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The Chargers’ difficulty in getting a new stadium may leave the team waving goodbye.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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SAN DIEGO
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Income profile (annual):
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■ Household median: $67,320
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■ Household, 60th percentile: $85,352
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■ Household, 80th percentile: $131,558
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■ Median, family of four: $89,473
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■ Discretionary, family of four (rank): $15,048 (42nd)
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■ MSA population (rank): 3.3 million (17th)
■ Since 2010: +6 percent
■ Major pro team: Padres, Chargers
■ Nearest teams: In Los Angeles, 124 miles away
■ TV teams: Los Angeles Clippers, Lakers, Kings and Anaheim Ducks
■ TV households (rank): 1.06 million (28th)
■ Metro GDP (rank): $220.5 billion (16th)
■ Fortune 1000 HQs (rank): 4 (40th)
■ Employment profile: MSA skews to the sciences and technology, with an 89 percent higher concentration of life, physical and social science jobs than seen nationally, as well as 71 percent more engineering and architecture jobs.
■ Places to play: San Diego is a tough place to get a stadium or arena financed. The Chargers owners have been trying for more than a decade. Now, it appears more likely than not that they will leave for L.A. Just as it may in St. Louis, this could accrue to the benefit of MLS. In August, AEG proposed an 18,000-seat arena as the centerpiece of a downtown entertainment district.
— Bill King
Appraisal
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The largest of the two-team markets by population, San Diego becomes particularly intriguing if it continues down its path toward becoming a single-team market and loses the Chargers.
While the Los Angeles teams can cast a mighty shadow, San Diego still weighs in as a potential three-team market when it comes to both head count and economic clout, at least in terms of metro GDP. The TV market is not only small for a three-team market, but also the smallest of the five two-team markets that we considered fit to host another franchise based on GDP. San Diego also has by far the fewest Fortune 1000 headquarters among those five cities.
Of course, if we’re talking about replacing the
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Chargers rather than adding a third team, the comps change and the prospects brighten. The MSA would be at the median for TV households and shy by one on headquarters.
As is often the case, the story for San Diego will unfold based largely on how it plans to develop its real estate, and who foots the bill. As the Chargers have struggled to conquer that calculus, others are getting on with their lives. Investors interested in bringing an MLS franchise to the market have spoken with San Diego State University about a smaller stadium that could host both.
That possible union, along with the percolation of arena interest by AEG, make San Diego a spot to watch … especially if the Chargers bolt.
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