HOUSTON -- The San Diego Chargers did not get the grand prize of Los Angeles, so team chairman Dean Spanos will have to settle for the consolation price -- one last chance to get a stadium deal done in San Diego.
The Chargers initially proposed building a $1.7 billion stadium in Carson, California, in partnership with the Raiders. However, that proposal did not receive the required 24 votes from the league.
Instead, Owners approved by a 30-2 margin Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s $1.86 billion stadium proposal in Inglewood, giving the Chargers a year-option to join them in the project by January 2017.
The Chargers also would get $100 million toward a new stadium in San Diego.
“My goal from the start of this process was to create the options necessary to safeguard the future of the Chargers franchise, while respecting the will of my fellow NFL owners,” Spanos said. “The Chargers have been approved to relocate to Los Angeles, at the Inglewood location, at any time in the next year. … I will be working over the next several weeks to explore the options that we have now created for ourselves to determine the best path forward for the Chargers.”
What it means for the Chargers: It’s business as usual, with the team’s football operations remaining at Chargers Park and coaches and players preparing for the offseason conditioning program to begin in March, while the team figures out how it will proceed on the Inglewood project.
What about San Diego: The Chargers will have to take a closer look at San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer’s $1.1 billion proposal to replace Qualcomm Stadium at the Mission Valley, which includes $350 million in public money. The proposal hinges on a June public vote to unlock the public contribution of the project. The team had heartburn over the likelihood of a public vote passing and the environmental review of the project.
What’s next: The Chargers will meet with the Rams over the next two days to hash out the finer details of the agreement, and whether the franchise wants to be partner or tenant in the Inglewood project. In the event the Chargers do not pursue a move to Inglewood, the team has said it’s likely to work toward building a downtown stadium/convention center expansion by creating a citizens' initiative in San Diego and trying to get voter approval in the same manner the team moved forward in Carson.
“We don’t have any great hopes for working with this mayor or the city attorney,” Mark Fabiani, point person on the stadium issue for the Chargers, said in October. “They haven’t shown the ability to pull something like this off. I think what we’d probably look at is the citizens’ initiative, and try and go over the heads of the politicians and directly to the people. And try to make something happen that way.”