San Diegans will choose between two Mission Valley stadium site redevelopment plans on Nov. 6. If both SoccerCity (Measure E) and SDSU West (Measure G) secure majority support, the measure with more votes wins. If only one gets a majority, it wins. If neither do, the city will weigh other options to redevelop the site. The San Diego Union-Tribune asked each side a series of questions. Here are the responses from Measure E proponents.

Union-Tribune: Why should voters support this measure?

SOCCERCITY: Measure E is the plan for everyone in San Diego. It’s our best opportunity to transform a crumbling drain on taxpayers into a vibrant space that every San Diegan can enjoy.

The 100 percent privately financed SoccerCity project is a welcome change for sports fans, who will get a new major league sports team without being asked to shell out tax dollars for the team’s home. In addition to a new Major League Soccer team, we also have committed to sharing a 33,500-seat stadium with SDSU football and providing 35 acres of land for the university’s expansion. The rest of the plan perfectly aligns with the Mission Valley community plan update, which calls for precisely the same mix of uses for the site. Our plan is what the public has said they want and what the city’s general plan says we need — a mix of housing, offices, entertainment and retail, and parks served by convenient transit.


No other plan will deliver MLS, and no other alternative (Measure G or no on both) will provide the enormous tax and community benefits to San Diegans as quickly or at the level of Measure E. Measure E has something for everyone.

RELATED | Measure G: SDSU West explains why it should beat SoccerCity

Union-Tribune: How will it be funded? And what public dollars are being used?

SOCCERCITY: Measure E’s plan is 100 percent privately financed. We’re proud that our plan requires no taxpayer support, no raiding of park funds, and no tuition or student fee increases. We’ll also actually pay the full, independently appraised fair market value for the land. Unlike Measure G, Measure E purchases the land for the river park and privately funds its construction, as well as covering ongoing maintenance costs for 99 years. (Measure G leaves the park land in the city’s hands and has no commitments to funding its construction or maintenance in any way.)


Measure E also delivers far greater tax revenue to the city and schools than Measure G. SoccerCity will pay full property tax on the land, whereas developers leasing land from the CSU system will not; this would deprive K-12 schools of hundreds of millions of much-needed dollars. The San Diego County Taxpayers Association’s analysis confirms that Measure E will deliver twice as much financial benefit to the city as Measure G.

Finally, Measure E’s joint use stadium will save SDSU $150 million in stadium construction costs, protecting students from fee increases and allowing those savings to go toward academic uses.

Union-Tribune: What is the timeline for construction? (Start and end)

SOCCERCITY: SoccerCity is a comprehensive plan with details and a full suite of environmental reports, so voters know exactly what they are going to get. The stadium and park construction will commence immediately upon execution of the lease with the city, with both to be completed by 2021. Construction on the housing, retail and office will begin in the first phase as well, with delivery timed with the market for each of these uses. We expect full site build-out within 15 years — again, with some dependence on market conditions.


Measure E’s timeline would have San Diegans enjoying the project and its significant support for the city budget before any other alternative is likely even to break ground.

Union-Tribune: What specific sorts of development are required by the measure?

SOCCERCITY: In addition to a new stadium and community river park, the initiative requires a mixed-use development that matches the updated Mission Valley community plan.

Measure E is the only plan that requires a blend of housing, office and retail that complies with the city’s Climate Action Plan. Putting housing and offices next to a transit station, along with retail to serve the site’s residents and workers, will reduce vehicle use and greenhouse gas generation. The initiative has a hard cap of 71,000 vehicle trips each day, which means that once that cap is reached, no more permits can be pulled. It’s an indicator of the confidence we have that residents and workers at SoccerCity will use alternate means of transportation, including the trolley that serves the site and the new bike path connections to existing and planned bike infrastructure.


Unlike Measure G, which is a “plan to plan,” voters know what they are going to get with SoccerCity. The Specific Plan in the initiative lays out what is to be developed, plus the privately funded infrastructure improvements to be built alongside. Some of the key public benefits required in the initiative are: a new stadium, river park, community playing fields, and 10 percent affordable housing on site.

Union-Tribune: Why shouldn’t voters just vote no on both?

SOCCERCITY: San Diego has spent 15 years weighing in on what should go on the Mission Valley stadium site. Every proposal made for the site, including the two proposals before voters now, has included a stadium, river park, housing, and office and retail. This is also what was proposed for the site after a long, robust public process to update the Mission Valley community plan. Thus, there’s little question of what will eventually go on the site; the only question is how long it will take, who pays for the public benefits and how much the taxpayers will receive as a return on this asset. On every one of these questions, Measure E is the best answer.

Measure E delivers a new professional sports team, privately funded stadium, privately funded river park, full fair market value for the land, full property taxes — and does it all quickly, not after years of political wrangling and delay. A vote for either Measure G or no on both unquestionably saddles taxpayers with at least another decade bearing the burden of operating the dilapidated stadium to the tune of $6 million per year.


The “sacred RFP process” envisioned by the no-no crowd is an illusion. The reality is that if San Diegans reject both, the property will ultimately be put into the hands of whichever developer has curried the most favor of the council members at the time — leaving little chance that the eventual deal will approach Measure E’s unprecedented promise of privately funding what typically falls on taxpayers. This is something that should be decided by the people, not five council members.

No other plan will deliver Major League Soccer, and no other alternative will provide the enormous tax and community benefits to San Diegans as quickly or at the level of Measure E.

Stone is project manager of SoccerCity; Boling is former chair of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association; Donovan, former Major League Soccer most valuable player, is a SoccerCity partner.