The Chargers are teaming up with Qualcomm to buy enough
tickets to lift a local TV blackout on three of six
remaining home games, according to Ray Huard of the SAN
DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. Qualcomm and the team will give their
tickets to county schools, to be used as rewards to
students. Mayor Susan Golding: "This solves a lot of
potential problems for this year." But the UNION-TRIBUNE's
Huard notes, however, that the ticket-buying deal "still
leaves the city on the hook for the controversial ticket
guarantee that is at the heart of the stadium deal." Under
the guarantee, the city must give the Chargers a rent credit
when fewer than 60,000 general admission tickets are sold
for home games. Golding's Press Secretary Todd Harris said
that the guarantee "already has cost the city $705,900 in
rent credits" through the Chargers first two home games.
With the new ticket deal, officials "estimate" that the city
will wind up deducting $1.2M by the end of the season from
the estimated $5.7M the Chargers will pay in rent (Ray
Huard, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/23).
