There's a lot of uncertainty surrounding the San Diego Chargers, but a couple of news items on Monday might start to clear some of it up.

San Diego announced a financing plan for a new $1.1 billion stadium for the Chargers on the same day that longtime owner Dean Spanos shifted day-to-day operations of the team to his sons John and AG. According to ESPN.com, Dean Spanos will remain chairman of the board of directors and oversee efforts to get a new stadium ... wherever that ends up being.

San Diego wants to keep the Chargers, with the threat of Los Angeles getting a team cropping up again. The $1.1 billion stadium would be paid for, under the plan released by Mayor Kevin Faulconer's task force, by the team, the NFL, taxpayers (of course), and fans who attend games according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The plan, according to the Union-Tribune, would include $200 million from the NFL, $300 million from the Chargers, another $300 million in rent payments from the Chargers at $10 million per year over 30 years, and $120 million each from city and county taxpayers. Taxes would not increase, the Union-Tribune reported, because the money would come from each agency's general fund over a 30-year period. Another $111 million would be generated by parking and ticket surcharges and $120 million would be raised from personal seat licenses. There would be rent increases for San Diego State football, the Holiday Bowl and Poinsettia Bowl too.

The plan became more urgent with another juke toward Los Angeles, a bluff the NFL has successfully run for 21 yearsto get taxpayers to pay for new stadiums.. The shift in Chargers ownership responsibilities doesn't seem to change much for the team when it comes to the stadium issue, or anything else really. Michael Gehlken of the Union-Tribune said that John and AG Spanos, who are 35 and 36 years old respectively, have been effectively running the team for a while. John will be president of football operations and AG will be president of business operations, ESPN.com said. Dean Spanos will still work on the stadium issue, which is the biggest question the Chargers face in the near future.

 

sports.yahoo.com

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