Rendering by Joe Cordelle (joecordelle.com)
The San Diego Chargers made headlines on Tuesday when they released a statement rejecting the city of San Diego’s proposal for ballot measure for their new stadium plan. While this definitely got the news outlets buzzing, it’s a pretty weak attempt by the Chargers to make it appear they’re actually set on leaving their home.
The city and county have proposed a new $1.3 billion stadium in Mission Valley at the site of the Chargers’ current arena, Qualcomm Stadium. The Chargers originally wanted a new stadium in downtown San Diego near Petco Park, but that ain’t happening. The proposal for the new stadium at the site of the current one is a solid plan, even though the Chargers made a frail attempt to shoot it down in their Tuesday statement:
“…[T]he Chargers have concluded that it is not possible to place a ballot measure before voters in December 2015 in a legally defensible manner given the requirements of the State’s election law and the California Environmental Quality Act.”
The team’s only reasoning behind this is its belief the plan won’t be found as “categorically exempt” from the CEQA. The problem with that argument is the city and county’s new stadium plan falls exactly under that classification because it involves the reconstruction of an existing structure.
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Some will argue the additional plans for the site (i.e. hotels, restaurants, etc.) will keep it from being deemed categorically exempt from the CEQA, which is a relatively valid concern. However, a full review by the CEQA could be completed by October and then the vote could be held in January.
Even still, if the exemption is denied in court as the Chargers say could happen, the city and county could conduct an Environmental Impact Report (ERI) and have it back to a vote in roughly 90 days. The end result is still the same: A decision would be made by January.
Since the Chargers want something done ASAP so they can decide if they are or aren’t committed to moving to Los Angeles, having the vote in December if at all possible would be wise for the city and county, but one month later wouldn’t affect the Chargers as much as they’re letting on.
After all, the official window for NFL relocation doesn’t open until January anyway. Sure, the league could “open” it sooner to get the ball rolling, which it seems intent on doing, but that wouldn’t prevent the Chargers from taking on the plan to stay in San Diego or the plan to move to L.A.
The bottom line is the Chargers don’t really want to leave San Diego – that would be franchise suicide from a fandom standpoint – a but they also don’t want any other team moving to L.A. and they’re using that as leverage to get the best deal possible where they are, which is understandable. However, their latest reasoning is pretty weak, and if the NFL picks the L.A. project by most need as it says it will (that’s a bunch of hogwash), the Chargers don’t have a very good case at this point, assuming the city and county of San Diego do their due diligence on the CEQA exemption.
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