As someone who has had a close-up view of the Chargers’ stadium quest, I would like to offer a slightly different perspective on how we got to where we are today.

Although often dismissed, it’s important to recognize that Dean Spanos and his family have exhausted valuable resources, time, money and energy trying to build a new stadium and keep the Chargers in San Diego. Even though it has become popular to villainize the team’s ownership, doing so only provides a convenient escape route for politicians, hoteliers and pundits who have found seemingly endless ways to undermine a new stadium in our county.

Our group, the San Diego Stadium Coalition, has been closely involved in the stadium process for the past nine years. We have hosted virtual and in-person town hall events, spoken at City Council meetings, orchestrated statewide and local letter-writing and phone campaigns, and met with city leaders, business interests and citizens groups in an effort to find a solution to this seemingly simple civic challenge.

Throughout the process, we’ve come to the realization that getting anything of this magnitude done in San Diego is nearly impossible even with the support of the political power structure. Moreover, it’s completely impossible with a City Hall actively throwing up roadblocks and misinformation.


I still have a copy of the original letter Dean Spanos sent to then Mayor Dick Murphy on April 22, 2002, announcing his intention to work in good faith with the city. In it, Dean said, “My family and I want to do everything we can to keep the Chargers in San Diego.” Based on his actions, I firmly believe he meant every word of that statement.

Around 2004, the Chargers proposed privately funding a stadium in Mission Valley if the city would offer the land for development to help cover construction costs. However, the city attorney elected that year undermined the plan through a campaign of paranoia and disinformation, effectively killing it.

In the years that followed, the team invested time and money researching sites in Chula Vista, Oceanside and Escondido in an effort to build a new stadium. Our local political leaders have done virtually nothing to help. In fact, many of them have taken steps to insure it never happens.

Most recently, Dean Spanos and his team turned to downtown in an effort to solve the Convention Center expansion need and the stadium problem with a single solution. Newly elected Mayor Kevin Faulconer pledged his help when the idea was initially presented to him in 2014, but he failed to get the “mighty hoteliers” on board. So, with no other plan on the table and a tight NFL timeline, the Chargers spent $10 million on a downtown initiative that failed at the ballot box.


It is often said that time is the great arbiter of truth and falsehood. Occasionally, I’ve had doubts about information that the Chargers have provided. However, those doubts were erased over time as events played out and validated the team’s statements. The same cannot be said for many of the local politicians I’ve spoken with over the years.

There is plenty of blame to go around when assessing the current state of stadium affairs. Mayor Faulconer was slow to back the team’s efforts. Previous mayors simply dragged their feet for more than a decade. The City Council has been divided on the issue. The hotelier cabal wielded its disturbing level of influence to kill the team’s downtown initiative. And Dean Spanos could have done more community outreach while promoting Measure C to San Diego voters.

However, when the book is finally written on the San Diego stadium saga, it will show that our shortsighted city leaders exerted significant energy attempting to dodge the issue or actively kill (not create) solutions.

And, while Dean Spanos didn’t do everything right, he has done just about everything within his power to keep the team in San Diego.


Riggs is founder and chairman of the San Diego Stadium Coalition, a grassroots community group of volunteers that has been working with city leaders, business interests, citizens groups and the Chargers since 2008 to find a stadium solution in San Diego County.