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November 12, 2009
San Diego floats $1B Chargers stadium
And the new front-runner for a new home for the San Diego Chargers is ... San Diego? The city, which had mostly left new stadium talks to various suburban towns the last few years, this week jumped back in with both feet, proposing a $1 billion NFL stadium near the Padres' Petco Park that would be paid for, well, they'll get back to us on that. Redevelopment of the Chargers' current stadium site could pay for part of it — insert the usual caveats about the value of development rights in 2009 California here — and while the San Diego Union Tribune reports that the potential site is within the city's downtown redevelopment area, which could allow for tax increment financing, where property tax dollars are kicked back to pay for construction costs.
The Union Trib wasted no time in declaring itself thrilled by the prospect of a new stadium, which would apparently be "gleaming." It also left no doubt about the reason behind San Diego's sudden revival of interest in wooing the Chargers:
[R]epresentatives of [Ed] Roski's real estate company have made it clear that if a stadium is built [in Industry], the Chargers will be among the NFL franchises they will woo.
The Chargers are an asset to this region on many levels, and not just for football fans. It would be a painful loss if the team ultimately accepted the promise of greater revenue from a 21st-century stadium in L.A. or elsewhere.
Right on cue. If this keeps up, Roski should demand a cut of all the new stadium subsidies he generates for the NFL in other cities.
Looks like as many suspected Roski's stadium tenant is going to come down to which of the targeted cities is the one that doesn't get a stadium done. San Diego's effort is now revived, the Niners were already motivated and are now more motivated to get Santa Clara done, and there have been some rumblings out of Minnesota at least at the grass roots level. Of the other likely candidates it appears that Jacksonville, the Rams and the Raiders are the only ones that haven't blinked yet. And other than the Chargers those 3 teams were the most likely to move to LA (I did not include any discussion of the Bills because if they move it won't be to LA, it is pretty obvious it will be to Toronto).
Posted by Dan on November 12, 2009 03:07 PM
It looks like my "vision" from gazing into my own
crystal ball will come to pass.The 9ers are most likely to remain in the S.F.Bay Area(they weren't straying too far anyhow).Minn.will try to work things out with the Vikes on their new gridiron
playground.The Chargers are going to stay where
they are(You can't leave the Padres by their lonesome)if they manage to dot the i's and cross
the t's and stay on their good side as well.
The primary candidates are going to be either
the Raiders(50/50 lock),Rams(let's wait and see
what happens though)and Jaguars(they might be
St.L's replacement if the Rams come back home).
What I love is the following: "The Chargers are an asset to this region on many levels, and not just for football fans." Yet you will never hear exactly HOW a major league sports team is an asset to its city, beyond vague and nebulous ideas about "civic pride" and the like. One would think that a good school system would be a far greater source of civic pride, and thus a far more eligible recipient of civic taxes, but maybe it's just the romantic in me.
It's the same as this business of Marvin Miller being elected to the Hall of Fame. I've seen several commentators now state that the changes he brought about were positive ones for the game as a whole, but no one can quite seem to articulate exactly how or why they were positive FOR THE GAME, and not just for the players. I'm not holding my breath on that, nor why losing a major league team would so damage a community.
Posted by Tom on November 14, 2009 07:02 AM