Future of Chargers Team in San Diego (Sacramento: buying, bankrupt)

[Tchud Diego]

Since we won't have another Super Bowl until we build a new stadium, and the Charger's stellar (note the sarcasm there) performance over the last decade, plans are being made for the team to stay here. Can we afford a new stadium, and where? Do we really need another Super Bowl, and what happens to the environmental nightmare that lurks under the old Q if they get rid of it? Interesting questions, indeed.

[Pedro2000]

Depends where they build the stadium. And a new stadium guarantees nothing. Look at the Padres. They still are a poor team who hopes for a lucky year now and again. And half the time that ballpark seems to be filled with other teams fans instead of Padres fans. I don't see San diego making a push to keep a team like Sacramento and it's mayor did. And that's basketball for a bad basketball franchise. In a bad market. So if LA suddenly swoops in, would anybody in San diego even really care to fight? I doubt it. Plus with the money issues, the bigger debate is would taxpayers want to pay for a new stadium while teachers and education budgets and defense budgets and everything else are cut? Seems like a bad choice.

[tonyinsd]

They ain't going nowhere.

Look, in order to move, you've got to have a place to move to. LA? Not happening. No stadium is going to be built.

Can the Chargers afford to build a new stadium? That's not a problem for the taxpayers to be worried about. They're a private entity. Taxpayers don't build new facilities for Qualcomm or Cymer. They shouldn't for the Chargers.

Taxpayer money should not be wasted on a stadium for them. And yes, I said wasted. Every single reputable study shows that publicly funded stadiums are big time losers for the cities involved.

[Pedro2000]

Originally Posted by tonyinsd

They ain't going nowhere.

Look, in order to move, you've got to have a place to move to. LA? Not happening. No stadium is going to be built.

Can the Chargers afford to build a new stadium? That's not a problem for the taxpayers to be worried about. They're a private entity. Taxpayers don't build new facilities for Qualcomm or Cymer. They shouldn't for the Chargers.

Taxpayer money should not be wasted on a stadium for them. And yes, I said wasted. Every single reputable study shows that publicly funded stadiums are big time losers for the cities involved.

I agree that taxpayers paying for stadiums is just a joke. So you pay taxes for these stadiums, then pay to park at the same stadium, pay for tickets to same stadium, pay for offseason concerts at same stadium, etc. And most cities always complain about being broke. And the reality is there are few people who actually attend these games compared to the overall population.

Saying all that though, most of these cities seem to love to give these owners free land, tax advantages, subsidies, and then give them tax payers money to build that stadium. The Charges might stay as I agree, LA seems like a joke in regards to building a stadium, but in the end, a new stadium will be built and tax payers be partially responsible.

[Tchud Diego]

I think it also depends on whether the city really needs another attraction like the Super Bowl. I remember in 2003 I couldn't even get into the Fairmount area because of the game, but the business owners over there loved it. Heck, property managers had a ball because of the high demand for temporary lodging. Comic-Con has a few more years left here until they relocate to L.A. And the old Qualcomm stadium, as much as I "love" it, has to go. I hope we don't have another Petco nightmare.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

We've been fleeced twice and until this batch of tax payers between 18-100 all die off they won't sucker us again. There hasn't been anything remotely fair that has been offered up so far by the Spanos.

[tonyinsd]

If we build a new stadium, we might get one or two Super Bowls before they say, sorry, your facility is too old.

Even if you accept their figures of $350 million -- which assume that nobody would have come to the host city if it wasn't for the Super Bowl -- and figure we get two, we're still $300-500 million in the hole.

If the city wants to spend a billion bucks on infrastructure development, there are far better places to do it with far better ROIs.

[Pedro2000]

The joke about big events is that it makes money for a few businesses, gives the city even more money they will give back to the big businesses and politicians, and then complain about everything else. I mean look at Sacramento. The NBA complained that the fans weren't attending, the team was broke, the owners were bankrupt, etc. Except they just sold the franchise for like 500 Million. After buying it for what, 200 Million maybe. It was their own stupidity that they fell into such a mess.

But that's the problem. Make taxpayers pay for a stadium most people will never even go to, and then complain that teachers need to be cut and police/firefighters need to be cut, prisons are worn out and overcrowding, roads can't be fixed due to money, etc. San Diego gets a couple of NCAA bowl games per year, they have comic-con, they have other events, they have tourism, and still no money for a lot of things.

Where I grew up, The Jets/Giants have a new stadium that is partially funded by taxpayers, and the teams not only charge for game day tickets, season tickets, etc, but they have Personal Seating Licensing costs per year. Who is paying 100K for licenses and seats per year except Wall street cons or wall street businesses looking to sell more con.

But that is where we are at and that's the way it is. Politicians sell out, taxpayers get screwed, and services get cut. How do you stop it? I dont have a clue as it seems to happen in every state.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

big difference between the Jets/Giants situation is they have had waiting lists that were 10 years deep since I was a kid. Can't imagine that dynamic would be much different with the new stadium.

good luck in SD coming anywhere close to filling seats like out there.

Having an NFL franchise is a business. Its not a favor to a city to be there. However it appears the ownership seems to imply that through their actions and strongarming.
I see no reason to build a new stadium if they get a better deal elsewhere rathr than try leverage it via taxpayers.

[Tchud Diego]

During the Marty years, Chargers season games were always prime events and seats were filled. This isn't so with basketball or even the Padres. There is too much to do out here to pay attention to professional sports except football. When Dear Leader decided to boot Marty and hire his lap dog Norv, that's when reality set in. Do we really need these guys? If you go over to McGregors in Mission Valley on NFL Sundays, I'd bet yes. The only difference with New York (to me, but my opinion means nothing anyway) is that when it gets cold, the only thing in their universe is football, that's why it is so important to them. We, on the other hand, have the beach, mountains, Mexico, etc....