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Chargers, City Postpone “Phantom” Seat Payment Talks

Chargers, City Postpone ‘Phantom’ Seat Payment Talks

Sports: City Has Been Invoiced This Season for Over $5M in Ticket Buys

BY MIKE ALLEN

Senior Staff Writer

Reacting to the latest twist in the ticket guarantee saga, the Chargers have offered to stop billing San Diego for so-called “phantom seats” and other “impacted seats” as part of the guarantee clause.

The offer, made in a letter to the City Attorney’s Office dated Nov. 21, states the team will not include 1,840 impacted general admission seats for purposes of calculating the ticket guarantee. The team proposes to wait until the end of the season to work out a mutual agreement between the parties on how much the city should pay.

“What we’re saying is let’s get this resolved at the end of the season,” said Ken Derrett, vice president and chief marketing officer for the Chargers.

The revelation that the Chargers were including non-existent seats in the ticket guarantee came to light following the Nov. 17 game against the San Francisco 49ers at Qualcomm Stadium. Although the game appeared to be a sellout, the Chargers billed the city for 666 seats to meet the minimum 60,000 attendance guarantee. The official attendance figure was set at 67,161.

The ticket guarantee, part of the city’s 1995 contract with the Chargers, requires the city to purchase any shortfall to 60,000 general admission seats for each home game.

So far this season, the city has been invoiced for more than $5 million in ticket purchases for seven home games, including two exhibition games. Since the ticket guarantee took effect in 1997, the total ticket purchases the city has had to pay is in excess of $30 million.

Mayor Dick Murphy said through a spokesman the city shouldn’t negotiate with the Chargers until a citizens task force, appointed this summer to study Chargers issues including possibly building a new stadium, has made its final recommendations to the City Council.

City Councilman Brian Maienschien said the Chargers’ proposal concerning the phantom seats is “a step in the right direction, but there’s still more that needs to be done.”

Up For Discussion

Maienschien said he and other members of the City Council had not been aware of any negotiations concerning the city’s contract with the team, but didn’t think there was any negative intent on the mayor’s part.

The council was expected to discuss the most recent flap concerning phantom seats in a closed session Nov. 26, but that was canceled and the issue likely will be discussed publicly sometime in December, said the mayor’s spokesman.

The 1,840 impacted general admission seats were created after the city was forced to make extensive changes to Qualcomm Stadium’s seating configuration as part of a 2000 legal settlement over allegations that renovations at the stadium did not comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

To comply, the city removed 673 seats to create wider spaces at certain aisles and make room for wheelchairs. According to the Chargers’ letter, the impacted seats that are part of the general admission ticket guarantee calculation include 680 semi-ambulatory seats, 295 seats to accompany wheelchair spaces and 192 obstructed view seats.

Derrett, of the Chargers marketing staff, said because of the ADA requirement, the team will always have to hold back the sale of a certain number of tickets.

In a related Chargers story, as of Dec. 1, the team has the ability to notify the city whether it intends to exercise a potential “trigger” to renegotiate its 1995 contract that supposedly keeps the team here until 2020. Should the Chargers prove the trigger has been met , generally that the team’s salary cap exceeds a league average , the team can reopen negotiations.

If the city and team cannot come to a new agreement, the Chargers have the ability to negotiate with another city. The Chargers have already been contacted by parties from Los Angeles, and this year signed a contract to move its summer training camp to the Los Angeles suburb of Carson.

The team has also made it known it wants a new stadium built so it can compete financially with other teams in the NFL.

A report from the Chargers task force on the 1995 contract, completed last month, concludes the team will likely invoke the trigger clause before the window expires on Jan. 31, 2003.

The task force report said even if the team proves it has met the triggering event, the city still has ability to block the Chargers from moving to another city by paying the team the difference in the shortfall of the team’s salary cap to the league average.

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