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UPDATE ON
CHARGERS’ STADIUM PROPOSAL
MARK FABIANI
SPECIAL COUNSEL TO THE SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
JANUARY 9, 2006
The Chargers are committed to San Diego. Our goal is to find a publicly-acceptable way to build a new, Super Bowl-quality stadium for the San Diego region.
We have spent millions of dollars and countless hours over the past three years seeking solutions that work for the people of greater San Diego. And we will continue our search, because we are determined to keep the Chargers right here.
The Chargers’ proposal to redevelop the Qualcomm Stadium site has won significant support throughout the community. We have listened to the public’s views, and as a result we simplified and strengthened our proposal.
But under any circumstances the Qualcomm project is a difficult one -- requiring more than $800 million in up-front, private sector investments to prepare the land for development, build the new stadium, pay off the existing bonds, and construct huge traffic improvements.
Our year-long negotiations with potential development partners have confirmed that this is an enormously complicated project – a project that is made even more difficult by the City’s unprecedented financial and political crisis.
And this hard project becomes impossible when key city officials do not want to cooperate. Without the city’s full cooperation, the traffic and infrastructure improvements to be paid for by the private sector could never actually be built, the Environmental Impact Report could never be certified, and hundreds of other important issues could never be resolved.
We now know that at least one key city official, Mike Aguirre, is determined not to cooperate in any way. In fact, it is now clear that Aguirre will do or say whatever it takes to stand in the way of a redevelopment plan. And if the Chargers are eventually forced to leave San Diego, there can now be no doubt that Mike Aguirre will be to blame.
Under these difficult circumstances, then, we cannot meet the February 8, 2006 deadline to qualify a measure for the November 2006 ballot.
Now that we will not be on the ballot in 2006, the Chargers will take some time to reassess the viability of the Qualcomm redevelopment proposal. Our goal is the same: To remain in San Diego. But we must decide whether it makes sense to continue to pursue this tremendously difficult project in light of the City’s gigantic political and financial crisis and with Mike Aguirre throwing up one hurdle after another.
Over the next year we will continue to meet with the residents of San Diego. Public input has been invaluable to us over the last three years, and perhaps new ideas will emerge from our continued meetings.
In addition, as soon as the team is legally allowed to do so, we will explore all viable solutions within San Diego County. This will occur no later than January 1, 2007 under the team’s current lease.
At the beginning of the New Year 2006, then, here is where we stand:
First, we are as determined as ever to find a way to keep the Chargers a permanent part of the San Diego community.
Second, because of the city’s difficult circumstances, we will not be able to place a measure on the 2006 ballot, and we will now reassess whether it makes sense to continue to pursue the Qualcomm redevelopment concept in light of the city’s situation.
Third, we will continue to do what we have been doing for the last three years – meeting with anyone and everyone who has an interest in working together – and we will explore every idea with the goal of finding a publicly-acceptable solution.
The bottom line is this: The team remains committed to building a new, Super Bowl caliber stadium for the greater San Diego region, and we are determined to do everything possible to keep the Chargers in the San Diego area.
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 10:00 am
