This will be of special interest to football fans, those who’ve followed the city of San Diego’s plight and those who’ve been shaking their heads at how cities will do virtually anything to retain big league athletic teams that demand new stadiums:
For four years, the Chargers and the city of San Diego have scrimmaged over the team’s wish to play in a new football stadium. Yesterday, the tussle ended.
Mayor Jerry Sanders announced in an afternoon news conference that the city has neither the money nor the time to focus on the issue. Instead, he said the Chargers should be allowed to seek a stadium deal elsewhere in the county.
Council President Scott Peters said he supports the idea and will put it to a City Council vote May 1.
This is the kind of announcement most San Diegans thought they’d never hear. But Sanders is proving to be a no-nonsense kind of mayor:
In moving to change the Chargers’ lease with the city, Sanders said he is unwilling to spend public money on a new stadium when San Diego faces numerous financial challenges, including a $1.43 billion deficit in the employee pension fund.
Sanders said he wants the team to remain in the county and is giving local cities a head start in courting the National Football League franchise. Under its lease, the team can start negotiations with any U.S. city it chooses on Jan. 1 and can relocate after the 2008 season.
“I wanted to allow the team the opportunity to look elsewhere in San Diego County so that we have the opportunity of keeping them a regional asset,â€? Sanders said. “I think this proposal is in the best interests of the city’s taxpayers.â€?
That’s another interesting aspect of this: his attempt to keep the Chargers a “regional asset” rather than just wish them a bittersweet good-bye. Not that the Chargers find this surprising:
Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani said the team is not surprised by Sanders’ announcement. He said the city’s dismal finances made it difficult to find a development partner for a stadium proposal that the team had planned to put before San Diego voters in November. On Jan. 9, the team abandoned the ballot measure idea.
How will all of this play out? Time will tell. But it’s nice to see an officeholder be so realistic…particularly in San Diego in recent years…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.