The Navy's annual football game with Notre Dame will go to Qualcomm Stadium, the home of the NFL's San Diego Chargers, on Oct. 27, 2018.
Chet Gladchuk, the Naval Academy's athletic director, and Mark Neville, the San Diego Bowl Game Association's executive director, made the announcement in a news release Tuesday.
"We are excited about the opportunity to play a regular-season game against Notre Dame in San Diego, which is a city filled with Navy and Marine Corps service men and women." Gladchuk said in the release. "The partnership the Naval Academy has had with the bowl administration in San Diego has been extraordinary for well over a decade. This special matchup with Notre Dame will mirror in many ways the highly successful event format that has brought great success to the economy, city, and community over the years."
Notre Dame is hosting Navy in South Bend this Oct. for their 89th matchup overall, but the two played on the latter's turf the season before. Their annual game will head to Jacksonville, Fla. in 2016, the Associated Press reported.
Navy could well have a home stadium fell in San Diego, since more than 35,000 of their own live and work in the city. The 2018 game is also the first time Notre Dame and Navy will play on the west coast.
"We are so excited to be bringing this tradition-rich rivalry to San Diego in 2018," Neville said. "Through the Holiday Bowl and Poinsettia Bowl games, we've enjoyed a tremendous relationship with the Naval Academy. When this opportunity presented itself we couldn't jump fast enough. We're in the business of generating tourism, exposure and an economic impact for the San Diego region by producing championship caliber, first-class events. Navy versus Notre Dame is a perfect fit for us and San Diego."
