Hacksaw: Opportunity lost in Chargers stadium quest

Could have built it.
Should have built it.
Did not build it.
Cannot build it.

Fifteen years after the concept was first floated for a new NFL stadium for the San Diego Chargers, the team is no closer to a deal. In fact, it may be further away. Had they had the vision, they could have what the Padres have.

Both teams found success in the 90s — the Chargers won the AFC Championship in ‘94 and the Padres played in the ‘98 World Series. That kind of momentum can lead to getting a stadium deal done.

The difference for the Padres was the vision of then-CEO Larry Lucchino and owner John Moores.

Lucchino had gone through the stadium process, learning and helping design the Pirates new stadium in Pittsburgh and the construction of the beauty of Camden Yards in Baltimore. He arrived in San Diego with enormous knowledge. They knew how to do it and did it. When last seen, Lucchino was printing dollar bills at the newly renovated Fenway Park, where he runs the Red Sox.

The Chargers of the 90s weren’t quite the corporate power NFL teams of today have become. It was only after Team Spanos brought on executives from varied backgrounds — Ken Derrett (NBA), Jim Steeg (NFL League office), John Shean (MLB) and Mark Fabiani (Washington, DC) — that the team developed the core staff to get where it is today. The Chargers have become a tremendously profitable venture. It is too late, though, in the stadium game.

Our world changed, the economy changed and the political climate changed. The costs rocketed, the obstructionists grew in ranks and the need to give rich men stadium money now pales in comparison to the real-world issues of today. Collapsing 401K figures, health insurance needs and an unemployment rate of 11 percent in California continue to keep a new stadium on the back burner.

Related:

Sorting out the Chargers stadium search | Costs of Qualcomm | Oceanside back in the stadium mix | Salm: No loss if Chargers leave | 619 Sports podcast: Is Oceanside the answer?

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And then there is the challenge of getting a stadium built in the Golden State itself. Qualcomm Stadium is big, looks good, and serves the average fan. Amenities are few for the corporate world that likes football, which means less revenue streams for Team Spanos.

It’s nothing compared to the crumbling wreck where the 49ers play, a sewer of a stadium on Candlestick Point. And the Raiders, a dysfunctional franchise, play in a disjointed baseball facility.

The construction of a new stadium is so complex, a jigsaw puzzle of agreements, covenants, studies, financing, taxes and politics.

Looming off in the distance is the never-ending threat the team will leave. Doubtful. Team Spanos would have to put all their possessions in the back of the Mayflower moving van if they ever moved this team. The city would lose the franchise. The Spanos family would lose its hometown.

None of the Los Angeles options make much sense anyway. The city’s in no place to put public money into a stadium project.

Neither of the available facilities — the L.A. Coliseum or the Rose Bowl — is a viable NFL stadium for a myriad of reasons.

The Platinum Triangle in Orange County, 50 acres adjacent to Angels Stadium, looked like a good fit until a developer’s offer of $150 million tripled what the NFL was willing to pay for the land.

The latest idea comes from Majestic Realty, owned by a bright light, Ed Roski, a doer, who helped build the Staples Center and is part owner of the Lakers and Kings. But he mandates to be part owner of the team he hopes to house east of L.A.

Besides, L.A. fans really just don’t care that much. They’ve got USC on Saturdays and can sit comfortably at home watching football on TV on Sundays.

We are now sitting in San Diego wondering if the pie-in-the-sky ideas floated will ever come to fruition.

Build it in the parking lot at the Q sight. Build it on the site of a power plant. Put it up on an old golf course or the bay front. Is your backyard available?

The infrastructure and political hurdles remain many.

Meanwhile, Team Spanos has never been forgiven for the statement, “a deal is a deal,” when the controversies raged about the $34 million in public money they got from the faulty leadership of the mayor’s office with the city’s seat guarantee.

There are so many modern day issues to overcome. All of it could have been avoided had the Chargers had the foresight to strike while the iron was hot. In the era when the team was prospering, they had an opportunity; and like a running back, they fumbled it going in for a score from the two-yard line.

In 1995, the organization received a vote from the community, coming off that Super Bowl season — a $78 million grant to expand the stadium. Had to do it, wanted to do it, put in those extra seats so San Diego could get another Super Bowl. Instead, they could have lobbied to use that grant as seed money and banked some interest off of it to help build a stadium when the price was much more reasonable.

They didn’t. They got the Super Bowl and were promptly insulted by then Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who announced at his Super Bowl press conference in this city, it would be the last championship San Diego would host until a new playpen was built.

By 1997, when the new upper deck and the enclosed stadium was opened, it was outdated. Meanwhile, 19 new NFL stadiums have been built since the Chargers got the grant money in 1995.

The NFL had been a willing partner in helping finance all these new stadiums, through the G-3 stadium loan fund. They provided anywhere from $50M to $150M to teams depending on market size and cost. San Diego could have received that loan. But not anymore. The G-3 fund is gone and not likely to be reintroduced.

As the needs for a new San Diego stadium became more pressing, Phoenix - another economy dependent on tourism dollars — was in the construction phase. The state-of-the art University of Phoenix Stadium, home to the Cardinals, complete with a retractable roof and field broke ground in 2003. By the time it opened in 2006, the bill totaled $455 million.
By comparison the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas will open this fall at a cost of $1.2 billion. Costs have skyrocketed. A window has closed.
In fact, with the support of the Maricopa County Sports Authority, Phoenix has also built a basketball arena, a baseball stadium and an NHL arena

And they’ve rebuilt and renovated or constructed 15 spring training facilities for Cactus League baseball.

At the same time in San Diego, lawsuits abound (Bruce Henderson) to try and halt the Convention Center and Petco Park. There seems to be little true civic interest in helping co-fund an NFL palace. Timing, ideas and working relationships helped Phoenix. Not so here.

On a rainy night in January 1995, I stood at the podium in a jam-packed Stadium before 72,000 delirious Chargers fans after the stunning win in the AFC Championship game against the Steelers. I remember yelling to the fans “Show me your Lightning Bolt” and the town went crazy.

The Bolts lost their next game, the Super Bowl blowout with the 49ers. They lost their chance for a new stadium shortly thereafter. They were behind the power curve on stadium ideas; now the club is behind the eight ball.

It is indeed an odd mix. Outside of the Green Bay Packers, Team Spanos may have one of the most profitable small/mid-market teams in the NFL. This side of the Patriots, the Chargers have one of the best-run football operations in the business. But they have been third-and-long forever trying to play the stadium game.

How could they not have the vision to get a stadium deal in place? The Padres got it done. The Chargers have never gotten close. Could have. Should have. Did not. Cannot.

Lee ‘Hacksaw’ Hamilton was the longtime voice of the Chargers on XTRA Radio, and hosts baseball talkshows on XM-175-the Home Plate Channel and writes columns for SDNN.com

Tags: Chargers, Hacksaw, Qualcomm, SDNN, Stadium, Uncategorized

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Chargers . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.