San Diego City Council advances Chargers stadium plan

Even as the San Diego City Council approved on Tuesday an expedited $2.1-million environmental impact report on a proposed Mission Valley stadium, there were further signs that even the city’s political leaders are resigned to the Chargers relocating to Carson.

City leaders want an environmental impact report to be completed in time for a public vote in December or January on a financing plan for a new stadium.

“A no vote is the death knell of the Chargers (in San Diego) and I’m just not ready to throw in the towel now a new stadium”, council member Lorie Zapft said.

Gloria said that San Diego has been “getting played” throughout the stadium process, and the EIR gets the city no closer to keeping the team.

The San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders are all candidates to make the journey to Los Angeles, and more than one of them could be on the way.

Several devoted Chargers fans held a rally outside City Hall on Tuesday afternoon and then lobbied the council to approve the EIR money.

“And seeing the Chargers and rooting for the Chargers connected us back to the place that we considered home”, Agranoff said. “And if the Chargers aren’t participating, why are some politicians proposing to waste the taxpayers’ money?” “The Chargers will simply not hitch the future of the franchise to the city’s misbegotten legal strategy”.

“Without the $225 million, and no other funding source, there’s no way to make any public contribution unless it comes from the general fund”. Only a stadium will do that, which makes it feel inevitable that the Chargers head north to Los Angeles.

“Regardless of what ultimately happens with the team, this environmental impact report is valuable to taxpayers”.

A state $2.1 million reimbursement to the city that was received in July, but not budgeted, will cover the expenses. “And you can’t put a price on what that fabric means to a community”.

The Chargers broke off negotiations with the city and a Faulconer-appointed stadium task force last month, charging that the stadium plan was not legally viable. The National Football League plans a meeting in Chicago on August 11 to discuss relocation issues.