San Diego civic leaders meet with NFL executives to keep Chargers from moving

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer gave an upbeat assessment Tuesday after a three-hour meeting with an NFL executive about the civic effort to build a new stadium to keep the Chargers from leaving for Carson.

“The game isn’t over,” Faulconer said.

City and county officials plan to meet Aug. 10 with an NFL owners committee in Chicago to press the case for keeping the Chargers in San Diego rather than allowing them to move to Carson where the team has announced plans for a joint-use stadium with the Oakland Raiders.

NFL executive vice president Eric Grubman, as he prepared to leave for Oakland, said the proposed design of a replacement for aging Qualcomm Stadium “has all the key elements we would expect at this stage.”

Also attending the meeting were a Chargers representative, county Supervisor Ron Roberts, San Diego city attorney Jan Goldsmith and Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego).

A possible financing plan that includes “very significant funding from NFL and Chargers sources,” along with public financing, was discussed, Grubman said. He noted, however, that “lots of questions were asked but there no negotiations.”

The Chargers broke off negotiations in mid-June -- calling the effort at a hurry-up environmental impact report a waste of time and taxpayers’ money and destined to become snared in litigation. Undeterred, Faulconer convinced the City Council to spend $2.1 million on such a report. On Tuesday, Faulconer said the report would be ready for public review by the Aug. 10 meeting in Chicago.

But the Chargers’ refusal to negotiate a potential financing plan for building a stadium remains a sticking point. Faulconer has pledged to submit any plan for a public vote, by January at the latest, the same month the NFL may decide on relocation requests from the Chargers, Raiders and St. Louis Rams.

With the Chargers declining to negotiate, the potential for a financial plan to submit to voters appears to evaporate.

Atkins said that she is prepared to get the state legislature to extend to San Diego the same protection from lawsuits accorded to stadium proposals in Los Angeles, but only “if an agreement is reached.”

Despite the lack of a current “negotiating partner,” Faulconer, Roberts and Goldsmith were confident that the civic push is gaining momentum.

“San Diego is prepared and equipped to negotiate and construct a new stadium on whatever schedule the NFL determines best for the league,” Roberts said.