Chargers to San Diego voters: Make rival fans pay for new stadium
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Chargers unveiled a new campaign advertisement Friday that emphasizes exactly who will and won’t pay for their proposed new stadium.
The project would not impose any new taxes San Diego citizens, the ad says. Instead, the $1.8 billion new stadium and convention center will be paid for by “Raiders, Broncos and Patriots fans.”
It’s a clever political argument for the team this summer as it tries to convince local voters to approve increasing the local hotel room tax from 12.5% to 16.5%. The proposed increase would help fund $1.15 billion in bond payments for the project, with the other $650 million coming from the Chargers and the NFL.
The public portion of the project’s costs therefore mostly would be paid by tourists and business travelers, the ad says, including fans of visiting teams attending games in San Diego.
Voters will decide the issue in the Nov. 8 election. The new campaign video is narrated by former Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts.
The new project “will not impose any new taxes on San Diego citizens,” Fouts says in the video. “Instead it would be paid for by tourists, convention goers and out-of-town business people staying in local hotels. And what could be sweeter than Raiders, Broncos and Patriots fans all helping pay for the project when they pay their hotel bill?”
Such an argument could help determine whether the team stays in San Diego, its home since 1961. In January, the team reached a tentative deal with the Los Angeles Rams to share a new $2.6 billion, privately funded stadium in Inglewood scheduled to open in 2019. Chargers owner Dean Spanos has until Jan. 15 to make a decision on whether to take that deal if the ballot measure fails in San Diego.
“This new facility will be much more than a stadium,” Spanos says in the video. “It will be a world-class events center for San Diego that will create new convention space and attract new sports and entertainment events year-round. I hope you’ll take some time to consider our proposal and know that we’re here to listen and respond. San Diego is our home, and I believe the best is still to come for all of us together. So please join with us.”
Spanos’ San Diego stadium bid comes after NFL owners in January rejected a bid by the Chargers and Oakland Raiders to build a new stadium together in the L.A. suburb of Carson. The NFL instead approved the relocation of the Rams from St. Louis to L.A., which hadn’t had an NFL team since the Raiders and Rams left the L.A. market in 1995.
The Chargers have tried to get a new stadium in San Diego for more than a decade and currently play in one of the league’s worst facilities: 49-year-old Qualcomm Stadium.
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce has endorsed the stadium proposal, but the measure is expected to face significant opposition, particularly from hoteliers. Hotel industry consultant HVS issued a report this week that concluded the project’s benefits don’t justify its costs, which the team disputes.
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“The new room nights would generate $2.3 million per year in lodging tax revenue,” the report states. “This compares to the proposed $67 million annual expenditure, which includes the public investment for construction and operating costs. This revenue does not justify the combined investment and annual operating expenses of the Stadium-Convention Center.”
Voters will decide if that public investment is justified – and if it’s worth taking that money out the pockets of rival teams' fans. Under California law, the tax hike would need two-thirds of voters to approve it, unless the state Supreme Court rules in a separate pending case that only a simple majority is required instead.
Follow sports reporter Brent Schrotenboer on Twitter @Schrotenboer. E-mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.com