As he explains the intentions and backstory behind the just-unveiled imagery of San Diego FC, Tom Penn harks back to a phrase uttered early in the process by Cody Martinez, tribal chairman of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation – co-owners of the club, whose tribal land will play host to the training facility and residential youth academy where ground will be broken next month.
“Let's do something that weaves together the whole community,” Penn recalls Martinez urging.
That idea inspired the crest San Diego rolled out at Snapdragon Stadium on Friday night. It's interlaced with the concept of ‘flow’ – “embracing the unique rhythm of life down here,” said Penn – and the 18 lines denoting the 18 cities of San Diego County, and that of “Chrome and Azul” as a palette which can both figuratively and literally reflect the sunny spectrum of the “colors of the community.” (When it comes to kits, by the way, expect deep blue to feature prominently, with plenty of space for bright splashes of those other warm hues.) It offers an overarching mantra for a new organization introducing itself to “America's Finest City” and its neighboring environs.
Shifting into gear
It’s also a decent mindset for diving into the substantial to-do list in front of Penn and the rest of the leadership group at the helm of MLS’s newest arrivals.
“We're shifting into a different gear, with the combination of beginning our construction on our performance center and our Right To Dream youth academy, plus announcing our brand identity and having a real name, real colors, real crest,” SDFC’s CEO told MLSsoccer.com on Friday. “We've also just commenced our formal commercial sales process, so we're finally engaging with those that are interested in buying our premium products. And so all that combined makes it a really exciting time for us.”
As distant as the 2025 MLS season may seem to those more occupied with the looming onset of this year’s Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, it feels quite soon indeed in San Diego. Even for Penn, a seasoned veteran of this process from his stint as president of LAFC at that club’s birth.
“This one is on a much tighter timetable. We're fielding a team in January ‘25, which feels like next week,” he noted. “In this case, it's because the stadium is done and we're able to be a tenant at Snapdragon Stadium, in a perfectly-built soccer-specific stadium. So the timeline is accelerated.”
That imposes something of a juggling act. Further down the line, when everything is set and settled, SDFC plan to be an academy-driven outfit that grows their own talent, like FC Dallas or the Philadelphia Union. Powered by the expertise of Right To Dream, a global network of academies that started in humble circumstances in Accra, Ghana in 1999 and comprises holdings in Denmark, Egypt and now the United States, the newcomers aim to become a player-development powerhouse.
"Historic investment" in youth development
Working on a 28-acre site adjacent to the Pine Glen Golf Course in the foothills on the east side of town, SDFC will construct new buildings and fields and remodel the existing Singing Hills Hotel into comprehensive residential, educational and training facility which they believe will be unparalleled in MLS, and also house the first team’s base.
“We're making a historic investment in our youth development,” said Penn. “We’re building a 50,000-square foot, new-construction performance center and we're remodeling 75,000 feet of existing buildings and separate buildings on campus. So we're going to have 125,000 square feet … youth development, five fields in a beautiful, beautiful valley that's on a Sycuan tribal reservation.”
SDFC believe they have an unprecedented difference-maker in Right To Dream’s holistic approach, which has produced hundreds of professional players over the past two decades, including current MLSers like Ema Boateng, Josh Yaro, Ema Twumasi and Yaw Yeboah, and seven alumni who featured at last year’s FIFA World Cup. RTD’s 2021 acquisition by English-Egyptian billionaire and SDFC majority owner Mohamed Mansour has fueled further growth.
“There will be the same football curriculum, education curriculum and character development across all the academies,” said Penn. “Each of these kids on each of these continents is being taught to play the same style. And there will be intermixing and training [across SDFC, the mothership in Ghana and sibling clubs FC Nordsjælland in Denmark and TUT FC in Egypt]: The best of the best to get to connect with each other and get relationships. We've got the chance to build what I would call synergy amongst the best kids around the planet.”
Though SDFC haven’t yet rolled out the complete details of their youth system, it sounds likely it will include younger ages than most MLS academies, all the way down to age 11 or thereabouts. And it’s not just about molding future stars.
“Right To Dream is a one-of-a-kind, world-class developer of young talent. What distinguishes them is their commitment to both the professional pathway, but also the educational pathway for young adults as they grow up. At age 14 or so, about half of the kids choose to go on the pro pathway directly. And the other half go to prep school, college and so on, on full scholarship. And then some of those kids get drafted in MLS, or NWSL, or otherwise,” Penn added.
“So what you see is an integrated commitment to youth development that begins at a very early age, ages 10 and 11, for example, in Ghana and Egypt. And we will be a member of the Right To Dream community of academies and clubs, and it gives us a chance to help give the opportunity of development to kids that otherwise wouldn't get it here in North America.”
"Tijuana is really part of our market"
Perhaps most intriguingly, San Diego are looking south of the nearby US-Mexican border. In a turnabout on the efforts of Liga MX side Club Tijuana since 2007 to recruit promising young prospects like Paul Arriola and Brandon Vazquez to cross into Tijuana every day to train in the Xoloitzcuintles academy, “the Chrome and Azul” will actively court Mexican and Mexican-American kids along the Frontera.
FIFA’s Article 19, the regulation which restricts the movement of players under age 18 to clubs abroad, holds an exception for those who live within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of an international border and train at a club that is also within 50 kilometers of the other side of that border.
“Our homegrown territory is an area that encompasses, roughly, it's all of San Diego County, which is a substantial space, and then the appropriate amount of land across the border in Tijuana,” said Penn. “So because these two communities are interrelated – San Diego blends with Tijuana, in many ways it's one place. And I didn't understand that until I moved here, but there's a real significant number of adults that will cross the border – live in one country and work in the other.
“A significant number of children live in Mexico, for example, and come to school every day in America. So Tijuana is really part of our market, emotionally, geographically and then also from a player catchment area.”
All that said, in the short term, San Diego know they’ll also have to make a splash with some astute senior signings to compete at MLS level right out of the gates.
“In the long haul, we intend to be a team focused on youth development, and homegrowing and developing our own talent,” explained Penn. “In the immediate future, we recognize we need to put a high-quality product, high-quality team on the pitch immediately.
“So we will be working to have a competitive team, establish our style of play that's consistent with the rest of the enterprise. And then give opportunities to youth the way that the other clubs in our family do, in particular the club in Denmark. FC Nordsjælland last year was the youngest team in the world and came within an eyelash of winning the Danish league, and they're doing very well in Europe [UEFA Europa Conference League] right now.”
A soccer market
The early signs suggest the sum of all these ideas and projects can be compelling to a soccer-savvy market well-represented on national team rosters, and where the NWSL’s Wave FC, Loyal SC of the USL Championship and the indoor Sockers have all cultivated substantial followings.
“This market is so hungry for another major professional sports team. Since the [NFL’s] Chargers have left, there's been a void in the market,” said Penn. “So what we've learned here is just a real appetite for another major league team, plus an inherent love for the sport of soccer. Soccer thrives in this community, at the youth level, with elite performers at the grassroots level, and then you've seen what's happening at the professional level with the Wave and their ability to win the [NWSL] Shield and draw record crowds for NWSL.
“We want to see all soccer at all levels, in all expressions, shine in San Diego. I mean, we love seeing all the other local and regional teams do well, and we don't compete against any of those – we're going to be in a different league. So this isn't a competitive situation at all, it's more of a collaborative situation and an opportunity for San Diego, the community, the region, to compete with the rest of the world. That's what we're after.”
