
San Diego is a sports town,
am I right?
And just like that, what was
once not a sports town becomes
we are Soccer City.
That is what San Diego is,
with the wildly popular National
Women's Soccer League representg
in San Diego through the Wave FC
and the San Diego Loyal FC Carr.
Coppage with the San Diego Tourm
Authority says we're ready
between San Diego
and Tijuana and the amount of
viewers and players and fans.
It'll be fantastic for our community. Loyal
is unbelievable and the Wave is unbelievable
and this just adds another thin.
Jerry Sanders, former San Diego
Mayor and police chief, says.
Nobody thought that we
could build Snapdragon.
Nobody thought that San Diego Se
would take over this property.
Certainly nobody thought we were going
to get MLS and it's all coming .
San Diego loyal sent a message
saying they're committed to
growing soccer in the city,
saying, quote, our plan is simp,
we aren't going anywhere.
So when it comes to this
new MLS expansion team, let
me ask you the real question.
What do you hope the name will ?
Have no idea about the name,
but I'm excited to hear what it'll be.
Any thoughts on a name?
I have a few ideas, but I,
the team and the ownership,
particularly Sequon,
have been very clear that they t
to engage at the community in t.
And because we are working for ,
we got the answer straight from
the horses. I mean, owners mouth
the names not yet decided like e
doing some studies and focus gr.
That's to see what's the best n,
what's the. Best colors what pee
want here because this is your m
think San Diego sees not that b.
Sammy Canaan is a striker on the
University of San Diego soccer .
He says the colors should be
black and white so it's easier
for the new team to match.
Snapdragons already red and black stadium.
And he says a mascot might be nice too.
So another key question
is San Diego looking at a futurn
Diego MLS superstar player right here
I mean. I'll have to see. Just e
it a couple years. I don't know
a hometown hero. If that happen,
we hope those dreams come to fruition.
OK, so after I talked with the w
owner of the new MLS team that's
coming here, CBS8's Jake Gary,
any got some real answers aboute
possibility of the real name ofe
new soccer team that's coming h?
I'm not going to steal his Thun,
but we are all very excited abot
Major League Soccer coming to S.
Go back to you guys.
Yeah, Jake got the big scoop
and he is standing by with that.
We're going to get that in just a moment.
But Kirsten, what else can you
tell us about the new MLS teams?
Owners, people want to know.
Okay. So this is history in the making.
First off, we got to tell
you about the Sichuan tribe.
They will become the first
Native American tribe to have
ownership and professional socc,
so we celebrate that.
We're also going to talk
about Mohammed Mansour.
He's a British Egyptian busines,
philanthropist, and it was his 0
million that really helped bring
Major League Soccer to the area.
And another name that most
everybody in San Diego knows,
Manny Machado of the Padres.
Also in the ownership team,
so a lot of fans going to be
coming here to Snapdragon Stadi.
Great. See Manny digging
his roots a little bit.
Deter Kirsten Holmes reporting for us.
Thanks Kirsten.
And again, soccer won't be
played at Snapdragon Stadium,
at least not by the new
MLS team until 2025.
Yes, but this is going to have a huge
impact on San Diego and soccer .
As promised, our Jake Gary Hones
standing by to continue our team coverage.
Jake. What's the scoop that you got today
The team name we I think found
out right it's kind of a group
of us and we we hammered at home
or at least the shape of the nae
the rough shape the order the
rough shape. Yes we kind of have
two options which which we'll
talk further about in sports.
You'll hear the exact,
the sound bite but it's going to
either be FC San Diego or San
Diego FC so football club of San
Diego or San Diego football clu.
So there you go. I hope you enjoy that.
Hopefully you like the name but
today truly was something speci.
You know we beat out.
Vegas and plenty of other markeo
land this team and I was down there at
Snapdragon when they made the official
announcement and as Kirsten sai,
we all knew it was coming, righ?
But soccer fan or not,
this just felt invigorating.
It's so great to see another Major League
sport make its way to America's Finest city.
This city deserves Major League
sports in a lot of them.
We all know the history here,
right?
But San Diego has an incredible
fan base in a hunger to cheer
and go wild for their teams.
And now we're just getting one e
thing we can all rally around ad
support in a sport that feels like it
hasn't fully hit its peak here in this city.
And it's that sense of communitn
togetherness that I'm most excited about.
And a man who really made this l
possible is most excited about.
We catch up once again with the
man who helped that all get her,
Mr.
Mohammed Mansour,
how important
is it for you to grow soccer ins
country and especially in this community
where there's another country just South
of the border that can enjoy it as well?
Well, soccer, soccer,
I think soccer builds people.
I mean soccer brings people together.
I mean there's nothing that bui,
brings people together more
than soccer sports in general.
And we have South of the border,
you know, community and also the
community in in in San Diego and
around the area of California.
I think you you can we will have
an amazing club here.
I'm very, very,
very optimistic about the
future of the San Diego club.
So again, 30th club and MSL,
they will begin play in 2025 and
we're going to hear from Andy
Machado who is a part owner.
I saw him when we were down the,
he walked up and I go,
what are you doing here?
And then it all made sense.
We got we got tons of sound
coming up in sports too.
More going back down to
Snapdragon Stadium. So we could.
One of the best moments today fr
me watching was the tribal lead,
just quantic about how they've
they've sponsored and supported
teams for years, but now. They
have a team. There was this
cool moment where we were
talking with the chairman of
the Saquan tribe and he goes we
we've been supporting these tea.
We've been doing everything.
And now to be sitting at the
table to have a part of the cak,
it feels so special. And Mr.
Monsour said it feels like 1000
birthdays rolled into one.
It was really a special feeling
and you can tell the sense of
pride that they have in this ci.
And of course again I mentioned.
We all know the history here.
It's awesome to see people rootd
and in this community and
want to being a part of it.
Nice to see that it's a group we
have the big money from outside
could have been a little daunty.
But some familiar faces with dep
roots here in San Diego's Nices.
And I think that's what making
Sequon being a part of it helpsu
know? Yeah, it's really neat.
They're no longer just one of
the names on a banner. Yeah.
So where they're the owners.
So it's amazing. Thanks, Jake.
We'll see more sports.