NBC 7's Gene Cubbison offers this analysis on the latest dealings behind the Chargers' stadium scramble.
Okay, it’s past 12:30 p.m. and the embargo on the CSAG report provided to me earlier today has been lifted – so here’s how I would make a long story short, at this point – because for the next weeks (maybe months?) it could be a “War and Peace” opus.
The 42-page document answers a lot of questions.
But it also raises infinitely more than can be answered immediately, or in a short time frame.
Patience, people.
City and county residents/taxpayers can soon go online and come up with a blizzard of issues.
The Chargers and NFL will have their own set of what lawyers call “interrogatories” – and they should expect some public blowback to the mere fact of raising endless hard, pointed questions of the CSAG.
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But we probably should see a measured stop-look-listen on their part as “due diligence” that cannot be short-changed or fast-forwarded, given the business model of any 21st century industry -- especially professional sports and particularly one sector so vaunted as “The Shield”.
Team Faulconer and his retained financial advisers figure to take the same approach on behalf of public constituents.
Will they wind up coming to the bargaining table?
Depends on the NFL/Chargers’ real motives and mindset – maybe that’s already a done deal.
If not, can the league’s anticipated earlier-than-scheduled “window” for franchise relocation decisions be tweaked -- to buy time for the prospects for a favorable “local solution?"
Again, questions begging answers.
Suggestions for the players in this high-stakes game:
Show us the money – every formula, every interest point, every split of investments and proceeds, every penny and IOU.
Who pays and reaps exactly what?
Who’s left holding the bag if the bottom lines goes south, and projections turn out to be numbers that dip into the red -- as they have with Qualcomm Stadium and Petco Park.
And just know that if a worst-case scenario materializes, it’ll become a full employment act for attorneys.
A long season of uncertainty precedes training camp and the exhibition season, so let’s all hunker down and make the best of what’s been a bad situation, handled haphazardly for all too long.
You can view the full CSAG report here.
