The Padres and San Diego city officials have “begun discussing potential solutions to a long-running controversy” around the city’s 26-seat luxury suite at Petco Park, which “sits empty and dark every game because of complex legal issues,” according to a front-page piece by David Garrick of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. No one has used the suite since at least 2018, when San Diego voters “overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure requiring the city to sell tickets in the suite” instead of the longtime practice of “giving them away to community groups and other nonprofits.” The goal of that aspect of Measure L was to “eliminate conflict-of-interest concerns over elected officials’ ability to give community groups free tickets to secure their support.” Garrick notes that city officials and the Padres have “recently begun discussing” possible steps forward and a meeting is “scheduled within the next two weeks to discuss potential solutions for the unused suite, which also sits empty during concerts and other Petco Park events.” Local attorney Bob Ottilie said that he “doesn’t believe Measure L conflicts with the city’s agreement with the Padres” He adds that if it does, the Padres “could solve it by agreeing to a simple amendment to their deal,” but that “shifting control of the box to the Padres would be a betrayal of the voters who supported Measure L” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/28).
