The 2015 season may be the last one in San Diego for the Chargers, who are free to break their lease thereafter and head elsewhere – likely to Carson, Calif. If you’re to believe Jason Roe, the spokesman for San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, the franchise’s future in the city it has called home since 1961 looks as bleak as it ever has.
Roe on Wednesday released an acerbic statement accusing the Chargers of never intending to bargain with the city, tweeted Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole.
“The truth is, [the Chargers] were never at the table. They’ve misled the fans and our elected officials and civic leaders by saying they wanted to remain in San Diego when in fact they initiated the process of relocation to LA a year ago,” Roe said.
Roe went on to state that the Chargers haven’t worked “toward a solution but instead put up phony roadblocks to success.”
Chargers counsel Mark Fabiani fired back at Roe, per Cole (via Twitter).
“The Chargers will never be part of the city’s legally dubious effort to deal with the California Environmental Quality Act,” Fabiani stated. “City officials are of course free to drive themselves off the cliff into legal oblivion with a half-baked Environmental Impact Report, but the team has no intention of hitching itself to the city’s misguided, doomed scheme.”
When asked about potentially building a new stadium in San Diego, Fabiani said Tuesday (according to the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Nick Canepa), “There’s no point in doing anything until we get an EIR (environmental impact report).”
The Chargers will have to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act to get a new stadium built in San Diego, but the team declared a proposed Dec. 15 stadium vote impossible because of environmental problems, the Union-Tribune’s David Garrick wrote Wednesday.
Of course, stadium-related environmental issues in San Diego won’t matter if the Chargers are truly bent on relocating. Faulconer tweeted Wednesday that the city and team are pulling in opposite directions, with San Diego trying to retain the club and the Chargers working toward a departure.
Moreover, longtime league executive Carmen Policy – whom the Chargers and Raiders hired last month to oversee the building of a stadium in Carson – told Sirius XM NFL Radio on Thursday (Twitter link) that both teams “are totally committed to the Carson project and the site is shovel ready.”
Policy also stated (Twitter link) that the goal of both the league and LA is to land two teams.
Sorry Connor, get your AFL history together. You’re a sports writer for God’s sake. The Chargers started their AFL life as the “Los Angeles” Chargers. The Broncos are the only original AFL team to never move, change their name or play a home game in an other city.
I apologize for the error, Bob. It has been corrected. Thanks.
-Connor
wow. a responsive writer. gotta respect that!