Full Video: The Great Stadium Debate!

On September 12, 2012, a room full of curious people came together to interact with leaders in a new style of debate.  The idea is simple: make it fun for people to engage in San Diego issues and learn about our awesome craft beer community.  The Craft Beer Debates have very simple rules:

1.  Answer the question. Whether from the audience, the moderator (Greg Koch of Stone Brewing Co.) or the other panel. No political double-speak please.

2. Embrace interaction. The audience is part of the debate, not just a recipient of canned answers.  Moderate booing, spontaneous questions and rousing cheers were all both accepted and encouraged! See for yourself, below.

3.  Explore great craft beer. We have a vibrant, innovative community and these debates are an easy way to learn about (AND TASTE) great craft beer.

The twin goals of every debate are (1) to give people a few facts about a local issue that( they can share with their friends) and (2) to enjoy the craft beer that is making San Diego one of the top global destinations for beer tourism.  Please click below to watch the debate. 

To keep this project going, I am looking for co-sponsors to help offset the costs. Click here to help.  There are four more debates in process, but the cost to put on each debate is about $800.  With the partial sponsorship of Scott Slater of Slater’s 50/50 my wife and I were happy to provide funding for the first debate, but raising the money for the next ones is important. The topics may include:

• Education – do we need pay for performance to improve schools?
• Infrastructure – where is the best place to invest in San Diego?
• Craft Beer – is mass produced beer better for the local economy?; and
• The Environment – does San Diego’s economic future depend better use of energy?.

 Before the video there are some quote highlights and a few key time stamps where questions and interesting exchanges occured. Enjoy!

Time Stamps

0:00-02:45 – Introduction of the idea and the format of the Craft Beer Debates

02:45 – Introduction and welcome of Greg Koch, CEO & Co-founder of Stone Brewing Co.

04:45 – Opening remarks of Jason Riggs, community activitist and founder of San Diego Stadium Coalition

08:25 – Opening remarks of Erik Bruvold, President National University Institute for Policy Research

13:00 – Opening remarks of Mark Fabiani, Special Counsel to the President of the San Diego Chargers

17:35 – (Audience Question) How have older stadiums that have stood for more than 50 years like those in Green Bay and Arrowhead been able to produce winning teams if you assert that we need a new stadium?

20:10 – (Audience Question) What is the evidence that the improvement around PetCo Park is from the stadium versus other factors?

24:35 – (Question from Fabiani) Since San Diego is a unique situation in terms of how the property is owned, how relevant are the other cities you (Bruvold) cited and why aren’t we talking about what the options are here versus those other cities?

28:15 – (Question from Ramirez) How do we prevent future development from further displacing residents and ensure it doesn’t contribute to gentrification and destroying the cultural heritage of the community?

31:45 – (Question from Riggs) What is a better investment of public tax dollars in terms of civic projects than a stadium deal?

32:44 – (Answer by Bruvold: this is one of several answers well worth watching)

34:50 – (Question from Bruvold): Since the Convention Center team says the multi-use site doesn’t work for them, to the extent a key partner has thumbed its nose at the idea, why do you think you can make it a success for San Diego as opposed to mostly a benefit for the team?

40:45 – (Audience Question) Can you each please address transportation and how you feel about downtown being clogged up worse than it already is?

45:45 – (Audience Question) How do you view the historic value of the current Qualcomm site and why is that site not a good venue versus building a new stadium?

Craft Beer Discussion: Q&A led by moderator Greg Koch: 51:05-73:30 (includes discussion of growler laws, Tijuana brewing community and more)

73:30 – (Question to Bruvold from Koch) Isn’t the stadium a great public benefit?

75:40 – (Question to Fabiani from Koch) Given that both San Diego Mayoral candidates say they don’t support public funding for a stadium, how can you get this deal done, will the economics work?

78:00 – (Audience Question) How much money from taxpayers wil be needed and can there be any equity share for the city?

**There is a very good exchange between the 80:00 – 86:35 related to alternative uses of resources and the upside for a multi-use facility.

86:50 – (Audience Question) With no more redevelopment, a big fuel plume under Qualcomm and coastal restrictions at the Sports Arena, aren’t those really not viable sites for development if the city were to try to sell them to generate revenue?

92:25 – (Audience Question) Do we have to sell our public land to make the deal for a stadium work?

98:00 – (Audience Question) Why shouldn’t we just put all this money into supporting the craft beer industry to generate better return on public investment and what kind of commitment will the Chargers make to increase the return on that investment by agreeing to local vendors such as craft beer community?

A few highlights:

“…we understand the need for a Project Labor Agreement and a Community Benefits Agreement modeled after the Staples Center agreement.” Mark Fabiani – What’s a Project Labor Agreement? Here and here

“Simply put, the NFL economics don’t work…and San Diego does not need to be on the short end of what is likely to be a very bad deal.” Erik Bruvold

“Let’s figure out how to get people from the airport to downtown on the trolley before we build a new stadium.” Christian Ramirez

“San Diego has become…a leading destination in the world for great beer.” Greg Koch

“…an equity share is not permitted by NFL rules, however profit shareholding is something we are open to.” Mark Fabiani

“We want to put the facts out there and let the people make up their own minds.” Jason Riggs

Thank you again for dropping by to see what this debate was all about.  There is quite a bit of information on the site about this issue and I look forward to planning other topics to explore local issues and quality craft beer in San Diego.