If you build it, they will come.
That was Roger Goodell's message to the city of San Diego on Saturday.
During a downtown rally for the team's proposed new stadium, Goodell told the estimated 4,000 people in attendance that the city would likely be rewarded with a Super Bowl if funds for the Chargers' new stadium gets approved by voters in November.
"I'm confident that if they can get a stadium built here, the owners will want to support it with a Super Bowl," Goodell said, via ESPN.com. "I think that's what this community deserves, and we're all going to work to try and find a solution."
Roger Goodell with Boltman. My day is done pic.twitter.com/PZuBEqsQ8k
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) April 23, 2016
San Diego hasn't hosted the NFL's biggest game since January 2003 when the Buccaneers beat the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII.
The NFL Commissioner was in Southern California to help kick off a ballot initiative for the Chargers' new stadium.
The team has to collect 66,447 valid signatures by June just to get the initiative on the ballot in November. If the team doesn't collect the appropriate amount of signatures, then the initiative won't get on the ballot and there will be zero chance that the team gets a new stadium.
The Chargers' goal is to collect 100,000 signatures, just in case there's any issue when it's time for the signatures to be certified in June.
If the team gathers the appropriate amount of signatures, then San Diegans will get to vote in November on the new stadium. If the initiative passes, San Diego's hotel room tax would jump up four percent, which would help pay for the $1.8 billion stadium. The stadium would also include some much-needed convention center space.
Of the $1.8 billion in costs, the NFL and the Chargers will be chipping in a total of $650 million. The stadium itself -- minus the convention center -- is expected to cost around $1.1 billion.
At the downtown event on Saturday, Goodell was joined by Chargers head coach Mike McCoy, general manager Tom Telesco, cornerback Jason Verrett, Philip Rivers, LaDainian Tomlinson and team chairman Dean Spanos.
Goodell made it clear that he'd like to see the Chargers stay in San Diego.
"I think the Chargers belong in San Diego," Goodell said. "I think this is a great community, a great fan base. Everyone has acknowledged that we need a new stadium. The great thing I love about this proposal is it's more than a stadium. You're addressing not only the stadium, but you're addressing needs with the convention facility."
Despite everyone's optimism, Spanos admitted that nothing in the next few months is going to come easy.
"We have a tough road ahead of us," Spanos said, via the San Diego Union-Tribune. "We have several big objectives we have to complete before the end of the year. Obviously, one is to get these signatures in a very short amount of time, get this on the ballot and win it."
If the team collects the needed signatures, then voters in San Diego will have the choice to approve the stadium initiative during the Nov. 8 election.
