By: Gary Knight - For the North County Times
Friday, February 9, 2007
This month, the San Diego North Economic Development Council is focusing on sports and extreme sports as part of our overview of businesses that drive our local economy. The timing on this could not be better, since the San Diego Chargers announced in January that they would be looking at a location in Oceanside to build a new stadium development project.
What would it mean to San Diego North to have a major sports franchise located here? The most obvious thing would be the building of the stadium and the nearly $1 billion of development that the Chargers organization has planned for the site.
Then you need to consider the hundreds of jobs that would be associated with maintaining a professional team and the management of events at the stadium on a year-round basis. Likewise, the businesses that serve the visitors to the stadium and surrounding area would need to add personnel.
Along with that, add the millions of dollars that would be drawn each year to the restaurants, shops, hotels and other vendors that are in proximity to the stadium. People would come not only for football games, but they would stay and visit the other recreational and gaming destinations throughout North County.
Finally, you need to consider the publicity and prestige that is associated with cities that have professional football teams. This region is one of the top five tourist destinations in the United States and depends on this industry to help sustain the local economy. Los Angeles, on the other hand, has been without a professional football team for years, and that has hurt its reputation.
This major metropolitan city is absent on national TV every weekend during the football season, which is a major source of free advertising. The prestige of a national football team is one of the reasons Las Vegas contacted the Chargers about relocating to that city.
I know that there are problems associated with a major sports venue such as a professional football stadium. The area would experience a surge of traffic on days that events were being held. Yet, we have an unintended benefit from a light-rail system that is being built along the Highway 78 corridor called the Sprinter. People would be able to park at off-site locations and commute to the stadium. This would hold true for the Coaster as well, and help eliminate a lot of the game-day traffic.
The Economic Development Council has formed a committee called Keep the Chargers in San Diego, and I will keep you informed as the site selection moves forward.
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