San Diego Mayor Seeking Inspiration for New Stadium for the San Diego Superchargers

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has embarked on a three-day nationwide tour to explore downtown sports and entertainment districts in order to get ideas for what might work locally in the pursuit of building the Chargers a new football stadium. Signon San Diego reports that Sanders will be joined by chief of staff Julie Dubick, deputy chief of staff Aimee Faucett and Fred Maas, a former San Diego redevelopment official.

As our local expert Alex Girda reported, California is buzzing with the stadium fever as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland and Santa Clara are all adhering to this wave.

The tour comes one week after the Los Angeles City Council gave provisional approval to a $1.5 billion deal to renovate the convention center and build a football stadium. The developer, AEG, intends to choose a team and start construction within a year. The Chargers will need a new home as the team’s lease is the easiest to break out of the seven teams that are considered as potential tenants in the Los Angeles stadium.

Mayor Sanders and his team will visit Kansas City, Indianapolis and Denver in an attempt to envision how San Diego might remake its own downtown. Although some voices have suggested the renovation of the Qualcomm stadium, Sanders is drawn towards a new facility in downtown which he expects to draw a lot of business opportunities.

A design for the new Chargers stadium as well as other news-making projects and proposals has been nominated for the Orchids & Onions awards. The event sponsored by the San Diego Architecture Foundation first took place in the 1970s with the goal to offer positive and negative examples to influence future development and design.

The jury is made up of architect/developer Craig Abenilla, architect Jim Gabriel, landscape architect Marian Marum, planner Brooke Peterson, interior designer Michael Soriano, hotel developer Robert Watson and April Game of the San Diego Fine Art Society.

The results will be announced in October in a ceremony and silent auction at the Balboa Theater.