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Chargers should pass on leaving Mission Valley
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Should they stay or should they go?.jpg)
The debate on where the San Diego Chargers will end up has been as big a topic in the off-season as how the team will do this fall.
According to Chargers Special Counsel Mark Fabiani, the organization has been discussing a possible site for a stadium in Oceanside for several weeks with representatives of a developer. Prior to this discussion, the team has also been looking at Chula Vista.
While the Chula Vista site seems to have cooled to some degree, Fabiani believes that having the team in Oceanside could be a good fit for a number of reasons, including a large fan base there and being closer to fans in Orange County and even Los Angeles, where there currently exists no NFL franchise in the nation's second largest city.
According to Fabiani, the Chargers are still looking at Chula Vista and Mission Valley as possibilities for a stadium.
If you build in Chula Vista, fans from North County have a long drive to see their team. Build in Oceanside and the reverse is true for the large fan base in the South Bay.
If I had the final call, the Chargers would be staying put right in centrally located Mission Valley.
The bulk of the team's history is in Mission Valley, with the likes of Dan Fouts, Charlie Joiner, Junior Seau, Stan Humphries, La Dainian Tomlinson, Shawne Merriman and many more having played on that field in a stadium that many of us still refer to as "The Murph" and not Qualcomm Stadium.
No matter what the official name of the stadium you go by, there is no denying fans have many good memories from the Mission Valley site and some tough losses too.
Having covered the team off and on for the last decade, I've had more than my share of games sitting in the press box. Yes, while the press box is antiquated, and the stadium has some creaks in it, it is still a good venue to watch a professional football game.
As I see it, the Chargers and the City of San Diego dropped the ball (no pun intended) when they chose years ago to not rebuild at the current site before it went shopping crazy with Ikea and the other many stores in the surrounding area.
If the team were to build a new stadium in Mission Valley, they would unlikely be able to add the amenities like shopping, a hotel, etc. that was one the early proposals for rebuilding there.
If the team were to rebuild the current stadium, they would have to find a temporary home while the current site is being renovated.
Wherever the Chargers end up, I'm hoping that Mission Valley is not totally out of the picture.
The current site holds a lot of tradition and here's hoping those memories are not just tossed away like a bad pass.
For another look on the Chargers and where they should play, see an article from San Diego Sports Examiner Gerald Nicado at:
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