San Diego stadium vote expected to fall short

A few weeks before Election Day, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers tried to lead a last-ditch drive to rally support in San Diego for a new stadium.

The day has arrived, and it appears the drive stalled.

Voters in San Diego will decide Ballot Measure C, an initiative asking the public to approve a net 4 percentage-point increase in hotel room taxes that would provide $1.15 billion in funding for a proposed $1.8 billion downtown football stadium and convention center.

The Chargers’ stadium measure requires a two-thirds supermajority (67 percent of the vote) to pass, but it is projected to gain the support of 40 percent to 45 percent of voters in an election that will have major ramifications for Las Vegas’ pursuit of an NFL franchise.

If San Diego’s stadium plan receives close to 50 percent of the vote, Chargers owner Dean Spanos has said he would view it as an encouraging sign to move forward with efforts in San Diego instead of exploring relocation options.

“There’s a shot they can get 50 percent, and that’s all anybody is shooting for,” San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Kevin Acee said. “But it really doesn’t matter because they will give this another year.”

That would extend the tale of three NFL cities in California — San Diego, Oakland and Los Angeles — facing relocation questions into 2017 before any solid answers surface.

What happens in San Diego is worth watching because the Chargers are watching what happens in Las Vegas with the Raiders. In mid-October, when the Nevada Legislature approved a financing plan for a 65,000-seat, $1.9 billion domed stadium in Las Vegas — a bill that calls for $750 million in public funding from a Clark County hotel room tax increase — the wheels of relocation started to spin faster.

Raiders owner Mark Davis presented Las Vegas’ proposal at the NFL’s fall meeting Oct. 19 in Houston. Davis plans to officially file for relocation in January, and if or when it comes to a vote, the Raiders would need 24 of 32 owners to vote in favor of their move.

In January 2016, when NFL owners approved the Rams’ relocation from St. Louis to Los Angeles, the Chargers were granted a one-year option to move in with the Rams, and the option expires Jan. 15. But a clause exists that could allow the Chargers to extend their L.A. option to January 2018.

If the Chargers’ stadium proposal fails miserably at the polls Tuesday and the team does not get an extension from the owners, the rights to L.A. shift to the Raiders. If the Raiders do not remain in Oakland, and their deal in Las Vegas falls through, the Chargers could conceivably look at Las Vegas as a potential home.

Rivers publicly campaigned for stadium votes last month, and the franchise has San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer in its corner.

“Let me put this very simply: A vote for C is a vote to keep the Chargers in San Diego,” Faulconer said. “It’s also a vote for the future of our city. For 55 years, the Chargers have been part of who we are as a city.”

In February, Spanos hired Fred Maas as a special adviser to help develop the Citizens’ Initiative, the first step toward the creation of the stadium-convention center project. Maas issued a veiled threat to voters when he told the Union-Tribune, “There is a very fixed and firm opportunity (in L.A.) that far surpasses whatever the best opportunity may be in San Diego.”

Acee said he believes the Chargers will stay put and the Raiders will wind up in Las Vegas.

“The NFL wants the Chargers here, and Dean Spanos doesn’t want to leave,” Acee said. “I’ve heard from a lot of people for a long time the Chargers are staying.”

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp., who are partners with the Raiders in the Las Vegas stadium project.

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. Follow @mattyoumans247 on Twitter.