New Chargers Stadium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section is about a planned or proposed stadium. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the stadium approaches.

New Chargers Stadium (Working Title)
Location	San Diego County, California (Actual site TBA)
Broke ground	TBA
Opened	TBA
Owner	San Diego Chargers
Operator	San Diego Chargers
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	$800 Million USD (estimated)
Tenants
San Diego Chargers (NFL) San Diego State Aztecs (NCAA) Holiday Bowl (NCAA) Poinsettia Bowl (NCAA)
Capacity
65,000-70,000 (estimated)

During the 2003 NFL season and even beforehand, there has been much talk of the Chargers replacing the increasingly obsolete (by NFL standards) Qualcomm Stadium with a more modern, Super Bowl capable football stadium, mainly due to out-of-date features of the stadium as well as severe maintenance issues with the facility.^[1]

The team and city have both attempted to bring business partners in on a proposed $800 Million dollar project^[2], which was supposed to be located in the parking lot of the current stadium and include upgrades to the area and infrastructure, but all efforts have failed. The Chargers have a clause in their contract saying that if they can pay off all debts to the city and county for the upgrades to the current stadium by 2007, then the team can pull out of its lease and move to another city in 2008.

Currently, after failed attempts by the Chargers and the city of San Diego to come to an agreement on the new stadium, mainly due to the city’s inability to fund a stadium,^[3] the Chargers organization is looking at other places in San Diego County, notably National City, California, Chula Vista, California, and Oceanside, California.^[4]

Contents 1 Stadium Use 2 Planning 3 Proposed Stadium Sites 3.1 Oceanside 3.2 National City 3.3 Chula Vista 4 Issues 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Stadium Use

The Stadium would continue to host events on what Qualcomm Stadium is currently hosting. It would host Chargers games as well as the annual Holiday and Poinsettia Bowl games, and SDSU Aztec football games. In additional to football games many concerts, soccer games, BMX Motocross events and monster truck events can be held in the stadium as well. Most importantly it will also allow San Diego the ability to host the Super Bowl again.

[edit] Planning

The new stadium would be privately financed as the Chargers will pay for the entire stadium as well as all associated risks and cost overruns, mainly due to a commitment of the team trying to stay in San Diego. The stadium would be paid off with a complex with parks, condominiums and shops that would be built along with the stadium.^[5]

The main plan would be that the Chargers would pay for the stadium while the city would have ownership to it, as well as giving the organization enough land to build the stadium, parking lots for the stadium, and the complex on.

[edit] Proposed Stadium Sites

[edit] Oceanside

The Oceanside City Council recently agreed to have talks with the Chargers about building a stadium in Oceanside. The Center City Golf Course, also known as "Goat Hill", is currently under consideration as a possible stadium location. The golf course site is northeast of the Interstate 5/Oceanside Boulevard interchange. The city owns an adjoining four acres to the north of the golf course, which would provide a development footprint of more than 75 acres. The site also offers easy access to two major freeways as well as two passenger rail lines.

Oceanside also has a huge advantage considering that 8,800 of the team's season ticket holders already come from North County, 8,500 are from Orange and Riverside counties, and 4,500 come from outside the state.^[6] A stadium built at this site can easily attract more fans from Orange County, Riverside County, and Los Angeles, who currently does not have an NFL franchise, despite being one of the United States largest cities.

There are problems with the site if a stadium is to be built there. The golf course is zoned parkland, and voters would have to approve a zoning change for a stadium to be built. Also some believe that the stadium, if built, can cause traffic and environmental issues to the area, especially during game days. However the Chargers are currently working with traffic, environmental and land-use consultants to determine whether the golf course site is viable.^[7]

[edit] National City

The proposed National City site is west of Interstate 5 and south of Bay Marina Drive, located east of the 24th Street Marine Terminal. The Port of San Diego has studied the dimensions of the site and come to the conclusion that a stadium could be built on the 52-acre site without disturbing the Port's mission to promote maritime jobs and commerce. Any potential development proposal would require the Port's approval.

Planning discussions are being discussed among the Port, National City and waterfront businesses to reconfigure the layout of the site to make it more efficient with or without a stadium. National City officials believe the benefit of a new stadium would spur new developments around it, generating tax dollars while also boosting the city's profile.^[8]

[edit] Chula Vista

Chula Vista officials are discussing multiple sites where the Chargers can build a stadium. Two privately owned sites on the city's east side and two near the waterfront.

• One Chula Vista site is located near State Route 125, southwest of the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center. The site has the land that a stadium would require, as well as transportation options for reaching such a venue. However there are concerns about the site’s distance from main transit lines.
• One site rests on Chula Vista’s bayfront which is currently occupied by the South Bay Power Plant.
• Another site rests in a vacant B.F. Good-rich site adjacent to the property that's already been designated for the Chula Vista Bayfront, a $750 million convention center and hotel complex. The project is set to break ground next year.
• Another Chula Vista option falls on private property, owned by residential homebuilder, HomeFed Corp, which owns 3,000 acres in the Otay Ranch area, has conducted talks with the Chargers.^[9]

[edit] Issues

If the Chargers can not work out with the current stadium sites, or the county in general, the team would most likely move to another city, most likely back to Los Angeles, California, or to San Antonio, Texas or Las Vegas, Nevada, all cities currently lobbying for a franchise.

[edit] See also

• Qualcomm Stadium – the current stadium of the Chargers, Aztecs, and the Holiday and Poinsettia Bowls.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Fans, Taxpayers and Business Alliance for NFL Football in San Diego (a group pushing for the new stadium)
• Chargers MySpace page to keep the Chargers in San Diego
• The official Chargers future stadium page

Preceded by Qualcomm Stadium 1967–present

Home of the San Diego Chargers TBA

Succeeded by none