SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego City Council voted 5-4 Wednesday not to authorize talks with the San Diego Chargers regarding the team's controversial lease.

The team had offered to consider eliminating the most contentious elements of its 1995 lease, which expires in 2020. In exchange, it was seeking to get out of the lease early.

SOUND OFF Are The Chargers Important To San Diego?

The Chargers also want to pursue a 2004 ballot measure for a new stadium.

But most council members said Tuesday that the city needs to stick with the deal it has, though they faulted that agreement, saying it was approved before any current members were on board.

Councilman Michael Zucchet said that even "beyond the bad provisions -- the ticket guarantee being the most obvious," the 1995 contract is "terribly written," ambiguous and vague.

Video

Reaction To The City's Refusal To Talk

"But ... it is the only friend we have," Zucchet said.

Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani called the council's action "regrettable and unfortunate."

"We think the city has lost the last, best chance to get rid of the ticket guarantee and the trigger," Fabiani said.

He was referring to the city's guarantee of 60,000 ticket sales per game. It has cost the city more than $30 million since 1997.

The "trigger" refers to the window that opened on Dec. 1 allowing the team to be shopped to another city if it exceeds NFL salary restrictions. The team asserts the conditions were met last season and likely will be this season, too.

Councilmen Scott Peters, Charles Lewis and Ralph Inzunza, and Mayor Dick Murphy wanted the city to negotiate with the team. Inzunza said it wouldn't hurt to listen to the team.

"We are in a deal that just doesn't make sense," Inzunza said. "If we sit down and have discussions, this could prevent the infamous triggering event."

He suggested the team might be playing a game of "chicken" or bluffing about its ability to take advantage of the trigger clause.

"I find it hard to say no to talking," Murphy said

But Councilwoman Donna Frye said there was "no secret" about what the team was seeking. She said the team should be forced to trigger the out clause, then back up the claim with numbers.

Councilman Brian Maienschein said he was "suspicious" of the timing of the team's offer to negotiate, since the ticket guarantee will disappear in the contract's later years, when the team will be responsible for more rent.

Several council members referred to the fact that the city previously sought to renegotiate to get rid of the ticket guarantee, but was essentially told, "A deal's a deal."

The council heard from several members of the Citizens Task Force on Chargers Issues, which is charged with finding a fiscally responsible way to keep the team in town. They said they didn't want their work undermined, but several said it wouldn't hurt the city to talk to the team.

Bruce Henderson, a vocal critic of the contract from the beginning, is now on the task force.

"Please do whatever is necessary to hold the Chargers to their contractual obligation to play football in this town until 2020," Henderson said. "I suspect that nine of you want to do that."