SAN DIEGO (AP) Voters have called the San Diego Chargers’ bluff, leaving the NFL team to decide whether to try one more time to get a new stadium built or move to Los Angeles.
Measure C, which would have raised $1.15 billion from increased hotel occupancy taxes to help pay for a $1.8 billion stadium and convention center annex downtown, was defeated 57 percent to 43 percent. It needed 66.7 percent yes to pass.
The 110-page plan was written by the Chargers without input from City Hall, the powerful tourism industry, their would-be neighbors the Padres or other stakeholders.
Team chairman Dean Spanos, who angered fans last year with a failed attempt to join with the rival Oakland Raiders to build a stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, conceded defeat early Wednesday morning with half of the votes still to be counted. He released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying he wanted ”to give the stadium debate a rest and enjoy some Chargers football.
”So I’m going to put aside any discussion of our possible next steps until after the season, to allow everyone to focus on football and to give my family and me time to think carefully about what is best for the future of our franchise,” Spanos said. ”Over the coming weeks you may hear news about steps that we must take to preserve all of our options. But please know that I don’t intend to make any decisions until after the regular season ends.”
Spanos has until mid-January to exercise his option to move to L.A. and join the Rams in a stadium in Inglewood set to open in 2019. If the Chargers moved, they’d have to find a temporary home.
Or Spanos could negotiate with Mayor Kevin Faulconer and other stakeholders on a new plan in San Diego. The Chargers have been trying since 2000 to replace aging Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley.
While Spanos has said he’d like to make it work in San Diego, his surrogates have repeatedly reminded people that the team could move to L.A.
Faulconer said that while the vote showed there wasn’t support for this particular plan, that a coalition was built during the campaign.
”San Diegans love the Bolts. They want them to stay,” Faulconer said. ”There’s a foundation that I’m confident can be built up.”
Faulconer, who endorsed the project only a month ago, said he planned to speak by phone with Spanos later Wednesday or on Thursday.
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