Roger Goodell to meet with Chargers over stadium issues
By John Buhler
Roger Goodell will visit with the San Diego Chargers in a few weeks to discuss the franchise’s plans to build a new football stadium next to Petco Park.
After visiting Buffalo in the last week, it seems that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is doing his due diligence by visiting franchises that have upcoming stadium concerns. Goodell essentially hinted that Western New York needs to keep up with the times in the stadium efforts, but believes the Pegula Family will figure out a way to keep the Bills in Buffalo.
According to ESPN’s Eric D. Williams, Goodell “plans to meet with representatives of the San Diego Chargers in a few weeks to discuss the team’s proposal to build a new stadium in downtown San Diego.”
The plan is for the Chargers to build a new $1.8 billion stadium and a convention center next to popular Petco Park, home of Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres. Of the $1.8 billion, the Chargers organization plans to contribute $350 million and the NFL will kick in $300 million.
That would leave $1.15 billion to be collected by the city either through bonds or through an increased hotel tax. San Diego should get the 100,000 signatures the city will need to put this plan in place, but stadium issues have been a major concern for the Chargers for decades.
Goodell should do everything in his power to help San Diego build a new stadium because it’s one of the few warm-weather NFL cities that could easily host Super Bowl’s. San Diego is more than capable of hosting Super Bowl’s and it would be difficult to see the Chargers leave Southern California for any reason. They’ve been there since the 1960’s as a part of the American Football League.
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Owner Dean Spanos has great support from the owners who have his old-school philosophy. With Stan Kroenke getting backing from the new school owners to move the St. Louis Rams to Los Angeles, one would have to believe that Spanos will be able to keep the Chargers in San Diego should this downtown stadium proposal go through.
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