San Diego FC hold first training session as inaugural season is set

MLS new expansion club San Diego FC held its first training session at the team’s performance center in rural El Cajon on their 125,000-foot campus, meaning that “real players, real drills and sketchy outlines gaining faces and legs and a tangible presence” became a reality for the expansion team, according to Bryce Miller of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The top-level professional franchise “sprinted to life with the 14 months” between "sinking groundbreaking shovels" to the first organized workout “signaling a dizzying turn, especially by glacial San Diego standards.” Miller added there is “so much that is uniquely new about the club” as its ground-zero start includes the “Right to Dream Academy” and the partnership with Sycuan. San Diego FC CEO Tom Penn’s NBA background -- including roles with the Trail Blazers and Grizzlies -- and his time as LAFC President has him ready for “another new start with a fresh twist.” Penn said, “The first day of practice in Memphis was when I got the first taste of this idea of bringing a new team to a new market. This, though, is from the ground up.” Penn said that having Padres 3B Manny Machado as a minority owner “provides advantages.” Penn: “If he can lend his local credibility and brand and love of the city to our new project, it means a lot” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/13).