San Diego city and county officials met Tuesday with National Football League executives about the proposed Mission Valley football stadium in preparation for a presentation to franchise owners in less than two weeks. At a 1:30 pm news conference following the meeting, Mayor Kevin Faulconer and other San Diego city and county representatives briefed the media on the meeting’s developments.
The meeting lasted three hours and was the first time NFL representatives met in person with the full team of San Diego officials working on the project. Topics covered in the meeting included the environmental review of the stadium’s construction, San Diego economic and market conditions, the financial agreement needed for the stadium to go forward, the timeline for moving forward with the plan, and a proposed design for the stadium itself.
Mayor Faulconer was confident that San Diego would be able to accomplish all that was needed to get the stadium project approved in the short timeframe required, though not without the Chargers‘ support and willingness to negotiate.
Despite support for the proposal from San Diego city and county officials as well as NFL representatives, the Chargers have so far been unsupportive of the new stadium plan. The team’s objections have hinged on the key issue of the environmental impact study, which must be expedited in order to go forward with the plan on-schedule. Mark Fabiani, the Chargers’ spokesman on stadium issues, objects to the faster timeline of the environmental report, which he says won’t be legally defensible.
At the conference Tuesday, Mayor Faulconer strongly defended the environmental study.
“We emphasized that San Diego is completing a full-blown environmental impact report, thoroughly drafted to the highest standards, prepared by dozens of top-notch environmental planners following a process that is supported by the foremost experts in California environmental law,” Faulconer said. “The environmental report is on schedule.”
Fabiani declined to comment after Tuesday’s conference.
The mayor said the first draft of the EIR is due to be released for public comment Aug. 10. The plan is to get the document approved by the City Council in October so the public can vote on a stadium plan in January.
Several cities have received special legislation that limited legal challenges to the EIR.
The environmental study isn’t taking into account other development that could take place on the 166-acre stadium site once Qualcomm Stadium is torn down. The ancillary development was part of the revenue options proposed by a citizens advisory group, but is no longer part of the city-county financing proposal, according to the mayor’s office.
Opponents of the expedited EIR contend that further development of the surrounding land is a foreseeable consequence of the stadium project, and should be included in the document.
The Chargers have been asking for a new stadium for nearly 15 years and have acquired land in Carson, in Los Angeles County, on which they could build a facility — perhaps in concert with the Oakland Raiders. The Chargers took action after the owner of the St. Louis Rams unveiled plans to build a stadium in Inglewood.
San Diego responded with a concept for a 65,000-seat facility that would be built next to the current Qualcomm Stadium.
NFL Vice President Eric Grubman, who was in attendance at the meeting, told The Mighty 1090 Radio that since the proposal is in a conceptual stage, there were no negotiations. He is in charge of the NFL efforts to return a team to the potentially lucrative Los Angeles market.
“I believe that all the teams looking at this are being very thorough in their own markets, and very thorough with respect to their alternatives,” Grubman said. “And whether or not anybody brings a proposal forth for relocation, I think depends on variables which are still open, and the key variable is what’s going to happen in the home markets.”
One of those also in the meeting was Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, who was there to show support from the state level, according to Faulconer.
“We want the Chargers to stay in San Diego if the right agreement can be reached,” Atkins said. “As I have said before, if an agreement is reached, I am committed to making sure San Diego can benefit from state legislation that is consistent with what other cities have received for their sports facilities.”
The stadium would not only host Chargers games, but San Diego State University contests, the Holiday and Poinsettia bowls, high school championships and special events.
Last month, Faulconer spoke by phone with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell about the city’s efforts to keep the Chargers, and a delegation representing the city and county met with NFL executives.
City News Service contributed to this report.
