The team and city both attempted to bring business partners in on a proposed $800 million project,[1] which was supposed to be located in the parking lot of the current stadium and include upgrades to the area and infrastructure, but all efforts failed.
In August 2016, it was announced that the Citizens’ Initiative for the Chargers' stadium was officially named Ballot Measure C.[2] In the wake of a decisive defeat at the ballot for stadium public funding 57%-43% during the 2016 United States elections, the Chargers announced in January 2017 their intention to relocate to Los Angeles, joining the Rams, who had also relocated from St. Louis the previous year.
By leveraging social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter along with traditional media outlets and interactive public forums, they amassed a sizeable[clarification needed] following in a brief amount of time.
The team would have required a large tract of land either for free or at nominal[clarification needed] cost to make the project economically feasible.
The proposed National City site was west of Interstate 5 and south of Bay Marina Drive, located east of the 24th Street Marine Terminal.
Finally the East Village was recently proposed by the Chargers due to less legal concerns from local Environmental Activists.
Local philanthropist and real estate developer Doug Manchester proposed building the new stadium on the site of the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal.
On February 23, 2016, the Chargers announced that they were focusing efforts on downtown San Diego for a multi-use stadium/convention center in addition to a citizen's initiative that would include a stadium.
The Chargers acknowledged that the golf course site may not have been large enough to sustain a development profitable enough to offset the cost of stadium construction.
On April 23, 2016, the San Diego Chargers launched their initiative effort with a rally in downtown with an estimated 4,000 people attending; among the people who attended this event were Chargers chairman Dean Spanos, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, quarterback Philip Rivers, former running back LaDainian Tomlinson, and coach Mike McCoy.
On July 9, 2016, San Diego City Clerk Liz Maland announced that the downtown stadium initiative has secured enough valid signatures to be on the November 2016 ballot.
[20] On July 28, 2016, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce endorsed the Chargers’ downtown stadium ballot measure.
[21] Chairman of the Chargers Dean Spanos hired several private consultants, including Robin Hunden, an economic development expert, to analyze the plan.
[22] Voice of San Diego reported on March 11, 2015, that a new Chargers' stadium would likely not make San Diego money, citing that the city still owed millions in tax dollars for the renovations to Chargers' Qualcomm Stadium repairs from 1997, and is currently paying about $12 million yearly for Qualcomm.
[25][26] The coalition defined their central idea as, "We should not raise taxes to build a stadium and subsidize a billion-dollar corporation, especially when we have so many needs in San Diego, including street repairs.
Additionally, this tax measure puts our economy and tourism jobs at risk, and it threatens an important revenue source the City relies on to pay for street repairs, 911 dispatchers, libraries and other neighborhood services.
"[27] The No Downtown Stadium group said the project would have created less property tax revenue and new jobs than alternative developments such as offices or housing, and would ultimately have cost the city money.
[21] On July 29, 2016, the “East Village South Focus Plan” was released by a group of volunteer architects and planners as an alternative to the stadium in the Tailgate Park space.
[33] Some critics believed building the stadium would have put San Diego in risk of losing Comic-Con because the proposed site would have been more than half a mile away from the convention center.
[35] A Chicago-based consulting firm, HVS Convention, Sports & Entertainment Facilities Consulting, released a study saying that despite claims by the Chargers, the stadium would only generate about $2.3 million extra in additional hotel tax revenue each year, but estimated the annual public costs would be $67 million for the operation and constructions of the project.
[36] They also stated that attempts in other cities to combine a convention center with a football stadium had largely failed, citing Indianapolis, St. Louis and Atlanta.
Cate said he was a Chargers fan, but "I just think this is a bad deal for the city and San Diegans.”[42] After a failed bid with the Oakland Raiders to build a stadium in Carson, California in January 2016 the Chargers received the first option to relocate to Los Angeles and share the winning bid (SoFi Stadium) with the Los Angeles Rams, conditioned on a negotiated lease agreement between the two teams.
The Chargers would contribute a $200 million stadium loan from the NFL and personal seat license fees to the construction costs and would pay $1 per year in rent to the Rams.
The team moved to Dignity Health Sports Park (known as StubHub Center until 2018) and played there for the 2017, 2018, and 2019 NFL seasons until SoFi Stadium was complete in 2020.
One of the options included Rams owner Stan Kroenke sending money (possibly over a series of years) to help the Chargers build a stadium in San Diego in an attempt to keep Los Angeles a one-team town all to himself; however, Spanos used his Los Angeles option before the league could act and the money offered may not have been enough to build a new San Diego stadium anyway.
Petco Park, the home of the San Diego Padres, would have hosted a football game for the first time on December 28, 2021: i.e., the 2021 Holiday Bowl (which was cancelled at the last moment because of positive COVID-19 tests on the UCLA squad.)