NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was among the many celebrities who attended the 2011 Celebration of Hope Gala on Wednesday night, an event that was hosted by ESPN’s Chris Berman to raise funds for the Huntington’s Disease Society of America. Goodell revealed at the event that he will meet with mayor Jerry Sanders on Thursday.

“It is just to get an update from the mayor on what is happening on the stadium front,” Goodell said. “It is not unusual for me to do that when I come into the city.”

Goodell said the Spanos family and the Chargers organization are committed to finding a stadium solution in San Diego that would keep the team here. “(The Spanos family) have been trying for 10 years,” Goodell said. “I think everyone recognizes a new stadium is needed in keeping the Chargers competitive. They have worked tirelessly to find a solution with the community and with the team.”

Team president and owner Dean Spanos said the Chargers and the city have made recent progress toward a new downtown stadium. “The city has hired an outside financial firm to help with the financing structure,” Spanos said. “Hopefully, that will come out in the next month or two. We will have definitive plan one way or the other if there is something that makes sense for everybody.”

When asked if the firm comes back with a positive plan for financing, then would than plan likely become the backbone for a 2012 stadium ballot measure, “Yes,” Spanos replied. “I think so, definitely.”

Goodell pointed out the NFL may also be able to help with financing part of the project because of the new collective bargaining agreement. “(Stadiums) are complex projects,” Goodell said. “They are expensive projects. They take a public and private partnership and the players have recognized that and are contributing to that.”

Chris Berman as host ofCelebration of Hope Gala

Photo by Dan McLellan

Plans are currently under way for a new stadium in Los Angeles which have fanned the speculative flames that the Chargers will move to Los Angeles if a stadium deal is not quickly reached in San Diego. “Not necessarily,” Goodell said. “Until there's an appropriate solution in Los Angeles, there won’t be a team there.”

While a possible new stadium was a hot topic at Celebration of Hope Gala, it did not detract from the event itself. The theme of this year’s event was NFL: America’s Passion. Guest speakers included NFL Network’s Rich Eisen, former NFL head coach Steve Mariucci, and NFL Hall of Fame players Marshall Faulk, Deion Sanders, and Michael Irvin.

Several San Diego sports celebrities were also on hand including Padres owner Jeff Moorad and former Chargers punter Darren Bennett and kicker John Carney.

The annual event is important to the Chargers family because the wife of the team’s media director Bill Johnston, Ramona, is in the advanced stages of Huntington Disease.

Huntington's disease is known as the devil of all disease because it is a disorder that is passed down through families, and nerve cells in certain parts of the brain degenerate. Until a cure is found, Huntington Disease will continue to take the lives of all those afflicted by it.

“Unfortunately (Johnston’s) wife became ill about eleven years ago,” Spanos said. “When he came to see me it was sort of out of frustration because he didn’t know what to do. He said, ‘I have to do something. Are you OK with (fundraising through the NFL)?’ I said absolutely. I feel very fortunate to help in any way that we can and so does the league.”

“The Chargers are like a second family to me,” Johnston said. “The Chargers and the NFL, they have been supportive since day one. Through (their) support you see the commissioner of the NFL here, you see Chris Berman of ESPN and you see the NFL Network crew here. They are here supporting us, helping us to find a cure for Huntington’s Disease and we couldn’t do it without their support.”

To learn more about Huntington’s Disease or find out how you can attend next year’s event, visit www.hdsandiego.org