San Diego Chargers’ next move probably isn’t Las Vegas

If you thought Madame Mayor fawned over soccer star David Beckham when he was in town pushing a stadium plan, Lord knows the cheerleading that would arise from City Hall should Las Vegas ever be seriously mentioned as a potential relocation spot for the San Diego Chargers.

Goodman is a big fan of the NFL team from the city of beaches and parks and a large active naval fleet, but I’m guessing she will have to continue traveling a lot farther south than the Las Vegas Strip to watch them.

It’s a long shot the size of UNLV beating Alabama after spotting the Crimson Tide a few touchdowns, but one that’s worth mentioning given the results of a certain initiative in San Diego on Tuesday: What are the odds the Chargers could become a viable option for the domed stadium in Las Vegas?

No one expected Ballot Measure C in San Diego to gain near the needed two-thirds majority — or 67 percent — to pass. Unlike in Nevada, where a special session called by the governor led to the State Legislature approving a stadium deal in Las Vegas that calls for a public contribution of $750 million, the people of San Diego were asked to decide whether to approve a stadium plan that called for $1.15 billion in public funding by raising the city’s hotel tax from 12.5 percent to 16.5 percent.

With 16 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, the measure was well on its way to failing badly, as 61.2 percent of the vote was against it.

It’s not the least bit a surprise. I lived in that city for 20 years. They had a better chance of the folks in San Diego agreeing to switch weather patterns with Fargo than passing a stadium plan at that level of tax.

“You could have the second coming of Christ on the ballot and it wouldn’t get 67 percent approval in this town,” said Nick Canepa, a longtime sports columnist at the San Diego Union-Tribune. “We had a fire here in 2007 that burned half the county. The next year, there was an initiative on the ballot for more firemen and fire equipment and fire stations. It got 63 percent. Nothing in this state gets two-thirds approval.

“If it means San Diegans have to vote for it, it’s not passing.”

It’s true that for the Chargers and Las Vegas ever to be seriously linked, something of a miracle would have to occur, meaning the city of Oakland suddenly offering any sort of legitimate stadium plan in hopes of keeping the Raiders.

Libby Schaaf is the Oakland mayor who continues to say she is determined to get a stadium deal done without “inappropriate use of public funds,” an obvious crack at the Las Vegas deal and yet apparently no closer to being realized in the Bay Area than it has been the past decade.

Mark Davis has told his fellow NFL owners that he intends on officially applying for relocation to Las Vegas after the regular season, and at no time publicly has the Raiders boss waffled on bringing his team here.

All signs point to it happening.

But should Oakland pull a last-minute silver and black rabbit out of its helmet and somehow keep the Raiders, would the Chargers choose giving Las Vegas a thought over being a virtual tenant to Rams owner Stan Kroenke in Los Angeles or take their chances, despite the direction Tuesday’s early results were headed, that something still can be worked out with the city of San Diego?

Would you see Chargers owner Dean Spanos, who spends a great deal of time in Las Vegas and has an office here, make a play for the town?

“Maybe at one point, Las Vegas was an option (for Spanos) to think about, but I don’t see him challenging Mark Davis and all the (Raiders) have going on there,” Canepa said. “When powerful owners like Jerry Jones (of the Cowboys) and Robert Kraft (of the Patriots) want something done, that’s what gets done in the NFL. They want the Raiders in Las Vegas, and I think that will happen. Davis is moving there.

“The Chargers could be 9-0 at this point in the season and (Measure C) would still have never passed. Performance of the team had nothing to do with this either way. It was never happening at two-thirds vote. It was impossible. And the Chargers knew that. These are not dumb people. I still believe they find a way to get something done in San Diego.

“The NFL wants them to stay here. Kroenke doesn’t want them in L.A. I could just never see them making as big a turn as it would be to think about Las Vegas if that option suddenly became available.”

It would take a lot, beginning with the Raiders bowing out.

That’s not happening, short of Libby Schaaf performing a miracle.

And those are still hard to come by.

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 columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.