San Diego’s football stadium advisory group has chosen Mission Valley as a site for the proposed stadium, it was reported March 11, with the formal announcement coming March 12. The decision to build a new playing home for the Chargers, the San Diego State University Aztecs, the two college bowl games and various special events at the site of Qualcomm Stadium was reached unanimously at a meeting March 10, U-T San Diego reported, citing an unnamed source. Tony Manolatos, a spokesman for the task force appointed by Mayor Kevin Faulconer, declined to comment on the U-T report. He confirmed an announcement will be made Thursday. Siting the new stadium was expected to be the easier of the two decisions the task force needs to make. The alternative is a location east of Petco Park that wouldn’t have been available for at least five years because it’s the site of a bus maintenance yard. Much harder will be the group’s other task, which is coming up with a way to pay for construction of a facility that is expected to cost $1 billion or more. The group – made up of real estate, land use and financial experts – is said to be considering a variety of monetary sources that can be packaged together. The financing plan is expected to be announced sometime in May. Mark Fabiani, the Chargers special counsel on stadium issues, also declined to comment. Chargers officials said last month that they’re looking at jointly building a stadium with the Oakland Raiders in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson in case they can’t get new homes in their respective cities. Backers of the proposed 72,000-seat stadium near the San Diego (405) Freeway in Carson will begin a petition drive March 12 in hopes of expediting the project by putting it on the ballot or getting immediate approval from City Council. With enough petition signatures, the project will go directly to Carson City Council, which can either approve the project outright or place the issue on the ballot. The initiative process allows the project to avoid lengthy and expensive environmental reviews. The group needs to collect 8,041 valid signatures from registered voters in the city to get the project before the council. — City News Service