San Diego’s pitch to the NFL about a new Chargers stadium yesterday "included assurances from state Assembly speaker Toni Atkins that she would help expedite any environmental lawsuits filed against the city," according to a front-page piece by David Garrick of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The city’s negotiators, who "met with NFL officials for three hours at the U.S. Grant Hotel, also presented designs for a stadium in Mission Valley, a proposed financing plan and the city’s recent progress on environmental analysis." Mayor Kevin Faulconer said that the meeting "went well and that he was encouraged by the reaction" from league officials. NFL Exec VP/Business Ventures Eric Grubman praised the city for its "large team of environmental experts and for giving the NFL a thorough understanding of its accelerated timeline for environmental approvals and a January public vote." Grubman also said the city’s proposed stadium design has “all the key elements we would expect at this stage.” But he "stressed that the design was only conceptual, no actual negotiations took place" yesterday and that the financing plan "presented by the city includes 'very significant funding from NFL and Chargers sources.'" Garrick notes yesterday's meeting was the "first of two key opportunities for San Diego officials to convince top NFL brass that the Chargers should stay in San Diego." The second opportunity is "a presentation scheduled for Aug. 10 in Chicago to the NFL’s relocation committee -- a group of six team owners overseeing possible franchise moves" to L.A. (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 7/29).
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL: In L.A., Tony Perry notes the Chargers' "refusal to negotiate a potential financing plan for building a stadium remains a sticking point." Faulconer said, "The game isn’t over." Faulconer has "pledged to submit any plan for a public vote, by January at the latest, the same month the NFL may decide on relocation requests" from the Chargers, Raiders and Rams (L.A. TIMES, 7/29). In San Diego, Kevin Acee writes, "You want to be optimistic that members of the NFL staff came to town on Tuesday to powwow with San Diego officials." But it "feels a little like we’re simply turning down our air conditioning a few degrees in an effort to stop global warming." As in, "too little and too late." Acee: "That doesn’t mean San Diego officials shouldn’t be trying, just that the rest of us shouldn’t be counting on the efforts begetting a stadium." Yesterday "wasn’t much more than a guidepost." San Diego is still "in need of a Hail Mary to win this thing" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 7/29).
LEAGUE-WIDE ISSUE: Packers President & CEO Mark Murphy yesterday said that the L.A. market is "'crucial' for the league's sustainable success." Murphy: "It's very important. It's the second-largest market in the country, and we don't have a team there. So I think that's been a priority for the league for years. Now, quite honestly, it does help to have a market like L.A. open so that there's always an option or chance that teams could move there" (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE, 7/29).
