Should San Diego Chargers fans worry about Ed Roski Jr.? I'd say, yes, absolutely. He's not only a billionaire, he's not your everyday, nutty billionaire. Roski has a pedigree that does not include "rash." He has a reputation of not doing things willy-nilly.

Last week, when Roski proposed building an $800 million NFL stadium on 600 acres of pre-zoned land he owns in the lovely City of Industry – about 20 miles east of L.A. – I wondered aloud: "What's in it for him?"

There could be something in it for him, even if it doesn't include ownership of the team – or even a smidgen. There could be plenty in it for him, no matter if every pie-in-the-sky stadium proposal that has come up since L.A. lost the NFL in 1994 has gone into the La Brea Tar Pits.

And, of course, the Chargers immediately came to mind, because they're looking for new digs and can take off following the 2008 season. Do not rule that out.

The team may be looking at a few sites in Chula Vista and Spanos ownership has spent around $10 million to secure a spot in San Diego County, but while this area may be first on their list, they want a new stadium, and if they don't get one in Chula Vista, there will be suitors.

Quite possibly from Roski, who has business ties to the Spanos family, and things can be put together that won't hurt him very much. Football stadiums traditionally aren't making money unless the tenants own the team and the facility, but Roski is different.

He already owns those 600 acres, which have been zoned, and an environmental impact report has been done. Think about it. The Qualcomm Stadium property is 166 acres. Granted, its ground has more prime to it than City of Industry, but Southern California is Southern California.

It isn't likely Roski would get a piece of the team. The Spanoses aren't selling. I can't believe they'd even sell a piece, because owner Alex has promised he won't. If he sells 1 percent, he has lied.

But Roski may not need a percent of anything. And here's why.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is building a new billion-dollar stadium and reportedly will get up to $600 million in personal seat licenses. Now, if Roski can get, as suggested, $450 million from PSLs, and then another $150 million from the NFL for building a new stadium, add it up.

That's $600 million, and there are plans to build around that new palace in lovely City of Industry. Some of it could be developed as warehouse space, where Roski has made zillions, and warehouses fit in nicely in the City of Industry. There would be mixed-use development. Malls. An entertainment complex. You know.

Roski realizes he can't stick a shovel into the ground – which he hopes to do this fall and finish by 2011 – without a secure tenant. But he could know if the Chargers are available by then. In fact, he will know.

So the Chargers, lame ducks, would play in the Coliseum or the Rose Bowl, until it's done. Do not laugh.

By summer, we all will know if Chula Vista is going to work. The clock is running. This team could have a place to go.

There are obvious problems in California. The three oldest – and worst NFL stadiums – are in this state. But, when billionaires start throwing land and stadiums around as if they're condiments, well, eyebrows should be raised.

"I don't want to get into his stadium at this point," says Mark Fabiani, who has been the Chargers' point man on new stadium issues here for six years. "A football stadium, by itself, doesn't pencil out (as a profit-maker), never has. But property has been known to increase in value from a stadium being there."

Roski is smart enough to know that.

As I was told yesterday: "Don't short-change Roski."

I don't know if I'm getting good vibes out of Chula Vista, and that's the last option around here, in that San Diego's City Hall has the spine of an invertebrate.

A whole lot of San Diegans don't trust the Spanoses, even though the family has thrown millions into staying here and has done its fiscal best to keep its team among the most talented in football.

My guess is that Roski probably trusts the family.

But the Chula Vista vibes bother me. We're going to know soon.

"I would have hoped this could have been settled long ago," Fabiani says. "We're down to our last option."

It all depends on what happens with the Gaylord labor project fiasco in Chula Vista, which could be decided soon, and whether the Chargers can be allowed to build on the preferable power plant bay front site there, or far east, where there is Ponderosa land but little infrastructure.

When asked, if he were a gambling man, what might happen in Chula Vista, Fabiani says:

"There's not enough information to make a smart bet. We're still trying. We're still spending money. We're open to ideas. But, in California, there are no 1lth-hour solutions."

Unless the solution is Ed Roski Jr.

This development, I tell you, is not good. San Diego has to wake up and smell exhaust from the Bekins vans.

Ed Roski Jr. very well could be our Zola Budd.