The San Diego Chargers on Tuesday shot down Mayor Kevin Faulconer's trial balloon to hold a citywide election this year on financing for a new stadium, dealing a blow to the city's efforts to stop the team from moving to Los Angeles.
Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani said that the Dec. 15 election the mayor suggested wouldn't survive legal scrutiny under state election law and state law for environmental impact reviews.
Negotiators for the city and the Chargers met a third time as the team considers a move to Los Angeles, which has not had an NFL franchise since the Raiders and Rams left in the mid-1990s. The Chargers and Oakland Raiders plan to jointly build a $1.7 billion stadium in nearby Carson, one of two proposals to return an NFL team to the nation's second-largest city after a two-decade absence. St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke is part of a group planning to build a nearly $2 billion stadium in the city of Inglewood.
"The various options that we have explored with the city's experts all lead to the same result: Significant time-consuming litigation founded on multiple legal challenges, followed by a high risk of eventual defeat in the courts," Fabiani said.
In response to Fabiani's statement, the spokesman for the Citizens Stadium Advisory Group (CSAG), Tony Manolatos, sent NBC 7 San Diego an email: "It appears the Chargers have pulled the plug on San Diego even though the City and County have gone out of their way to try and accommodate the team. Instead of working collaboratively on a solution, the Chargers have thrown up one roadblock after another in San Diego while working aggressively on stadium plans in Carson. It's disappointing, especially for fans."
Last week, Faulconer suggested a Dec. 15 election, just a few weeks before the league may start accepting applications for teams to move to Los Angeles. An advisory group to the mayor last month recommended building a $1.3 billion venue in San Diego's Mission Valley, home to the Chargers' current home at Qualcomm Stadium.
Faulconer, in a joint statement with City Attorney Jan Goldsmith and San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts, said Tuesday that a full review required by the California Environmental Quality Act could be completed by October, addressing the Chargers' legal concerns. Under that scenario, an election could be held in January.
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"We have all the ingredients for success in San Diego if the Chargers work with us. We can get this done if the Chargers want to get it done," the statement read.
