San Diego
A proposal to increase parking fees at Jack Murphy Stadium to $5 during Charger and San Diego State football games drew the ire Monday of the City Council, which postponed a decision for two weeks.
Led by Councilman Mike Gotch, who said the city was pricing average people out of the stadium, the council said it wants two other alternatives explored and more study done on increasing the use of public transit to the games.
“I think $5 on top of a ticket is a lot of money,” Gotch said. “I think it’s way out of line. What happened to the good old-fashioned sports event?”
Gotch, backed by Mayor Maureen O’Connor and Councilman Ed Struiksma, said the proposed fee would be a mistake along the same lines as when the city stopped fans from bringing their own beverages to the games and then allowed the stadium concessionaire to increase the price of drinks.
Deputy City Mgr. Jack McGrory said the city makes money on parking now, but that the parking fee needs to be increased, in part, to help offset the city’s overall stadium operations deficit, which is expected to be about $720,000 this year.
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