San Diego is the only one that hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Baltimore\u2019s experience suggests there\u2019s reason for optimism, but it also presents a challenge to America\u2019s Finest City.<\/p>\n
Getting back into the NFL requires an opportunity.<\/p>\n
What Baltimore did during its years without football was prepare for one.<\/p>\n
Before opportunity knocked<\/p>\n
Attorney Alison Asti joined the Maryland Stadium Authority to negotiate the Orioles\u2019 new ballpark lease, figuring it would be a brief career detour.<\/p>\n
When the NFL began discussing expansion, she stayed, eventually becoming executive director during her 17 years with the authority.<\/p>\n
Maryland created the Stadium Authority in 1986, two years after the Colts\u2019 departure. The threat of losing the Orioles accelerated development plans for Camden Yards, a former railroad and warehouse district near Baltimore\u2019s Inner Harbor.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the beginning, the statutory provisions provided for both teams,\u201d Asti, now a Maryland senior judge, said in an interview with the Union-Tribune.<\/p>\n
The authority could acquire property, arrange financing, oversee construction and manage sports facilities. Camden Yards would have room for two stadiums, though only one had a tenant.<\/p>\n
Maryland began assembling the 85-acre site through negotiations and condemnation proceedings, cleared portions of it and dedicated lottery revenue to repaying stadium construction debt.<\/p>\n
Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened April 6, 1992. With its brick exterior and enormous B&O warehouse beyond right field, it became a model for ballparks including Petco Park \u2014 and proof Maryland could deliver what it promised.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t a startup because we\u2019ve proven it with the Orioles,\u201d Asti said.<\/p>\n
Give Baltimore the ball<\/p>\n
Tickets sold out in two hours for an Aug. 27, 1992, exhibition between the Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints at Baltimore\u2019s Memorial Stadium.<\/p>\n
Baltimore\u2019s expansion campaign, known as \u201cGive Baltimore the Ball,\u201d intensified in 1993. The NFL planned to expand from 28 to 30 teams, and Baltimore was a finalist alongside Charlotte, Jacksonville, Memphis and St. Louis.<\/p>\n
According to the authority\u2019s 1993 annual report, buyers committed to all 100 private suites within six weeks of the July 1 sales launch and all 7,500 club seats within eight weeks. The Washington Post reported more than $8 million in deposits.<\/p>\n
Baltimore wasn\u2019t simply telling the NFL how much its residents missed football. Its residents were writing checks.<\/p>\n
The NFL awarded an expansion franchise to Carolina on Oct. 26, then selected Jacksonville on Nov. 30 in what was widely considered a massive upset.<\/p>\n
Years of preparation hadn\u2019t been enough.<\/p>\n
The authority\u2019s annual report described chairman Herbert Belgrad as \u201cdisappointed but not discouraged.\u201d He soon announced Maryland would continue pursuing professional football. Several existing NFL teams had expressed interest in relocating.<\/p>\n
Asti recalls Al Davis wanting a $20 million nonrefundable commitment to bring the Raiders to Baltimore \u2014 something Belgrad knew Maryland\u2019s legislature wouldn\u2019t approve.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bengals, really, I think they just wanted to be seen on the tarmac at the airport with our governor so they could get a new deal at home,\u201d Asti said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they were ever serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
The authority continued operating the Orioles\u2019 ballpark and took on responsibilities for expanding the Baltimore Convention Center.<\/p>\n
The NFL had rejected Baltimore again, but the city marched on.<\/p>\n
![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/SUT-L-chargersproject-1115-02.jpg\")
John Moag, chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority, lifts Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell arm in victory as Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening looks on as the three announce officially that the Browns will be moving to Baltimore after the football season ends during a news conference Monday, Nov. 6, 1995 in Baltimore. (AP Photo\/Ted Mathias)
\nA meeting overlooking Central Park<\/p>\n
On Sept. 18, 1995, Asti, Stadium Authority chairman John Moag and executive director Bruce Hoffman traveled to New York to meet with Art Modell in the Manhattan office of Al Lerner, a minority owner of the Cleveland Browns.<\/p>\n
Less than two weeks earlier, Moag and Lerner had conferred at Camden Yards the night Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig\u2019s consecutive-games record.<\/p>\n
Modell had invested in and operated aging Municipal Stadium. When the Indians moved into Jacobs Field in 1994, he lost baseball revenue while remaining responsible for a stadium that couldn\u2019t match the revenue potential of newer NFL facilities.<\/p>\n
Modell had served on the NFL\u2019s expansion committee two years earlier and hadn\u2019t supported Baltimore\u2019s bid.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy suspicion always has been because he was saving it for himself,\u201d Asti said.<\/p>\n
Asti recalls little difficulty in the negotiations. Maryland\u2019s expansion offer was precisely what Modell needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was really just a confluence of their needs and our opportunity that pulled us together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For weeks, lawyers negotiated secretly in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
On Oct. 27, Modell and Moag, with Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening present, initialed an agreement aboard Lerner\u2019s private jet at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Modell publicly announced his intention to move Nov. 6.<\/p>\n
Maryland committed to a publicly financed stadium initially estimated at $200 million and a 30-year tenancy without traditional rent. The team would cover operating and maintenance costs and receive lucrative stadium revenues. Subsequent agreements called for $34 million in team construction contributions and granted the franchise naming rights.<\/p>\n
Lottery-backed financing helped sell the deal politically.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are going to be some people who will never believe that things like sports should be paid for by tax dollars,\u201d Asti said. \u201cAnd our argument was it was not tax dollars because the only people who were paying were people that bought the scratch-off lottery tickets.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, you know, money is fungible, so you still had to sell it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Public dollars, however collected, could have been used for other purposes.<\/p>\n
Baltimore\u2019s gain was Cleveland\u2019s loss. A settlement allowed Modell to move his football operation while leaving the Browns\u2019 name, colors and history in Cleveland.<\/p>\n
The NFL approved the move Feb. 9, 1996. A new Cleveland Browns franchise began playing in 1999.<\/p>\n
The Ravens played their first two seasons at Memorial Stadium. Their new stadium opened in 1998, a $223 million project, according to the Stadium Authority\u2019s annual report.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/SUT-L-chargerspriojct-1115-01.jpg\")
A fan watches the Chargers\u2019 poor play against the Cowboys on Saturday, August 18, 2012. (KC Alfred, The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nWhy not San Diego?<\/p>\n
The Maryland Stadium Authority\u2019s 1997 annual report named San Diego among cities seeking information about Oriole Park\u2019s financing, design and operation. A year later, San Diego voters approved a ballpark for the Padres. Petco Park opened in 2004.<\/p>\n
Yet Maryland\u2019s institutional approach never took hold here.<\/p>\n
As chronicled earlier in our project, \u201cBolting San Diego,\u201d the Chargers spent roughly 15 years pursuing stadium possibilities<\/a> amid political turnover, competing development visions and deteriorating relations with City Hall.<\/p>\n The Chargers\u2019 final proposal<\/a>, a downtown stadium and convention-related development funded partly through higher hotel taxes, received voter approval of just 43.64%.<\/p>\n John DeBello, whose company helped produce advertising for the Padres\u2019 successful 1998 ballpark initiative and the Chargers\u2019 failed Measure C campaign, told the Union-Tribune this week that his team hoped for a simple majority to provide political leverage despite the two-thirds threshold.<\/p>\n The Chargers\u2019 improbable losses during the campaign<\/a> didn\u2019t help, but winning wouldn\u2019t necessarily have resolved who would pay for a new stadium.<\/p>\n San Diego is the nation\u2019s largest standalone metropolitan area without an NFL team. It\u2019s also the largest such market with a franchise in only one of the four traditional major professional sports leagues.<\/p>\n July 2025 Census estimates put San Diego\u2019s population at 1.41 million and Baltimore\u2019s at 570,000. Their metropolitan areas had 3.28 million and 2.86 million residents, respectively.<\/p>\n Nielsen\u2019s 2025-26 television rankings placed Baltimore 29th and San Diego 30th.<\/p>\n Baltimore sits roughly 40 miles from Washington, D.C., another NFL market. San Diego is about 120 miles from Los Angeles, now home to two NFL teams, and has its own distinctive regional and cross-border economic opportunities.<\/p>\n If Baltimore could assemble the political, financial and institutional resources to bring the NFL back, why couldn\u2019t San Diego?<\/p>\n A popular fantasy is that a multibillionaire will buy the Chargers from the Spanos family and bring them home \u2014 or emulate Rams owner Stan Kroenke, who financed construction of the $5 billion SoFi Stadium<\/a> with private capital.<\/p>\n Waiting for San Diego\u2019s version of Kroenke seems awfully unrealistic. His investment was a real estate and entertainment play in the nation\u2019s second-largest media market, with two NFL tenants.<\/p>\n San Diego still needs to establish whether it has the commercial demand and private investment necessary to support a multibillion-dollar stadium \u2014 and what role, if any, government would play.<\/p>\n Baltimore got a second chance because, when an NFL owner needed a solution, the city had one.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no guarantee San Diego will get the same opportunity. The NFL hasn\u2019t expanded since Houston joined the league in 2002, and its international ambitions could complicate domestic expansion. Nor does any franchise appear poised to abandon its existing market.<\/p>\n Continuity is key to success<\/p>\n Perhaps San Diego\u2019s version of the Maryland Stadium Authority should begin with a building it already has.<\/p>\n The city-created nonprofit that manages the San Diego Convention Center primarily operates and markets it. Expansion proposals have encountered waterfront property and financing disputes.<\/p>\n A different Measure C, supported by 65% of voters in 2020, began generating additional hotel-tax revenue in May 2025 after years of litigation. The city\u2019s Independent Budget Analyst warned this spring that the revenue could disappear unless long-term expansion bonds are issued by April 30, 2035.<\/p>\n There is some irony here. In 1998, the same year the Ravens opened their permanent home, the San Diego Stadium Authority ceased to exist.<\/p>\n Established in 1966 as a city-county joint powers authority, it focused on the Mission Valley stadium. Its successor, the Qualcomm Stadium Advisory Board, lacked independent governing and financing powers.<\/p>\n San Diego hasn\u2019t lacked financing authorities. The city and Port created one in 1996 to expand the Convention Center. The Public Facilities Financing Authority has helped finance Qualcomm Stadium\u2019s expansion and Petco Park.<\/p>\n The Chargers\u2019 final stadium efforts also contemplated new governing structures. The Citizens\u2019 Stadium Advisory Group recommended a city-county authority in 2015. Measure C envisioned a similar entity for the downtown stadium-convention center.<\/p>\n What\u2019s needed now isn\u2019t another authority created to solve one stadium problem. It\u2019s something closer to Maryland\u2019s model \u2014 a permanent institution with the expertise and authority to plan, finance and develop sports, entertainment and convention facilities across the region.<\/p>\n It could oversee Convention Center modernization and expansion in cooperation with the Port while retaining experienced operations staff. It could work across mayoral administrations, maintain relationships with developers and sports leagues, and evaluate NFL stadium feasibility.<\/p>\n The former Qualcomm Stadium property<\/a> is now part of San Diego State\u2019s Mission Valley development.\u00a0Any credible stadium proposal would require a viable site, transportation and infrastructure plans, and financing that doesn\u2019t presume taxpayers will subsidize it.<\/p>\n California state participation or regional cooperation might be necessary. Environmental review, public opposition and difficult financial decisions would remain.<\/p>\n Baltimore\u2019s model is worth studying because it provides continuity \u2014 not because it offers a way around accountability.<\/p>\n \u201cCity governments, they have a lot on their plates and a lot of different constituents pushing for different things,\u201d Asti said. \u201cAnd the single focus of a stadium entity is, I think, essential.\u201d<\/p>\n Later, she added: \u201cWe never could have relied on the city or the state to do it alone. They just didn\u2019t have the proper focus.\u201d<\/p>\n On Monday night, the Chargers will play in a stadium that exists because Baltimore began planning for its football future long before anyone knew what that future would look like.<\/p>\n If the NFL ever provides this city a second bite at the apple, will San Diego have spent the intervening years preparing for it \u2014 or will we be starting another stadium debate from scratch?<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s note: Almost 10 years have passed since the Chargers ended their 56-year run in San Diego and moved to Los Angeles. Over the course of this NFL season, this series will trace the stadium fight and decisions that led to the move, revisit the fans and community left behind, assess the Chargers\u2019 decade in Los Angeles and San Diego\u2019s life without them, and explore whether the NFL could ever return.<\/p>\n Our series: Bolting San Diego<\/p>\n Part 1: Nearly 10 years after the Chargers, one fan has no team \u2014 and no regrets<\/a><\/p>\n Part 2: \u2018We\u2019re still here\u2019: Die-hard Chargers fans root for team from San Diego<\/a><\/p>\n Part 3: What happens after the NFL leaves?\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Part 4: How San Diego\u2019s economy moved on from the Chargers<\/a><\/p>\n Part 5: Ten years after Chargers\u2019 departure, their old stadium site is being transformed\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Part 6: Why 9 stadium possibilities failed to keep the Chargers in San Diego<\/a><\/p>\n Part 7: 15 Years to Nowhere: How San Diego\u2019s Chargers stadium talks unraveled<\/a><\/p>\n Part 8: Rams host Chargers at SoFi, where the home-field advantage extends beyond football<\/a><\/p>\n Part 9: Measure C at 10: Inside the Chargers\u2019 final defeat in San Diego<\/a><\/p>\n