Stadium Search Update

Over the past week the Voice of San Diego and the San Diego Union-Tribune have both published stories about how a stadium in downtown San Diego might be financed. The Chargers have also discussed the issue at a variety of community forums during the last several months. Here is a summary of the Chargers’ position:

The Chargers’ previous attempts over the last seven years to privately finance a stadium all involved very large sites that could accommodate both a stadium and a related development project – the profits of which would help pay for the costs of the stadium.
These large sites included, among others, the existing Qualcomm site (166 acres), the Chula Vista Bayfront site (130 acres), and the Oceanside drive-in and golf course sites (combined 165 acres).
The downtown San Diego site now being considered is just over 10 acres – making it the smallest stadium site in the NFL. As a result, the site will accommodate, at most, the stadium, without any opportunity for the related development to help pay for the stadium.
For that reason, the successful development of a stadium at the downtown site will require sources of funding other than what might come from a related development, in addition to a $250 - $300 million investment by the Chargers and the NFL.
It is too soon to say what other funding sources may be available. That is the subject of a CCDC-sponsored study by stadium finance expert Mitchell Zeits.
Nonetheless, we believe it is important for everyone to understand that the downtown site might require some sort of taxpayer subsidy.
Such a subsidy would only be possible if voters agree that an investment downtown will result in significant returns for taxpayers elsewhere. For example:

Would a taxpayer investment downtown result in the city of San Diego saving the $300 million or more that taxpayers will pay through 2020 to maintain the Qualcomm site?
Would an investment downtown allow the city of San Diego to sell, lease or otherwise generate hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue from the 166-acre Qualcomm site?
Would a taxpayer investment downtown allow the city of San Diego to make better use of the 100 or so acres it owns in and around the Sports Arena site?

These are all open questions, and ultimately voters will decide whether a public investment in this project makes sense.
The Chargers believe that, at this early stage of the process, it makes sense to continue to explore these ideas to see where they might lead.