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This was submitted as an idea to the Politifest 2012 Idea Tournament. VOSD members will vote on the best ideas and on Sept. 19 we’ll announce six contenders (Not a member? Join now to vote). At Politifest on Sept. 29, each of the six finalists will have five minutes to pitch their idea to a panel. The panel rates the ideas and two finalists advance. The crowd at Politifest will vote on a winner. The winner will receive an “idea-inspired” trophy custom-designed by former City Councilwoman Donna Frye. VOSD CEO Scott Lewis will also write about the winner’s idea.
To fund a new stadium for the Chargers, the city should consider selling season tickets at a sliding scale rate. Basically the more money a donor provides, the longer their seats are secured for. Also, larger donors in the $5,000-plus range should receive some sort of stock in the team à la the Green Bay Packers.
In order to generate public interest in this model, the Chargers should agree to the following cuts to curtail game day expenses on fans:
1. No more parking fees.
2. No exclusions on bringing outside food items into the stadium. Outside drinks will still be prohibited.
The largest factor which keeps Qualcomm Stadium at half capacity on game days is cost. Utilizing this model, the fans pay much more up front, but have their weekly expenses reduced in the long run. Plus, the stock options will allow fans to actually make money off the team. It will not only be entertainment, it will be an investment. Qualcomm’s current capacity is 71,500. If that amount invested an average of $5,000 each, they would generate $375.5 million towards a new stadium.
A new waterfront stadium has an estimated cost of $2.5 billion, so it is not hard to imagine, given the correct incentives, that the general San Diego populace could in fact fund at least half of this project. You just have to give them a reason to do it, and in this case there are two. Increased game-day satisfaction and the ability to make money off the stadium in the long run.
Dryw Keltz submitted this idea to the Politifest 2012 Idea Tournament. Join us on Sept. 29!