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San Diego officials emerged from Monday’s meeting with the Chargers intent on attempting to hold a citywide election on a new stadium by December 15. The Chargers, unlike the city, made no statement regarding the plan to put the matter to ballot so quickly.

And there’s a reason for the silence. Per a source familiar with the team’s thinking, the Chargers believe it’s impossible, under the applicable election and environmental laws in the State of California, to conduct an election by December 15.

The Chargers specifically believe that, before the San Diego City Council or Board of Supervisors can place a measure on the ballot, they must comply with the California Environmental Quality Act. Compliance with the CEQA entails the completion and certification of an Environmental Impact Report, which the Chargers believes will take at least a year.

In this specific case, San Diego claims that the project can avoid the requirement of an Environmental Impact Report because a new stadium replacing an old stadium makes the project exempt from the CEQA. The Chargers believe that, given the size of the project, litigation challenging the city’s approach would be inevitable, which would tie the project up in court for years.

The Chargers apparently fear that the election will be held, the ballot measure will pass, and then the lawsuit(s) will be filed, delaying (and perhaps killing) the project and forcing the Chargers to explain to an electorate that approved the use of taxpayer funds for the construction of the stadium that the franchise can’t wait around for an outcome to the litigation. So the Chargers prefer an outcome that doesn’t entail a public vote.

There’s another reason for not having a public vote — the public in most states currently isn’t interested in voting to use public money to subsidize billionaire sports owners. So it won’t be easy to secure victory in a public election. The team’s concern is that it’ll be even harder to convert a successful vote into an actual new stadium, which that the Chargers could end up tapping the brakes on relocation just long enough to lose the race to L.A.