San Diego County Grand Jury weighs in on Qualcomm Stadium

By UNION-TRIBUNE

Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 9:57 a.m.

Calling Qualcomm Stadium a losing proposition, the San Diego County Grand Jury has released its recommendations for the current facility and any new stadium that may be developed by any partnership between the city of San Diego and the San Diego Chargers.

The reports cites the city for annual operating losses of about $17.1 million after crediting net rents paid by the Chargers and other income from non-Chargers events and indicated the Chargers can afford more to relieve taxpayers of the economic burden.

"This was a Grand Jury initiated complaint, not a citizen complaint," said Victoria Stubblefield jury foreman, adding that the focus of the jury this year has been on helping the city of San Diego and the taxpayers save money.

She said polls have shown the taxpayers do not think they should have to support a profitable sports team, which the Grand Jury projected to have made $41 million for the 2008 season, excluding revenue sharing.

"The bottom line is Qualcomm is going to cost taxpayers a whole lot of money and they don't want to foot the bill," she said.

In its prepared statement, the Grand Jury wrote:

"The 2009/2010 San Diego County Grand Jury recommends that the City demand a long term lease with fixed rents, no risk of operating losses and use of the stadium for other public events. If the City proceeds with a new publicly financed stadium, the City should negotiate materially tighter terms with the Chargers than are currently in place."

The complete report is available on the Grand Jury’s web site at www.sdcounty.ca.gov/grandjury


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/19/grand-jury-weighs-qualcomm-stadium/