A new study shows that the Chargers’ plan for a downtown stadium/convention center "will not generate enough meeting business to justify an increase in the hotel tax," according to Lori Weisberg of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The study from Chicago-based HVS is "at odds with rosier predictions by Chargers consultants." The Chargers are "asking voters this November to increase the hotel room tax" from 12.5% to 16.5% to "help pay for an estimated" $1.8B stadium and adjoining convention center development that would be located east of Petco Park. The study says that the proposed convention center "holds only limited appeal to meeting planners and would generate" just $2.3M more a year "in additional hotel tax revenue," compared to what it estimates are the $67M in annual public costs for both construction and operation of the project. HVS Managing Dir Thomas Hazinski said, “If you weigh the investment required to generate that impact, it doesn't add up." The Chargers, who will soon be releasing their consultants’ formal analysis of the convention center portion of the project, "were immediately critical of the report’s conclusions." Chargers Special Advisor Fred Maas said, “The results of this study were pre-determined from the outset by a few highly self-interested hotel owners." But Tourism Marketing District Board Chair Bill Evans said, “We were careful not to prejudice the consultants.” Weisberg noted the board "spent $30,000 on the study." The HVS report also states, “The joint use of football stadiums and convention centers has been tried and largely failed in three cities -- St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Atlanta" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/11).
