As vote looms, 25% in San Diego back Chargers stadium
The San Diego Chargers face a difficult — if not impossible — task of getting their proposed new stadium approved by voters in November, according to a YouGov poll conducted this past week at the request of USA TODAY Sports.
The online poll by YouGov, an international polling firm, showed a quarter of San Diego adults strongly or somewhat support the proposal for a new, taxpayer-funded $1.8 billion stadium and convention center downtown. The poll showed more than half — 52% — strongly or somewhat opposed the measure, with 23% not stating a preference.
The poll was conducted Aug. 19-24 with a sample size of 196 and a margin for error of 7 percentage points.
To win the vote, the team needs two-thirds voter approval because it’s a tax hike for a special purpose in California.
If the vote fails, the Chargers have until Jan. 15 to decide whether to move to the Los Angeles suburbs, where they would share a lucrative new stadium with the Los Angeles Rams.
“We knew it was a tough climb when we got started,” said Fred Maas, the Chargers’ special adviser on the stadium initiative. “It’s a tough climb today, but I’m an eternal optimistic. I believe that when people really understand that this is about so much more than just football, that it’s about who we are as a city and how important this team is to the fabric of our town, hopefully we’ll persuade people. ... We’re not in de- nial about the climb we’ve got.”
Maas questioned the accuracy of the poll by YouGov, which conducts scientific polls online. In response, a company spokeswoman said its online polls were trustworthy because traditional phone research polls weren’t as effective at reaching younger people. She said YouGov’s results were balanced by gender and age and that Pew Research showed the company consistently outperforms competitors on accuracy.
The message from the YouGov data jibes with what the Chargers know: They have a long way to go to get to two-thirds approval. If they at least reach the simple majority threshold, it’s conceivable they would have enough political influence to induce a different stadium solution in San Diego using other public funding sources.
Maas told USA TODAY Sports the campaign’s polling has found a “healthy Chargers base vote” of about 40% to 44%.
If the vote fails, the team doesn’t have a clear Plan B in San Diego except to play indefinitely at outdated Qualcomm Stadium. The team could keep trying to find a stadium solution in San Diego if the vote fails, though it’s unclear where all the money would come from after losing an election for public funding.
Asked about options if the vote fails, Maas said team owner Dean Spanos told him he was only focused on winning this vote.
“I don’t enter this season thinking about next season,” Maas said.
Maas described the ballot measure’s foes as those who “want to send the Chargers back into L.A.”
The campaign has run digital ads that attack city councilman Chris Cate, who has said the pro- posal is a bad deal for taxpayers. “Why does Chris Cate want the Chargers to leave San Diego?” the ads say. “Please call and ask him.”
The team’s proposal seeks to increase hotel room taxes from 12.5% to 16.5% to help pay for the $1.8 billion project. If the ballot measure succeeds, that tax revenue would repay bonds for about $1.15 billion of the stadium and convention center’s costs. The other $650 million would come from the team and the NFL.
The team Wednesday unveiled a study by a destination real estate consulting firm, Hunden Strategic Partners, that said the project was expected to increase hotel room revenue by more than $750 million over its first 10 years. The study was funded by the stadium campaign and commissioned by Conventional Wisdom, another consulting firm hired by the Chargers’ campaign.
The Hunden study counters other recent studies from a hotel industry consultant and local taxpayers association that criticize or oppose the measure.
“I think the real risk is folks not educating themselves on what they’re about to lose if they don’t make a positive choice,” said Rob Hunden, president of the firm that did the study.