Plans for a football stadium in downtown San Diego “have not progressed since Mayor Jerry Sanders and Chargers President Dean Spanos held a rare meeting March 7 to discuss their mutual desire to build the team a new venue,” according to Matthew Hall of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. Similar stadium plans in L.A. since then “haven’t stopped making headlines.” Sanders on XX Radio on April 1 acknowledged that he is “watching the Los Angeles drama ‘to see how it unravels.’” He said it is “really important to keep the Chargers.” He added the L.A. talk has spurred “other discussions, which are good now, with some private people.” Hall noted while Chargers and San Diego city officials “continue to meet regularly with an eye toward putting a stadium plan to a public vote in November 2012, financial negotiations won’t begin until the state and the NFL resolve their unsettled issues.” Chargers Special Counsel Mark Fabiani said, “The collective-bargaining situation holds the key to whether the NFL is going to subsidize part of this stadium with a loan. And until there’s a (California) budget deal, everything is open for discussion and debate” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/9).
YOUR MOVE: In L.A., Bill Shaikin noted if the Chargers move from San Diego -- “most likely to Los Angeles -- the Padres will become the only team in the majors without competition from the NFL, NBA or NHL.” However, Padres President & COO Tom Garfinkel is “not so sure his team would strike gold if the Chargers bolted, because the teams share many sponsors and the market is the fourth-smallest in the majors.” Garfinkel: "We'd like the Chargers to stay. We think it's good for the city." Shaikin wrote the San Diego market is “too small and too sophisticated to ensure the Padres prosperity, even as the only game in town.” The Padres “cannot pack Petco Park unless they win” (L.A. TIMES, 4/10).
