July 28, 2016

Chargers Board Chairman, Dean Spanos, Presenting at Chamber Board Meeting

The Chamber Board of Directors voted to support the Chargers’ plan to build a multi-use sports complex and convention facility in downtown San Diego.

Following the Board’s vote, Chamber President & CEO Jerry Sanders – along with Dean Spanos (Chargers Board Chairman), Margie Newman (Chargers Initiative Ad Hoc Committee member and small business owner), and Nick Hardwick (retired Chargers center) – held a press conference to formally announce the Chamber’s decision.

“We take pride in being an action-oriented business organization that works to continually move our region forward.

After a thorough review of the plan we believe the Chargers Initiative is the best step forward in meeting the challenge before us: keeping our NFL team in San Diego and enhancing our convention industry.”

– Jerry Sanders, San Diego Regional Chamber President & CEO

Chamber President & CEO, Jerry Sanders, at Chargers Press Conference

While the Chamber team understands there are some risks to the Initiative, we believe the benefits far outweigh them.

A few key advantages of a downtown stadium:

• The opportunity to host future Super Bowls, continued revitalization of East Village, additional capacity for convention business
• An estimated 7,000 permanent jobs and 15,000 construction and construction-related jobs
• An estimated 1.85 million additional hotel room nights in the first ten years of operation
• An estimated $60 million per year increase in hotel room revenue

Furthermore, by keeping our NFL team, it will continue to increase San Diego’s perception as a “major league” city – this will be an important retention and attraction tool for companies, employees, and recruiters wishing to hire outside talent.

Special appearance by Chargers Coach Mike McCoy

A letter of support from Chamber Board Chair Ernesto Arredondo and Sanders was delivered to Spanos, which outlined several considerations the Chamber requested be addressed by the Chargers. Among them:

• The Tourism Marketing District be made whole at 2 percent
• Scheduling of games to best accommodate large events in the city
• Replacement parking identified for removal of Tailgate Park
• Appropriate community outreach to address infrastructure needs
• Absolute protection of the City of San Diego’s General Fund

Ad Hoc Committee Member & Small Business Owner, Margie Newman

The Chamber team plans to continue its conversations with the Chargers as necessary to address the outlined considerations and help facilitate the community dialogue related to the plan. For the full news release and letter to Dean Spanos, click here.

For more photos of the press conference event, click here.