The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to allocate $500,000 to continue retaining experts who can provide advice on different issues for a possible football stadium in Mission Valley.
The county and city of San Diego are developing a plan to entice the Chargers to remain in San Diego rather than pursue another stadium project proposed for Carson in Los Angeles County, and have retained consultants to handle financial, environmental and legal issues. In April, the city and county agreed to each spend $250,000.
A task force appointed by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has recommended building a $1.1 billion, 65,000-seat stadium adjacent to Qualcomm Stadium, where the Chargers currently play.
Qualcomm Stadium, formerly known as Jack Murphy Stadium, opened in 1967.
The team, which has been asking for a replacement for the facility for nearly 15 years, broke off talks in June in a dispute over the city's expedited environmental study of the project. City officials want an environmental impact report compiled quickly so a public vote can be held in January, but team executives believe the quick study won't be legally defensible.
Supervisor Ron Roberts called it "a little bit of an impasse" and suggested the extra money won't be spent if the team doesn't return to the negotiating table.
"What this does is provide our staff with the resources to ensure we have quality consultants as part of our team," Roberts said.
"I will tell you this, we have the very, very best team that you could bring together for this effort — a tremendous amount of experience with other stadiums, with other sports arenas — very knowledgeable in every aspect, including environmental impact reports," Roberts said.
The city and county, and their negotiating team, are scheduled to present their proposals to National Football League owners next week in Chicago. Roberts said they have also been invited to an NFL owners meeting in October.
