SAN DIEGO
Voters have called the San Diego Chargers’ bluff, leaving the NFL team to decide whether to try one more time to get a new stadium built here or pack the moving vans for the trip up Interstate 5 to Los Angeles.
Measure C, which would have raised $1.15 billion from increased hotel occupancy taxes to help pay for a $1.8 billion stadium and convention center annex downtown, was defeated 57 percent to 43 percent. It needed 66.7 percent yes to pass.
The 110-page plan was written by the Chargers without input from City Hall, the powerful tourism industry, their would-be neighbors the Padres or other stakeholders.
Team chairman Dean Spanos, who angered fans last year with a failed attempt to join with the rival Oakland Raiders to build a stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, conceded defeat early Wednesday morning with half of the votes still to be counted.
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