Petco vs Snapdragon?

Didn't attend in person last night.....but I already know i will just prefer Petco.   I didn't think the fan fest thing downtown was that big of a deal in the years I've been....a little walking is good for you.     Parking was never an issue because we always went down early....parked on the street and walked 5-8 (max) blocks to the stadium.   World class restaurants all within a stones throw of the stadium.   Sorry, but I eat a good meal and a libation before going into the stadiums.  Call me cheap, I'm not paying $16+ for a ****ing beer.     I generally will not purchase anything at stadiums anyway....I'm not fond of getting ass-raped by vendors.  

Snapdragon as far as cool factor is a downgrade from Petco. 

I visited Petco once and thought it was great, the pits, plus the downtown area.

The new stadium appeared to have a much bigger floor space so I like longer laptimes, lots of room for pits and parking outside.  The fans seem to be further away from the track but that is just a weak TV visual from me.

You fans like OP that have actually been to both will be interesting to hear from.

For the fans…

All things “parking” is/was/were much, much, much…better…at Snapdragon. Same goes for anything using the term “traffic”. 
Access to/from the pits from the stadium…again…much, much, much…better…at Snapdragon. 
The vibe for a lot of us that have been doing this for a while…well…it was a New Jack Murphy Stadium in all the right ways (known to many as Qualcomm Stadium). 
Personally, I love everything about the new location. Even the really awesome “outdoor vibe” of their beer garden area was a nice touch: $15 for a Stella…c’est l’vie! 
The amount of “open area” in the parking lots that provided for a REALLY good pit lay-out and demo-exhibition area was one of the best. 

So, as someone that’s been to a fair amount of Supercross races and at too damn many stadiums…(sarcastic & lol’ing as I post that)…Snapdragon is an EXCELLENT venue. 

Petco is better for visiting and staying downtown.  The new stadium is fine also but the parking flow and traffic was a total shit show!  

I didn't go last night, so I'll reserve judgement about SnapDragon Stadium until next year.

I think Petco is awesome for Supercross.  The steepness of the bleachers keeps everyone close to the action.

I had no problems with Qualcomm.  I just think Petco was a couple steps up.

Traffic hasn't been an issue for a long while.  Whether it was Qualcomm, or Petco, for the last decade or so I park at a nearby park-n-ride, then take the trolley to the event.

Haven’t been to snapdragon but I like being able to park at the stadium. Petco was really cool IF you got a room nearby, parked the car and stayed on foot for the weekend, but that’s an expensive way to see a race. Did that in 2020, last race before the world lost its mind over the virus, great memories.

Having been to Petco and now Snapdragon I have to give the nod to Snapdragon.

Brand new stadium, pits just outside the stadium, tons more room.

The 2 stadiums are only 7.5 miles apart so don’t quite understand the “San Diego moto crowd lost their race” narrative.

Unless your walking, 7.5 miles isn’t that far.

It's the seating loss that affects San Diego fans.     We went from 42K (?) seats at Petco to 30K seats. 

PreRace in the parking lot was all time. Viewing was amazing.
 They need way bigger bathrooms to piss in for sure, line was insane. Getting out of the parking lot was worse than leaving an outdoor National, just sayin 

Jack Murphy/Qualcomm and I’m forever going to be salty that it was demolished and our sport wasn’t offered a lifetime exclusive use of the stadium… and yes I’m irrational about it. 
 

but with that said, I went to Petco it was Ight for supercross, I have yet to attend this cell phone stadium (Nerd I.T. Joke) 

Qualcomm got demolished because 1) the Chargers left SD for LA and 2) it was old as dirt as far as stadiums go

Snapdragon is the football stadium for my alma mater SDSU, so that explains the smaller seating capacity vs an NFL stadium. 

I am a huge fan of Petco park. Went to 10+ Padres games last season and I must say the awesomeness of Petco had a lot to do with it. 
When I go there I park and walk into the stadium with no visits to the Gaslamp area to partake in the food/drink experience, so my opinion will probably be much different than others who enjoy the downtown experience. 
 

last weekend was my first event at Snapdragon. I thought it was great and if I had to choose, for SX I put it above Petco. The parking was easy/spacious. The stadium had a nice open feel and was very easy to get around from one end to the other. Brand new concession stands/bathrooms were great. Massive grass areas during the daytime have it the college campus feel. The Fanfest had tons of room for the displays/activities. 
 

Arriving in the afternoon was a drive right in and park scenario. Leaving was of course slower but I’ve honestly never been to any professional sporting event where traffic is not a problem when you turn 20,000 cars loose. Once out of the lot it is a mile max to the freeway which was wide open. 
 

I thought the track was excellent. Seemed like the floor of the stadium was wider than most venues. Crowd was excellent and well behaved. Didn’t see one brawl or beer throwing incident, lots of kids around including the 4 in my group. Overall a very kid friendly atmosphere. 
 

As much as I love Petco I’ll be one who hopes they keep it at Snapdragon. Had such a good time I was searching for A-2 tixs at midnight when I got home. I’m an old timer who grew up with outdoor Nationals but I gotta say SX is one helluva show 

Parking at Snapdragon is $35.00.      Even though I didn't attend, I know this because I did stop by the box office on Saturday on a lark to get tix.

Parking for Petco can cost you nothing if you play your cards right. 

Plus, it's always been hell getting out of Qualcomm (now Snapd) after an event.   There used to be only 2 gates....is it any different now?

Like someone else has mentioned...it's best to park miles away and take the Trolley in to the stadium.   ...but even that is a hassle with the mad crush of people after the event. 

I know all this logically; I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the economics of demolishing an entire stadium to get a smaller one built. That's a huge, enormously expensive undertaking! Surely they could have built one with larger seating capacity and used only what they needed for college football, right? Then sell more tickets for whatever else they bring to town. Oh well. Somebody who makes more money than I do made that call and he's probably right. 

I got there early and parked up the street, decent walk but I don’t mind, easy in, easy out headed North. Was leary of the stadium at first but ended up being cool as hell. Several places to sit or stand and watch the race if you wanted. Lots of food and drink/bars to choose, good variety as well.  No lines to speak of. Could have done better with more restrooms.  I am good with either stadium but Snap gets the nod due to my hour ish commute. 

Yup

I have to go to down-town San Diego A LOT. Traffic and parking there can be an absolute pain in the ass. As for the SX there, I often have to go in-and-out form the event and sometimes have to drive out…during the day..and come back. Petco was an unbelievable PAIN for all of that. 

So, for me, Snapdragon was a breeze. Again, my day starts at 8; so, I guess I see things a but different.

People talking about the traffic out: I get it. They route you out in one or 2 directions that are often THE WRONG direction for a lot of people. And that sucks. 

The ABSOLUTE WORST traffic control/routing that I’ve ever experienced is up at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara…Un-F’ING-BELIEVABLE. 

The one thing I missed about it being at Snapdragon and not Petco was being able to walk across the street to the Omni and go to sleep after a 16 hour day. 

I can’t argue with that.

I didn't make it to Snap Dragon Saturday but one thing I can tell you is I won't miss walking past all the homeless encampments or having to pay attention to not stepping in fecal matter on the sidewalks walking from the parking areas to Petco

Stadiums are downsizing the capacity to make for better amenities and fan experience. Largely because the home experience has become better than the in person experience. The Georgia Dome capacity was at 75,000 and the newer Benz is at 70,000. Turner field was at 49,500 and Truist Park is at 41,000. 

This was my first experience at Snapdragon and I've been to Petco many times for baseball games, corporate events, SD SX races, etc.

While a smaller stadium, Snapdragon mostly did not disappoint (more on that later). The larger, rectangular floor space allowed for a slightly bigger track. There really wasn't a bad seat in the place, even the upper deck "cheap" seats seemed decent. We sat in section C226 with padded seats and access to the West Club, which was fricken awesome. Literally a few steps behind our seats was an amazing lounge area with great food options, lots of seating with tables for people to escape the cold and get food/drink with tv's everywhere, and a full service bar as well. Elsewhere in the stadium there were many options for food and brew. Anything you could want was available for the most part. The pits were within short walking distance and was ample size to house all of the pit entertainment and a few food trucks. Much better situation than Petco Park in that regard.

Things I disliked:

1. No bookbags were allowed. Had to be a clear bag. Don't think i've ever had this problem at Petco. I don't recall seeing this anywhere in the event information so that was a bummer. We originally planned on bringing extra clothing layers in the backpack so we didnt have to go back to the car, but ultimately we had to go back to the car at 5 to get our jackets before the night show.

2. No outside food or beverage. Not even sealed clear plastic bottles of water. Kinda ridiculous. 

3. Parking situation was not great imo. First, they had everyone go off-roading through a whooped out/rutted out dirt lot (probably due to recent rain). We drove our Tesla and was less than thrilled to have to offroad it to park. The parking lots were within reasonable walking distance to the stadium which was nice, but here's where the nightmare came... getting out of the parking lot after the race was an absolute gridlocked crapshow. It took us about an hour to move maybe 200 feet as they funneled thousands of cars through a single main exit and a single back exit. Next time i go to this stadium I'm going to plan to park off site somewhere and walk to avoid this nonsense. Petco is way easier to leave after a race than Snapdragon.

4. The surrounding scenery at Petco is better, it being in downtown with buildings close by, the harbor close by etc. If you're looking for nightlife after the race at Snapdragon, you'll probably be traveling downtown.

That 47 dollar fee to park in a gravel yard was the only thing that jammed me up. Other than that they can keep Petco for the ball games!