The Sports Xchange

Relocation might be just around the corner for the San Diego Chargers.

A deadline imposed by the city of San Diego for the Chargers to make a deal for a new stadium was set for Friday (Sept. 11). Both sides allow no deal will be in place Friday, and that could keep the issue off the ballot in January.

“Unfortunately, the city of San Diego made the fateful decisions to waste the first five months of 2015 on another task force and then to attempt to comply with California’s environmental laws with an unprecedented, legally flawed process,” said Chargers stadium project spokesperson Mark Fabiani, to USA Today Sports. “These mistaken decisions mean that there could not be a public vote before June 2016 at the earliest. In the meantime the NFL’s owners will be making decisions regarding the Los Angeles market, and the Chargers have said from the start that we will respect whatever choices the ownership makes.”

The Chargers play in the NFL’s oldest stadium. Now named Qualcomm Stadium, the structure opened in 1967. Taxpayers are not in agreement on whether to contribute to a new building.

A spokesman for the San Diego mayor’s office told USA Today the city is willing to return to the negotiating table with the Chargers to place the stadium plan on a June or November 2016 election ballot.

The Chargers, like the St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders, don’t likely have the time to spare.

Pushing back a deal between the Chargers and San Diego might cause the franchise to miss the window to apply for relocation with the NFL. That process is involved and requires approval of owners.

The Chargers and Raiders are advancing discussions on a project to share a stadium in Carson, Calif., to avoid being one of the teams that could eventually be housed in a coming stadium in Los Angeles.