The Chargers’ season may be over, but don’t expect them to leave the headlines. With Councilmembers David Alvarez and Kevin Faulconer meeting in six mayoral debates this month, you should at least find some Chargers news in the political pages. Here are my questions, and answers, for the candidates. Debate moderators, steal as you will.
Should there be blackouts? No. They may have made sense when budgets were driven by ticket sales instead of broadcast rights; the tickets were affordable, and the TV experience was poor. These days, a date and I could get a cheaper and better experience by driving out of the blackout zone and getting a hotel than going to Qualcomm. That doesn’t count the savings on a six-pack and pizza compared to concession prices.
The blackouts also hurt the wrong people. I often wear my #85 jersey to the hospital on game day. The patients who don’t smile tell me about their team (Yes, I do my best to help even Broncos fans). There is no way I, or they, can attend the game. Is an often futile effort to sell the last few thousand tickets worth taking the game away from long time Chargers fans who may be sick or mobility impaired? I think not.
Should we try to keep the Chargers in San Diego? Yes. I called Baltimore home in the CFL wilderness years between the Colts and the Ravens. From the emotional stories of Baltimorans, having your team sneak by night to Indianapolis on Mayflower trucks is clearly a wound that does not heal easily. (That the final balm was stealing a team from Cleveland is an amazing study in hypocrisy.)
Some cities are baseball first – Atlanta in the ‘90s comes to mind. Some have rabid fans of many sports, like Chicago. Some are football towns, either because they lack other teams (Nashville), because of long term futility in some sports (Cleveland), or because they just are. With no offense to the Padres, San Diego seems the latter.
Civic identity is important, and one way highly migratory San Diegans come together is as Chargers fans. Despite my Pennsylvania roots as a “Stillers” fan (Terrible Towel included), I was rooting for Succop’s kick to go wide. San Diego loses more than a possible income stream if it loses the Chargers.
Do the Chargers need a new city financed stadium? Let’s break that one up, something too few people do.
New stadium? Sounds like it. I haven’t been to Qualcomm lately; my friend with season tickets says he’s tired of dodging areas taped off for falling water or concrete, and feels bad for the people with a bad view
City financed? Maybe, at least in part. Not because I think the city coffers will recoup the investment dollar for dollar in tax revenue, and not because I think Dean Spanos needs a hand-out. Rather, I accept that successful businesses try to charge for everything they produce, even the warm fuzzies of civic identity.
In my ideal world, San Diegans would own our team as Green Bay does, and raise stadium money through “stock” rather than taxes. Unfortunately, the NFL won’t allow other cities to do that, so we’ll have to see if Spanos and the City Council can agree on a fair cost for the intangibles he provides. I’m not sure what it should be, but I’m sure it went up with this year’s play-off appearance.
