Chargers Compromise in Lease Dispute

The San Diego Chargers will stop accepting payments from the city for unsold tickets in exchange for binding arbitration in a dispute over an escape clause in their Qualcomm Stadium lease.

The team said in a news release that it will pay the city $1 million in rent for this year and next and refund $3.6 million for unsold tickets, as it seeks to build a stadium. The team has said it would pay for the project if it can develop the rest of the 166-acre stadium site.

A spokesman for San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy declined to comment. San Diego-area groups, including the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Labor Council of San Diego and Imperial Counties, suggested the move to end a dispute between the city and the team over the Chargers’ lease at 36-year-old Qualcomm Stadium.

“This proposal from labor, business and community and business leaders goes beyond anything the Chargers have so far offered to the city,” team spokesman Mark Fabiani said.