Chargers, Mayor's Office Engaged In Verbal Vitriol

Week's worth of barbs and jabs paint a dark picture in stadium situation

When the week began, there was hope. As the week ends, there is none (or at least very little).

The Chargers and San Diego government held a negotiating session on Tuesday morning. Since then the two sides have not negotiated; they have brawled. The first indication we received was a positive one. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said things were progressing nicely. But later in the day Chargers Special Counsel Mark Fabiani countered Faulconer’s enthusiasm, setting off a war or words that lasted a few days.

Here’s a quick timeline of quotes from Tuesday through Thursday. Reading this, all stacked up in one place, does not give Chargers fans a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Tuesday, June 16

“We had a productive exchange back and forth. More to come…” – Faulconer, after the morning meeting

“We’ve presented some options that assure CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) compliance. Not an end-around CEQA, but CEQA compliance. There are options that allow for CEQA compliance. I’m optimistic that we can find a way to do a stadium agreement and present it to voters for approval by the end of the year.” – City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, after the morning meeting

"Based on all of this work and discussion, the Chargers have concluded that it is not possible to place a ballot measure before voters in December 2015 in a legally defensible manner given the requirements of the State’s election law and the California Environmental Quality Act. The various options that we have explored with the City’s experts all lead to the same result: Significant time-consuming litigation founded on multiple legal challenges, followed by a high risk of eventual defeat in the courts. The Chargers will simply not be part of a half-baked legal scheme proposed by the City that places all of the risk of failure in the courts on the team.” – Fabiani, a few hours later

Then on Wednesday morning, the fur started flying …

Wednesday, June 17

“Our voice has been very clear. We are united in getting a fair deal done. And then there's the Chargers' voice. They say that San Diego is their first choice, but actions speak louder than words. San Diego is offering solution after solution. The team has only offered criticism without any alternatives.” - Faulconer
"The team has moved the goal line at every turn, and no matter what the City and County has proposed Mark Fabiani has rolled up some contrarian opinion ... We've realized these guys aren't even pretending to be sincere at this point. This has really been a complete farce and a manipulation of the fans and the elected and civic leaders of San Diego." – Jason Roe, political strategist for Faulconer

“In negotiations – despite our repeated urging – the Chargers have declined to discuss financial terms. The Chargers cannot sincerely claim to act in good faith when they won’t even discuss dollars and cents. If San Diego is their first choice, we need them to reengage. It's time for the Chargers ownership to show San Diegans that they want to remain in their hometown.” – Faulconer

“For the first time in seven months of incredibly hard work from the City, County, and CSAG, the Chargers did something honest - walk away from the table.  The truth is they never were at the table.  They’ve mislead the fans and our elected 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.  And throughout this process they’ve not done one single tangible thing toward a solution but instead put up phony roadblocks to success.  Charger fans deserve better.” – Roe

As you’ll notice, Fabiani and the Chargers stayed mostly quiet on Wednesday. That was definitely not the case on Thursday …

Thursday, June 18

Fabiani continued to defend the team’s view that trying to circumvent the full EIR (Environmental Impact Report) is a truly horrible idea while folks close to the Mayor kept their verbal guns a-blazing.

“We think it is analogous to the city’s half-baked plan to fund the convention center expansion with a tax that was clearly illegal from the start. The city gave it a try anyway and of course it was struck down in four years and $10 million tax dollars were wasted. We’re not about to engage in some kind of novel legal strategy that has never been tried. We want something that has worked elsewhere.” – Fabiani

"Mark is a public relations guy. Why Dean Spanos would hire a PR guy to negotiate a stadium deal is beyond me ... He clearly can't put a stadium deal together. He's been the one constant throughout this entire process. I think their strategy continues to be, 'Win the race to LA.' They're trying to cement this point to the league and the 31 other owners that they can't get anything done in San Diego ... It's just the same old song with Mark." – Tony Manolatos, spokesman for the Citizens Stadium Advisory Group (CSAG)

“The Mayor can whine and scream about it all he wants 24/7 and he can hire political operatives to go out and scream about it all they want 24/7. It’s not going to convince the Chargers that this legally dubious idea makes sense. That’s never going to change.” – Fabiani

"The Chargers told us (a year ago) we don't have to worry about this until 2016. All the while they were moving along a fast-track in L.A. trying to accomplish something there. They tell us they want to be here, but everything they do shows us they really want to be somewhere else." – City Councilman Scott Sherman

“The way you work on this stuff is not by doing what the Mayor and his people do, which is constantly attack, constantly criticize. Look at Oakland. Look at St. Louis. Those cities, which are facing the same possible relocation of an NFL team, they’re dealing with the situation in a much more sophisticated, much more nuanced manner than the Mayor is here.” – Fabiani

Ouch. Very ouch.

However, at the end of all this, Fabiani offered a little carrot, a sliver of hope that the team and the local government can still work out their differences.

“Obviously, we’re out of time for 2015, and if the NFL owners in their judgment decide to move ahead with Los Angeles in 2015, then, no, it’s hard to see how anything can happen. On the other hand, if for whatever reason the Los Angeles decision was delayed by NFL owners for another year, which is certainly possible — it may not be likely but it’s possible — then, of course, you have another year to work on it.” – Fabiani

The NFL is holding a meeting amongst owners on August 11 in Chicago to talk about this very issue. If Faulconer and his colleagues can convince the Chargers, principally Dean Spanos, that they are committed to undertaking the process of a full EIR, regardless of how long it takes, the NFL could be convinced to extend its timeline.

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