Yet another professional sports team is bailing on Pechanga Arena.
The San Diego Seals, a professional indoor lacrosse team, announced Friday it would no longer play at Pechanga Arena — its home since debuting in 2018 — in favor of the two-year-old Frontwave Arena.
“Frontwave is a first-class, intimate venue that brings fans closer to the action than ever before,” Seals CEO Paul Speaker said in a press release. “Every seat feels like you are right on top of the floor, creating the kind of electric, high-energy environment that makes Seals games so special.”
The Seals are now the third professional team to leave Pechanga in favor of Frontwave. The San Diego Sockers indoor soccer team moved to the 7,500-seat venue when it opened in 2024, ending a decades-long run at the Midway sports arena. The arena football San Diego Strike Force also relocated to North County.
The Seals average attendance was 6,616 fans last season, when they reached the semifinals of the National Lacrosse League.
The NBA G League’s San Diego Clippers are Frontwave’s marquee tenant. The Oceanside Shock, a hockey team, and another indoor football team, the Oceanside Stealth, also play there.
Frontwave was a private development built for a reported $85 million by a group including Sudberry Properties, developers of a nearby mixed-use project.
The San Diego Gulls are now the only professional sports team that calls Pechanga Arena home — amid a years-long effort by city leaders to demolish the sixty-year old arena in favor of a 4,000-unit development anchored by a modern arena.
That project is still stalled, after Mayor Todd Gloria said the City Council would vote to approve it in the spring, and state legislators have stepped in with a last-minute bill in Sacramento that could clear the way for its approval and preemptively protect it from any environmental lawsuits.
