SDStadium.org Blog

Polling the Media About a New Chargers Stadium

By Matty Gulbransen

As a longtime member of the local media, the manner in which my colleagues are handling the Chargers' stadium effort and how they feel about it is near and dear to my heart. So, I determined that the best way to summarize the overall mood was to provide a brief synopsis of how members of the local media feel about this issue.

I polled ten former colleagues in the TV and Radio Sports segment and came to the following unanimous consensus; the Chargers need a new stadium in order to be competitive revenue-wise. This, in turn, would help the team keep their core players, keep their assistant and position coaches here for longer terms and for the most common and, perhaps most importantly, to bring a Super Bowl to this city which would help provide an economic boost every four or five years.  Not only would the latter revitalize the local economy, but it's important to remember that if 100,000+ people in this County are staying in hotel rooms, the Transient Occupancy Tax revenue from those rooms goes to pay off bonds for Petco Park. So it's a win-win situation for every taxpayer and sports enthusiast in the County.

Among the four TV sportscasters I spoke with, three of them said the best spot for the stadium is the current location in Mission Valley.  One colleague felt that the only the waterfront location in Chula Vista is viable because there are too many issues at play in city government for this project to succeed in either in Mission Valley or Downtown.

Among the six local radio broadcasters I polled, three of them felt that the Waterfront in Chula Vista would be optimal and one preferred the Olympic Training Center site on the eastern part of Chula Vista because the land is private which removes a lot of bureaucracy and political red tape associated with some of the other sites. The remaining two stated that the Downtown location in East Village is the best place to build a new Chargers Stadium because it would create an unparalleled atmosphere and provide that "big city feel" that San Diego deserves.

All of those I spoke with agreed that the Chargers should stay here in town. However, only four of the ten were optimistic that they will remain here, while the other 6 were convinced that the Chargers will relocate if significant progress isn't made before February 2010. Still, given the state of the local economy, all ten of those polled agreed that it's going to be incredibly difficult to get the financial backing to build a $400M-$600M stadium.

One thing I took from talking to these local media insiders is that they all want the Chargers to stay in San Diego County and they are willing to help by using the power of television and the radio airwaves to keep the Bolts here in America's Finest City.

But, keep this in the mind; just because we have great weather and an owner that says he wants to stay here, doesn't mean that we can rely on the media to make it happen. It takes all of us to create a fire in local political circles and put this issue at the top of their agenda. My former media colleagues can't do it alone, but they agreed that with enough public support we can have a definitive impact on this process and help keep the Chargers in our great County.

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