Frontwave Arena gives minor league teams a new locally driven home

The $85 million Frontwave Arena is being developed by a group created this year by the combination of two local businessmen and the owner/coach of the San Diego Sockers, the Major Arena Soccer League team that will be the venue’s primary tenant.

The venue’s management team landed the San Diego Clippers — the L.A. Clippers’ G League affiliate — as another tenant and has a few more minor league sports teams lined up to fill out the calendar.

The arena will sit next to the SoCal Sports Complex and avail itself to the sun-cooked parents spending entire weekends watching youth soccer. Portions of the arena — the plaza can hold 1,500 people — will be open on select weekends to accommodate the neighboring youth sports crowd, as well as its indoor concourse, concessions and bathrooms. Levy is handling food and beverage service at Frontwave Arena and figures to make some money at times when most arenas would be dark.

The arena management team sold the venue’s naming rights to Frontwave Credit Union, a Marines-focused financial institution, as well as the venue’s premium seating. That includes 16 suites, VIP decks and six lounges. AXS is handling the arena’s ticketing, offering membership programs instead of traditional season tickets fixed to specific seats or areas. 

“We want you to have the flexibility to move around the venue because we have so many different spaces, we want you to have different experiences,” said Elias. 

Frontwave Arena provides a blueprint of sorts for the many private investors and investment firms that are suddenly paying attention to sports venues, thanks largely to the growing flexibility of the buildings, and the mixed-use developments increasingly surrounding them.