A battle has broken out in San Diego about future building. The San Diego Chargers are not going to move to Inglewood but they also don't want to relocate to a proposed new stadium in Mission Valley near the one in which they currently play. They want a new stadium in downtown San Diego — one which would be the cornerstone of a huge multi-use entertainment facility.
Their statement says in part that what they are proposing would "ideally be a permanent home for Comic-Con and a Comic-Con museum" but what they don't say is that it would also limit all expansion of the convention center. The Comic-Con folks have issued a statement saying they aren't too keen about this idea…
We have had no discussions with the Chargers and were surprised to be mentioned in their recent statement. We hope the public is aware, and we would like to reiterate our ongoing belief that a contiguous convention center expansion is the preferable solution to the limits on current convention center space. Comic-Con has doubts that a multi-use facility would serve the best interests of potential conventions hoping to exhibit in San Diego.
The Comic-Con people aren't saying "we might move to another city" but it will be read as that. In the meantime, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts have both said that they believe what the Chargers are demanding would "…increase costs by hundreds of millions of dollars and take years longer to complete."
I have no idea how this will play out. I know how it should play out. Sports teams like the Chargers which are run for profit should pay for their own damned stadiums and the city should not be paying for any of this, nor should they be using "eminent domain" to displace property owners for such stadiums. Some of the land on which the Chargers' dream facility would be built is not owned by the team or the city.
But then I have zero interest in sports. There are people who do — including some who think it is immoral to use government funds to help the sick and aged — who think wealthy team owners should get everything they want to keep the local teams local. This Welfare-for-the-Super-Rich scam was covered not long ago by the eminent social critic, John Oliver…
This is one of those things that will probably never change. Local elected officials are terrified of voter wrath if they let a beloved team move away. In the case of San Diego though, the battle is not presently about the Chargers going to another city but about where they'll play and how much the city will spend on it. Demanding a stadium downtown might be the owners' way of escalating what would be spent on the new Mission Valley facility.
Like I said, I don't know where the Chargers will wind up playing but I'll bet it'll be San Diego and I'll bet it'll cost the city a helluva lot of money and make the Chargers' wealthy owners much wealthier. And if anything can drive Comic-Con to another town, a downtown stadium might be it.