Exclusive: Ron Roberts confirms Spanos has contacted city

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – Monday 9:40 a.m. – In an exclusive interview with KUSI’s Good Morning San Diego, both Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Supervisor Ron Roberts confirmed they have spoken with Dean Spanos since NFL owners voted to give the Chargers the option to relocate to Los Angeles.

"We had a really nice conversation," Roberts told Lisa Remillard and Elizabeth Alvarez in a morning interview.

"The playing field has changed dramatically. The one that hasn’t changed the mayor’s commitment, my commitment to keeping the Chargers in San Diego."

Roberts stressed his confidence that the city could come up with a successful deal the Chargers without having to give write-offs or excess resources to the team.

"The door is open for us to actually sit down and have a real discussion. We need to have a negotiation. We need to have a discussion," he said.

Thursday 4:28 – Now that city officials have been given another year to work out a stadium deal, most everybody has an opinion about what’s going to happen.

According to Mayor Kevin Faulconer, to reach a deal, the Chargers needs to come back to the table with a stadium plan.

Without that, the only alternative is the Mission Valley plan.

The record began on Tuesday when the league sent the Rams to Inglewood and the Chargers back to San Diego with an additional $100 million to work out a stadium deal.

Tuesday evening, Mark Fabiani, spokesman for Dean Spanos, had back and forth emails from the city’s chief negotiator Chris Melvin. He also communicated with City Attorney Jan Goldsmith but offered no information on what was discussed.

On Wednesday, prior to his news conference, the mayor got a call from Commissioner Roger Goodell. 

Here’s the mayor’s official response: I reiterated that the door is open and Goodell reaffirmed the Chargers have two options." 

San Diego or partnering with the Rams in Inglewood.

Which may seem to contradict Ron Roberts take on the same conversation Wednesday night on 1090 Sports Riod. Roberts said the league has taken an acute interest in San Diego.

The mayor tried to call Dean Spanos and left this message: I indicated I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get together to discuss things positively and collaboratively."

Mr. Spanos didn’t respond, saying earlier he needed a few days to evaluate his options, including a framework or plan to partner with the Rams in Inglewood that was prepared by the league.

His banker, Goldman Sachs, is reviewing that plan.

Mr. Spanos had met with league officials on Wednesday in Houston, which was followed up with conference calls later in the day.

Clearly, at this point Dean Spanos is focused on Inglewood, not San Diego.

That’s set at $350 million, $200 million from the city and $150 million from the county.  The mayor said this is a fair deal.

Then Wednesday night, Ron Roberts on 1090 Sports Radio said it might be possible to rework parts of the Mission Valley plan to provide the team with more revenue without saying how.

He also said the door is open for downtown if that’s what the Chargers want.

All of this, of course, would depend on a public vote either in June, which is unlikely, or in November. If the vote fails, so does the stadium deal.

That’s where we are. Dean Spanos is evaluating his options.

San Diego is waiting for his response.