SAN DIEGO – Stating it has not been done in more of a decade of discussions on the stadium issue, San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer said one of the primary reasons for creating an advisory group to study a new home for the San Diego Chargers is putting together a specific financing proposal that can be presented to voters.

“There’s never been a plan,” Faulconer told Dan Sileo of The Mighty 1090 AM radio. “There’s never been a plan that says, ‘This is how you finance it, and this is where it goes – these are all the hurdles that you have to do.’ There’s been a lot of back-of-the-napkin stuff. We’ve seen a rendering from time to time, which is all well and good.

The Chargers have played in the facility now known as Qualcomm Stadium since 1967. AP Photo/Gregory Bull

“But what I’m interested in – and I’m a dollars-and-cents guy, and that’s why I got elected – is we need to make sure that it’s a plan that works, and that there’s some real numbers attached to it. Without that specificity, we’re never going to get this done. I think we have an opportunity here during the spring, summer and early fall to get a plan that works and to build consensus on that plan because there hasn’t been that consensus before.”

You can listen to the full interview here.

Faulconer reiterated the two locations he asked the group to consider. One is a downtown location next to the San Diego Padres' Petco Park that could be a standalone facility or a joint convention center/stadium facility. Faulconer also wants the possibility of building a new stadium at the Qualcomm site examined.

Faulconer said the most important thing from a financing standpoint is what gives the city the best plan that the public is going to support and the best opportunity for success in getting a deal done. Faulconer is expected to announce members of the advisory group this week.

“I’m putting together a fresh group, a new group,” he said. “A group that I think is really going to help us get the dollars and cents. I’m not looking to litigate what’s been going on for the last 13 years. I’m interested here in the next spring, summer and fall of how we get to ‘yes.’”

Faulconer pointed to the effort to get a new stadium built for the Padres as an example of what the city can do for the Chargers if everyone works together. And he believes the current timeline for the task force finishing up work by early fall will give the Chargers enough time to make a decision on whether the team will stay in San Diego or relocate.

“I know it’s not going to be easy,” Faulconer said. “But it’s worth doing. It’s important to this city and to the San Diego region that we keep the Chargers in San Diego. And I can’t put it any more simpler than that.”