San Diego mayor visits Indy to discuss NFL stadium deal

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders on Wednesday embarked on a three-day, three-city tour to check out NFL stadiums and stadium deals.

Sanders is due to touch down in Indianapolis today or tomorrow. He also is visiting Kansas City and Denver.

While in Indianapolis, Sanders' staff said he'd meet with Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard among other local officials. Indianapolis Colts Senior Vice President Pete Ward said team officials were not aware of Sanders' visit.

Sanders is especially interested in the way Indianapolis and Indiana funded the stadium, the expenses of operating the stadium and the benefits the facility has on the city and region. Sanders is also keen on visiting Indianapolis due to the stadium’s physical connection to the Indiana Convention Center.

Lucas Oil Stadium opened as the home of the Colts in 2008 and was instrumental in securing Indianapolis its first Super Bowl, which will be held Feb. 5, 2012.

With all the rumblings in Los Angeles about building an NFL-ready stadium, Southern California sports business experts said Sanders is plenty nervous his city will lose its NFL franchise, the Chargers.

Chargers owner Dean Spanos for several years has been asking for a new stadium or massive renovations of the team’s current home. In recent years, Spanos has been asking ever louder, and hasn’t been shy about asking for taxpayer contributions.

Some understand Spanos’ requests and see the wisdom in Sanders’ trip.

“The downtown sports and entertainment districts around the country have been tremendously successful in generating new jobs and tax revenue, and that is part of what the mayor will see on his visits,” Chargers stadium spokesman Mark Fabiani told the North County Times, a San Diego-area newspaper. “In addition, Indianapolis has demonstrated how an NFL stadium and a convention center can be combined and work in tandem for the benefit of both.”

Others out West, well, they’re less empathetic of Spanos’ plight and more skeptical of Sanders’ trip.

“I think the days of municipal financing of these big sports venues are really over,” former city attorney John Witt told The San Diego Union Tribune on Tuesday. “I think it’s bad for everybody because government doesn’t have much money and they’re in debt. It seems to me ridiculous to look at this sort of thing.

“In this day and age,” Witt added, “the public is not only going to say ‘No,’ but they’re going to say, ‘Hell, no.’”