San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and Chargers Special Counsel Mark Fabiani are "talking about a new Chargers stadium as an integral part of a sports and entertainment district in downtown San Diego that might replicate L.A. Live," according to Matthew Hall of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The pair's "new talking points signal a shift in their pitch for San Diegans to support a stadium." Earlier this week, Sanders met with the San Diego Sports Commission's exec committee and "privately updated some 30 business and civic leaders on the Chargers stadium search." Fabiani, during an appearance Monday on San Diego's XX Sports Radio 1090, indicated that "over the next few months, the idea, which involves freeing up city land at the Qualcomm Stadium site in Mission Valley and at the Valley View Casino Center on Sports Arena Boulevard, is bound to get more discussion." He added, "I think you'll see people joining up and trying to make it happen or pooh-poohing it. This is a big idea and whether people are in the mood to think big now is a big question" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/28).
TAKE A TOUR: Fabiani said that the head of the Chargers' stadium design team will meet in San Diego next month with officials from the De Bartolo Rimanic Design Studio, the architecture firm that "recently offered the Chargers a dramatic new stadium concept." Among the talking points will be a "retractable roof and downtown parking." Since the initial proposal, DBRDS has "taken it to another level" with digital animation. The newly released video is a "dynamic virtual tour of an iconic stadium design that has been likened to a volcano." Still, Fabiani said that the "bedrock issue is that somebody has to show everybody 'the money'" (NBCSANDIEGO.com, 4/27).
