No decision on Chargers’ game
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders will decide today whether the San Diego Chargers can play their scheduled Sunday home game against the Houston Texans at Qualcomm Stadium, which is a wildfire evacuation site.
Among the options is playing the game at Qualcomm on Monday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said.
“If San Diego says it would put less pressure on their public safety, we would move it to Monday,” Goodell said at league meetings in Philadelphia.
In a statement released Wednesday, a Chargers spokesman said, “The Chargers continue to have only one goal: provide Mayor Sanders with the time and flexibility he needs to make whatever decision [he] believes is in the best interests of the people of San Diego.
“The Chargers are fully prepared to implement whatever decision the Mayor makes, including either playing the game at Qualcomm Stadium or relocating the game to another facility outside the San Diego area.”
Goodell said only two alternate sites are being considered: the Dallas Cowboys’ Texas Stadium and Houston’s Reliant Stadium.
Although the Chargers are practicing at the Arizona Cardinals’ facility in Tempe, Ariz., that city’s Sun Devil Stadium is not being considered as an option, Goodell said, because Arizona State is playing visiting California there Saturday night. The Cardinals’ stadium in Glendale isn’t available because of a motorcycle show over the weekend.
If forced to relocate, the Chargers prefer Dallas, to avoid giving the Texans a home-field advantage.
A Chargers official said the mayor will base his decision on how many evacuees are expected at the stadium through the weekend, along with the feasibility of preparing and staffing the stadium in time for a game.
An estimated 8,000 people remained at the evacuation center Wednesday, with many of the displaced returning to their previously threatened homes as winds calmed. Fire containment was expected to increase through the weekend.
Earlier Wednesday, Sanders said, “We’ve definitely turned the corner in the city.”
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