San Diego Chargers and city officials met over stadium plans
- On June 2, 2015, San Diego officials and the Chargers gathered at the U.S.
- An estimated $225 million was to be raised by selling and developing 75 acres of city-owned land, part of a financing plan for a new Mission Valley stadium...
- The June 2015 encounter distilled a problem that had consumed 15 years.
On June 2, 2015, San Diego officials and the Chargers gathered at the U.S. Grant Hotel downtown for a meeting that Mark Fabiani, the team’s longtime stadium adviser, recalled was supposed to move the city closer to keeping its NFL franchise, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Mayor Kevin Faulconer, County Supervisor Ron Roberts, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, Chargers chairman Dean Spanos, and Fabiani attended the session.
An estimated $225 million was to be raised by selling and developing 75 acres of city-owned land, part of a financing plan for a new Mission Valley stadium put forward by a mayor-appointed committee just two weeks earlier. However, an internal draft of the team’s relocation application obtained by the newspaper stated that San Diego representatives explicitly abandoned those recommendations at the outset of the meeting, concluding that developing and selling the land was not feasible.
Fifteen Years of Lease Struggles and Missed Windows
The June 2015 encounter distilled a problem that had consumed 15 years. Back in 2003, San Diego was already grappling with the Chargers’ Qualcomm Stadium lease and the challenge of replacing the aging complex located on 166 acres in Mission Valley. On April 21, 2004, Mayor Dick Murphy announced an effort to reset the relationship, and a revised lease that summer eliminated the city’s controversial ticket guarantee while ending litigation.
Fabiani now considers roughly 2003 through 2006 the best opportunity to build a new venue because the city owned the property, developers were interested, and NFL stadiums cost considerably less. For comparison, the Arizona Cardinals’ stadium opened in 2006 for about $455 million, including construction, site improvements, and land. That window narrowed amid political turmoil when Murphy resigned in 2005 during the city’s pension and financial crisis, and City Attorney Mike Aguirre’s opposition to transferring public land later deterred developers.
Competing Priorities and Legal Challenges in San Diego
According to an internal draft of the team’s relocation application, the Chargers warned that the financing mechanism was vulnerable to a legal challenge.
A California appeals court eventually invalidated the financing election because registered voters had not been allowed to vote on the special tax.
The Los Angeles Pressure and the Carson Proposal
The timeline accelerated dramatically when Rams owner Stan Kroenke unveiled a stadium plan in Inglewood on January 5, 2015. At that time, an internal draft of the Chargers’ relocation application noted that 25% of the team’s season-ticket holders lived in Los Angeles and Orange counties and the Inland Empire.
Fabiani feared that competing teams in Los Angeles would erode that vital business while the Chargers remained in Qualcomm Stadium. On January 30, Faulconer responded by appointing the Citizens’ Stadium Advisory Group, chaired by Adam Day, which favored a Mission Valley site over a downtown project. On February 19, the Chargers and Oakland Raiders jointly announced a stadium plan in Carson, which Fabiani portrayed as protection against the risk of losing the Los Angeles market entirely.
Environmental Review Impasse and Final Breakdown
On May 18, 2015, the advisory group proposed a roughly $1.1 billion Mission Valley stadium financed by $300 million from the Chargers, $200 million from the NFL, about $121 million each from the city and county, and $225 million from developing the 75 acres of land. That financial framework collapsed during the June 2 meeting when city representatives set aside the land-sale mechanism.
Environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act created the next major hurdle. While the city believed consultants could finish a stadium environmental impact report by October 15, the Chargers’ lawyers estimated a defensible report required roughly two years. On June 16, the Chargers stated that the city’s compressed timetable could not produce a legally defensible vote, effectively ending direct negotiations.
Relocation Application and the Final Decision
On January 4, 2016, the Chargers, Rams, and Raiders formally applied to relocate. Eight days later, NFL owners approved the Rams’ move to Inglewood and gave the Chargers a first option to join them, alongside an offered $100 million toward a stadium in San Diego.
The team was given until January 15, 2017, to decide, though an approved San Diego stadium-financing referendum could have extended that window. Describing the choice facing the franchise, Fabiani stated At that point, there was no choice, it was either move to L.A., or watch the Raiders take that spot.