San Diego Market Focus: Rady Shell Celebrates 5-Year Anniversary, Snapdragon Success And PetCo’s Multi-Venue Play

The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park is celebrating five years since opening on the San Diego Bay as an outdoor home to the San Diego Symphony, a time during which it welcomed more than 1.5 million total guests over 500 events ranging from Foreigner to SLANDER to Puscifer, Primus and A Perfect Circle.

“San Diego has always been a city where the promoters get along fairly well with each other, and they’re just concentrating on trying to get music into San Diego and not skipping the city for just LA,” says Lea Slusher, who was recently promoted to executive director of Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in January. She says the venue in its first season was promoting and presenting shows mostly in-house but has found that an open-promoter focus can be beneficial to all parties.

“We realized we could bid against Live Nation and AEG, and we could all drive the prices up, but that’s not really worthwhile in the end,” says Slusher, whose previous experience includes time at Carnegie Hall in New York. “So it’s really about driving everything to the Shell. I don’t care if it’s our show or a promoter show, as long as they played the Shell. What I do care about is that they did go to another venue. The people who come to the Shell don’t really make the distinction of whether it’s a Symphony presentation, versus Goldenvoice (or another promoter).”

The $85 million, 8,500-capacity venue offers stunning views on the Bay and along with hosting the Symphony brings an eclectic slate of concerts and touring artists, some that you might not expect at a PAC or symphony venue, including Alex G, Yungblud, Melissa Etheridge and Wynonna Judd, Interpol and many others this concert season. The symphony previously performed on the same site but on a temporary structure.

“After the pandemic, a lot of the California agents, like CAA and William Morris agents, came down to San Diego to see the shell,” Slusher says, after a sold-out James Taylor concert on a Tuesday night. “Once people saw the shell, those agents saw and understood what kind of venue it is and who should play there and not play there.”

Also demonstrating the collaboration between operators in town is an arrangement with the San Diego Padres’ “Finest Collective” hospitality and events division, which brings private events to the Shell, which offers a different kind of setting than the already multi-venue Petco Park.

Along with the construction of the Rady Shell as the permanent home for the Symphony is a major renovation project for the indoor Jacobs Music Center, a $125 million overhaul of the 1,775-seat theater that opened in 1929 as the Fox Theater. Upgrades included a new acoustic canopy, new tiered seating, a choral terrace and technical upgrades to light and sound.

“The response has been tremendous,” said Martha Gilmer, president and CEO of the San Diego Symphony. “When you think of the materials this hall was built with, the incredibly detailed plaster work and structural steel, I always knew we had a great opportunity and it had great promise as a great acoustic hall. Making these changes has made all the difference.”

Jacobs Music Center primarily hosts symphony performances, but has upcoming shows with Herb Alpert and recently hosted a show by comedian David Sedaris. Being a nonprofit relying heavily on donations through private individuals shows the community’s demand and commitment to live entertainment.

“The Shell was built with 95% of the funds from private individuals, and they take pride and attend and are really emotionally connected to it,” says Gilmer, noting the expense and care involved in upkeep for an outdoor venue contending with nearby salt-water humidity. Which is great, and how it should be.”

Not The End Of The Road: First-Class Venues and Affluent Base Make San Diego A Growing Tour Stop
By Ryan Borba

As the largest stadium in San Diego since Qualcomm Stadium was demolished and the Chargers left town, Petco Park has doubled down on live events with a $40 million investment in its Gallagher Square and Sycuan Stage, a permanent concert stage and event space within the stadium bringing additional touring talent to go along with San Diego Padres Major League Baseball and major headline concerts year-round.

The renovated space debuted in time for the 2024 baseball season, which marked 20 years since the opening of the downtown San Diego home of Major League Baseball’s Padres.

It’s given the city’s largest concert venue the ability to host touring concerts of multiple size while being in the running for some of the largest stadium shows worldwide, most of which also play NFL-sized stadiums in other major markets.

“We’re really lucky here in San Diego and it’s been really tremendous to see how our city has responded to all the activity that we have here at the ballpark,” says Jaclyn Lash, senior vice president of special events for the San Diego Padres. She notes the venue’s downtown setting and prime location next to the convention center as further draws for concerts and private events at the stadium.

“We’re so fortunate because for a while San Diego wasn’t necessarily on the radar of a lot of these large tours,” she says, with tours opting for multiple LA shows and considering San Diego as part of the larger market. “What we’re finding more is as we’ve fought really hard for these large stadium shows and they listened to us and taken a chance on us, they’ve seen they can still sell multiple shows in L.A. and then still sell multiple shows in San Diego as well. As San Diegans, we’re really proud of that. So we work closely, and we continue to fight a little harder for all these stadium shows, but it’s paying off because hopefully it’ll be a record breaking year in terms of stadium shows and, and all of the shows are basically sold out, which is just unbelievable.”

Upcoming blockbuster shows at the stadium include Noah Kahan’s “Great Divide Tour,” which Lash said sold out immediately, as well as hometown rockers Pierce The Veil — who also sold out a full stadium configuration. “They’re true Padres fans and they’ve been coming to games their whole life, and they sold out quicker than anyone who’s played the ballpark before. It was like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening now,’” Lash said.

While some shows may not work on the main Petco Park playing field, where shows can sell into the low 40,000-capacity range, Gallagher Square’s flexible configuration and setting mean a lot of otherwise empty nights can be filled – and quickly.

“We can do anything — one time we had a Dodger game during the day and at night we turned around the venue and did CISCO Live, which is a really large private convention group, but they had The Killers play their event. We turned it around after a Dodger game and did a private event right after. I don’t know that many other stadium-sized venues are able to do things like that.” Upcoming shows at the 10,000-capacity Sycuan Stage at Gallagher Square include Geese, The Kid Laroi, Madison Beer, Iration, Death Cab For Cutie and many others.

The Padres just released an economic impact report that says Petco Park activity generated $913 million in economic impact for the San Diego region in 2024, based on 183 events taking place at the ballpark including Gallagher Square, which is situated directly behind the center-field wall and considered part of the stadium itself. The events directly generated more than $16.4 million to the city’s general fund and between $10 million and $12.4 million in annual hotel tax revenue, the report reads.

“The San Diego Padres are more than a ballclub — they’re a cornerstone of San Diego’s identity and a powerful engine for our economy,” said San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation President and CEO EDC President and CEO Mark Cafferty.
Although the city lost its NFL franchise when the Chargers joined the Rams in Los Angeles, now as co-tenants of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, the city has since gained new major league sports franchises in the National Women’s Soccer League’s San Diego Wave (2022) and Major League Soccer’s San Diego FC (2025). Both play their home matches at Snapdragon Stadium, which opened on the campus of San Diego State in 2022 as the new home of the San Diego State Aztecs football team.

“There’s no building in the country doing what we’re doing here on natural grass, It’s crazy,” says Adam Millar, general manager of the 35,000-seat, $300 million university-owned stadium for Oak View Group (Pollstar parent company), which operates the venue.
With three sports teams playing on a pristine natural grass surface, Millar says the venue’s grounds team has become accustomed to quick turnarounds between matches and special events like concerts.

“Over three and a half years, we’ve figured it out how to make it work, what type of product we’re using on the field, how quickly we can re-sod,” says Millar. He cites earlier this year as an example, with Monster Jam Supercross, a monthlong motorsports “workout” that’s not exactly easy on the grounds. “We loaded that show out on the 28th of January, and we were playing soccer on Feb. 3, which is crazy, so we’ve gotten very good at those conversions. And that was a brand-new, full re-sod, and we played soccer, a major CONCACAF match, and nobody knew the difference.”

The natural surface — and calendar availability — do create challenges for scheduling, much like any other major venue with a sports tenant. However, upcoming shows include major concerts by K-pop group ENHYPEN, two nights of country superstar Zach Bryan and a stop by rock royalty Guns N’ Roses in September.

“San Diego is the second largest city in California, so a lot of people have moved down south, and you can expand that area to San Diego County, South Orange County, south Riverside County,” says Roberta Riddell, senior director of booking , southwest region, for OVG. With Los Angeles being such an A-market destination for live entertainment of all kinds, there can still be a challenge to make San Diego stand out as its own lucrative market.

“A lot of tours will prioritize L.A., they will want to do double or triple stadiums there, but what we have been successful in doing is what about the second leg? Come back for the second bite of the apple in San Diego,” says Riddell, who also handles programming for venues including Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Tahoe Blue Event Center in Nevada and Heart Health Park at Cal Expo in Sacramento. “We are separate markets, and with traffic it can take three or four hours between the two of them. We haven’t found anything that doesn’t work.” Previous concerts include one of Jimmy Buffett’s final performances, Red Hot Chili Peppers, P!NK, and more.

As the largest soccer or football venue in town – Qualcomm Stadium, former home of both the Padres and Chargers, was demolished in 2021, Snapdragon Stadium can offer unobstructed sightlines to the field and a more intimate environment than the typical NFL stadium, with a relatively modest capacity that still dwarfs an arena show.

The stadium does not have its own event stage, but has an easy access loading dock with four bays that load directly onto the field, with a large parking lot behind it. “Many tour managers and production managers have told us that we are one of their favorite venues to load in and out of. The tours coming in know they’re gonna have an easy day loading in and out of our venue.”

Snapdragon Stadium has also utilized grassy space on the venue grounds for outdoor events and concerts, including hometown electronic duo ISOKNOCK, who headlined the Niteharts Festival in October.

“We did the first year in 2024 at our Thrive Park, which held about 15,000 people, and two nights sold out just absolutely instantly,” says Riddell. “Last year we did it in our big yellow lot and increased to 25,000 per day and it also sold out instantly, so this year we are doing it again, three days now, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, increased to 30,000 per day and we’re using our entire concrete Yellow Lot plus Thrive Park. So we kept growing it and it sold out without a lineup announced. So these guys have really built a scene and a following in San Diego, and we’re really excited that we’ve been their partners on this journey.”

Back on the pitch, Snapdragon Stadium is hosting FIFA World Cup exhibitions, which Millar says is a chance to see international talent at a pretty reasonable price ahead of the tournament.

Looking ahead, though, the stadium will host Olympic soccer matches as part of the LA28 events.

“We’ve got 11 matches, more than any other venue, including the Bronze medal matchup here at Snapdragon, so we’re pretty fired up about that,” says Millar. “And I think that speaks to the strength of the stadium and the market.”

With San Diego being known as an outdoor destination with over 70 miles of San Diego County coastline, indoor venues are often competing not so much against themselves but against the weather and healthy outdoor lifestyle that the region promotes.
“We are lucky to be the largest indoor venue in San Diego but a lot of people like to be outside and there’s a lot of outdoor venues, so we have to find ways to book here to where people want to come and enjoy a family show, a concert, whatever it may be,” says Ryan Golden, general manager of Pechanga Arena in San Diego.

Formerly known as the San Diego Sports Arena, the 14,000-capacity Pechanga Arena celebrates its 60th anniversary this year — Nov. 17, to be exact — with a landmark art exhibition, diamond ticket fan contest, commemorative gala and more.

“The 60th anniversary is a massive milestone for what this building’s been able to accomplish,” says Golden, who was named general manager in 2025 after most recently serving as a vice president of events for AEG at Peacock Theater at LA Live. “The history here is special, Janis Joplin and Jim Hendrix and the Rolling Stones, James Brown opened in 1967, but there’s also amazing people working here, too, and we’re going to showcase that.” One chief engineer is reaching a 42nd anniversary at the venue, for instance. “So part of (the anniversary) is telling the history of the building, and showcasing that the fans that have been coming over the last 60 years.” To that end, the Diamond Ticket contest encourages fans to submit their favorite memories and experiences from the arena, where a winner will be determined and given two tickets to every event in 2027.

For 2026, upcoming events include Don Toliver, Rosalia, Nate Bargatze, Benson Boone, Red Clay Strays, Carin Leon, sombr and many others into the end of the year.

“One of the events we’re most proud of coming up in November is the Bill Walton Classic,” Golden says of the NBA Hall of Famer who grew up in the San Diego area. “It’s going to be a double-header college basketball event, with a women’s basketball and a men’s basketball game the same day, and really celebrate Bill Walton, a staple of San Diego, with so much history in Pechanga Arena over the years. It’s going to be a fun day to celebrate him and his family and the Bill Walton Foundation.”

With a diverse market, again the problem often comes down to availability, rather than any competition inside or outside.
“You’d think during the summertime that everyone is going outside, but we do get a good slew of shows in the arena,” Golden says. “This year it’s the end of Q3 and beginning of Q4 that is our strongest period. I wish I had eight weekends in October, because it feels like everyone wants to tour then.”