San Diego officials are "moving rapidly forward with environmental studies required for a public stadium vote in January despite the Chargers calling that impossible last month when they terminated negotiations," according to a front-page piece by David Garrick of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. City officials said that they "plan to continue work on a new stadium without cooperation from the Chargers based on conversations two weeks ago with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and other league officials." San Diego Dir of Land & Environmental Policy Mike Hansen said, “Basically they said ‘it looks like you’re on a good track and we’ll discuss it further in late July.’” Garrick notes the city "issued a 'notice of preparation' for an environmental impact report on June 22 and has scheduled" a 6:00pm PT public meeting on July 15 at Qualcomm Stadium to "gather comments about the scope and content of that analysis." The City Council yesterday was scheduled to "create a special funding account for the stadium project and approve paying" consulting firm AECOM $1.2M to "help city staff complete the environmental impact report." The EIR "must be completed and approved by the City Council by Oct. 15 to make a proposed Jan. 12 vote possible." The Chargers have said that it is "not possible the city can complete a comprehensive analysis of such a large project by Oct. 15, stressing that EIRs typically take 12 to 18 months." Hansen said that it is "essential to hire AECOM because of the vast expertise of their staff and the experience the company has with large projects," including stadiums for the '12 London Olympics, '16 Rio Olympics, '18 World Cup in Russia and NFL stadiums in Seattle, Miami and Indianapolis (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 7/8).
STUDY HALL: In St. Louis, David Hunn reports a proposed new stadium in St. Louis "has multiple hurdles remaining, from nailing down land control to securing state and local bond funding," but recent market survey results "represent a key victory in the effort to keep" the Rams in the city. The executive summary of the league-commissioned market survey "estimated that a new riverfront stadium would draw about" $200M in the sale of PSLs. But the market study results "have largely run under the radar." The four-page document "generally shows fan support for the stadium, including a willingness to buy new PSLs -- the one-time seat licenses required to purchase season tickets, at a cost from $500 to $40,000 each." However, the study also brought up "several concerns." Rams fans and corporations "bought enough season tickets to move the Rams" from L.A. in '95 -- but “that level of support was not sustained once the team’s on-field success waned.” Additionally, the Rams "rank 22nd among the league’s 32 teams in average season ticket price, 28th in average club seat price and have the fourth-lowest average attendance over the past five years" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 7/8).
