It is no secret the San Diego Chargers are motivated to pack up the franchise and head to Los Angeles once a brand new state-of-the-art stadium is made available, even if it means having to share real estate with the Raiders and/or the Rams. Before the Chargers make any move, there is a chance a brand new stadium could still be constructed closer to home, and that might be enough to keep them in town.
According to a report from FOX 5 in San Diego, a prospective stadium measure on a ballot is expected to pick up an endorsement from San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer. With a positive approval rating, it is expected his endorsement of the prospective stadium measure would help it receive the simple majority on the ballot to advance to the next stage of development in San Diego. From city consultant Chris Melvin letter to the NFL:
“While we recognize, as you note, the inherent uncertainty of a ballot measure vote, we note that the proposed measure does not include new taxes and therefore requires only a 50 percent plus one vote,”
“Given the mayor’s strong approval rating, we believe that a ballot measure that is publicly supported by the mayor, county, regional leaders and the Chargers is very likely to pass.”
It still remains to be seen if this will be enough to keep the Chargers in town. The allure of playing in Los Angeles has long been tempting to the franchise, as well as the Raiders and rams. Of course, Los Angeles has proven before it was not a town willing to care much about pro football, which is why the Raiders returned to Oakland and the Rams left for St. Louis. Has Los Angeles evolved as a sports city since then? Probably, but is it ready to commit to supporting one, if not two (or three) NFL franchises? That seems like a mistake waiting to happen, unless the Chargers and Raiders and Rams are going to consolidate into one Megazord franchise out west.
One thing we do know is the NFL is not shy about milking cities for as much as they can just to expand their product. With Super Bowl 50 getting set to setup shop in San Francisco, there are no plans for the Super Bowl committee to refund San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency for any expanded costs that must be made to accommodate the big game. The NFL knows cities will go out of their way to host the game, and they make off like bandits in the process by not having to pay for certain aspects of it. If San Diego wants to commit to building a new stadium, they will. There is just no guarantee the NFL is going to stay there to fill it.
[photo: CBS8]
