As a native San Diegan and lifelong Charger fan up until they moved in 2017, let me say this: Everyone involved was at fault for letting the Chargers leave. The fans got shafted as only a small part of the San Diego region (Charger fanbase) was able to vote on the proposition for a new stadium.
This whole farce was a series of snowballing events that started back in the 90’s when the Padres succeeded in getting Petco done while the Chargers settled for a simple renovation in order to host one Super Bowl in 1998. The mayor failed. Dean Spanos failed. Ultimately, those in power had no intention of finding a fair deal for each other. Dean only offered $300 mil towards a new stadium while the city didn’t want to offer anywhere near that, falling well short of the projected billion dollars it would take to build the thing.
Of course, Dean had no issue with spending damn near a billion himself in relocation and moving costs to LA, but I digress.
The projected cost of the new SDSU/potential-MLS stadium is roughly $250 mil. The city is going to sell the land at ‘fair cost’ to the University. SDSU has recently toured the new LAFC stadium in Los Angeles (cost $350 mil) and the new Colorado State football stadium (cost $250 mil) if you want an idea of where they’re headed with this. Additionally, this past week, SDSU chose the same builders who built Petco Park to head this new project.
This new stadium will never house the NFL and the NFL will never return to San Diego unless someone with big-massive-huge money steps in to fund a new stadium him/herself along with relocation/expansion costs. This stadium will be lucky to host MLS, although word is MLS is saving an expansion slot for San Diego and are extremely hungry to establish a franchise in such a hispanic-rich area with possible sister-club ties to the Tijuana Xolos.
Personally, I’m a little upset the new stadium won’t be done in time for the Utah/SDSU game in 2021 but the new place is scheduled to open by the 2022 football season.
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