Maybe it took the Chargers to leave town to get everyone’s serious attention.
But the report this week that San Diego big time developer Doug Manchester has sent a letter to the NFL with an idea for a Super Bowl size NFL stadium where Qualcomm Stadium now sits is getting attention.
According to the report in the Union Tribune, Manchester, who’s built and owned big hotels in San Diego and who owned the newspaper for a few years, has told the NFL that he has assembled what is reported to be “a powerful group of associates”
And in his letter, Manchester is reported to have said his plan with this group of powerful people is to privately finance, that’s right privately finance, a new 70-thousand seat stadium and development around it.
Some in San Diego are dismissing this as a Johnny come lately idea, with the Chargers having left and that the ball seems to be rolling toward the plan to build a smaller stadium for a Major Soccer League team and to be the home for the San Diego State football Aztecs.
But others say you can’t count out Manchester’s clout and successful record of getting things built in San Diego. The new Navy Broadway complex project downtown is on its way despite years of fighting attorneys and the bureaucracy.
We also know the mayor has had recent conversations with the NFL commissioner and we also know the Raiders may be having some funding problems for a move to Las Vegas and we also know there are owners in the NFL who want a team in San Diego. But only if we have a new stadium.
The devil is in the details of course, but if a successful developer like Manchester can come up with an actual plan for a new stadium where the Qualcomm dump sits now, and pay for it without any public money, then maybe, just maybe, San Diego can become an NFL city again.
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