Sources: Chargers plan to announce move from San Diego to Los Angeles

[JonLP24]

Almost one year to the day that the Rams moved to Los Angeles, the Chargers now are planning to do the same.

The Chargers plan to announce as early as Thursday that they are moving to Los Angeles, ending a 55-year stint with San Diego and returning to their birthplace, league sources said.

The Chargers played their inaugural season in Los Angeles in 1960 before moving to San Diego in 1961.

The Chargers have notified NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and other league owners, of their intent to move to Los Angeles for the 2017 season, sources said

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/18455802/chargers-expected-announce-move-san-diego-los-angeles

[KamaAina]

1. Just what my favorite Chargers fan doesn't need to hear

She just lost her four-year-old daughter, and is what her Southern relatives would describe as a "hot mess". 😥

[Auggie]

2. I think the NFL is the biggest loser here

I'm sure a healthy rivalry will develop between the L.A. Rams and L.A. Chargers, but it's not quite the same IMO when there are physical boundaries and regional pride at stake (San Diego is the second-largest city in California and the eighth-largest in the U.S. -- perfect foil, with the possible exception of the S.F. Bay Area, for all things L.A.).

To me, the Chargers will always be Dan Fouts, Don Coryell and the Air Coryell offense. I watched it emerge from the far-away reaches of snowy Northeast Ohio, wondering what the heck it was like to attend a December football game in shorts. Football in San Diego is just cool.

[Brother Buzz]

4. Between a quarter and a third of the Chargers' season ticket holders reside in Orange County

The rivalry is already established; the north LA basin against the south. It really isn't much different than the 49ers/Raiders rivalry, only LA has is a much larger market.

Thankfully the Rams and the Chargers play in different leagues or we'll see some real shit going down at Inglewood's City of Champions Stadium.

[Auggie]

5. Well, like I said, I'm sure the rivalry will be there ...

just won't feel quite the same. To me, anyway.

Have you read post 3? Interesting take.

[Brother Buzz]

7. Yes

I wonder if that $650-million relocation fee might have been better spent toward building a new stadium in San Diego. Hell, it would even have been a good down payment for a joint in Orange County where the might even have a chance of thriving.

[Auggie]

9. Exactly. Makes you wonder WTF is really going on too ...

Is there a huge tax savings involved? Is there a new deal for bigger returns on merchandising? Is there more money per ticket sale in L.A over San Diego?

The instinct is to follow the money, of course. That's all that matters to these creeps.

[JonLP24]

14. Field of Schemes is a great site if you want to follow the money

It's an economics site.

NFL meets to discuss Raiders, Chargers moves, doesn’t decide squat because why rush into things?

The NFL’s stadium and finance committees met yesterday as promised, and while nothing really was decided about either the Oakland Raiders‘ possible move to Las Vegas or the San Diego Chargers‘ possible move to Los Angeles, we have some hints of where things are headed. And as befits a league run by a bunch of rich guy who decide things by arguing about who has the biggest balls, the outcome looks to combine one helping of naked avarice with two of farcical train wreck.

Yesterday’s joint meeting was apparently mostly focused on the Raiders, with league VP Eric Grubman later telling the L.A. Daily News’s Vincent Bonsignore that team owner Mark Davis has made “impressive” progress on a stadium deal there. Which, yeah, we noticed, but has the NFL made any progress on deciding whether to approve the move?

(Snip)

There are still two big unknowns in the Raiders-to-Vegas potential move: First off, the NFL needs to decide on what relocation fee Davis would be charged, which the league still hasn’t discussed, though they have hired the same consulting firm that picked $550 million out of a hat for the Rams‘ move to L.A. to figure it out. And second, Davis has to hash out a deal with Adelson on how to split revenues and costs, which they apparently still haven’t been able to put their heads together on. Adelson no doubt thinks he has Davis over a barrel since he has few other options for getting ahold of $750 million in public stadium cash, which is probably why the NFL deployed Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II to say this yesterday:

“I think the Raiders are looking at this potentially going without Mr. Adelson,’’ Rooney, chairman of the league’s stadium committee and one of the NFL’s most influential owners, told reporters in New York after league meetings on relocation and stadium issues.

Davis told the Review-Journal, “I have nothing to say right now.”

That sort of could make sense, maybe: If a Vegas stadium is viable for Adelson, then it’d be viable for some other developer as well, and Davis is the one with the rare commodity in an NFL team. Or he (or Rooney) could just be trying to drive a hard bargain with Adelson to get more money flowing into team/league coffers. Davis has until February 15 to decide on whether to file for relocation, and the NFL could always decide to extend that deadline if they want, so that leaves plenty of time for haggling.

On the Chargers front, meanwhile, the reason for the stasis is way more hilarious: It looks like team owner Dean Spanos doesn’t really want to move to L.A., and the other NFL owners don’t really want him to move to L.A., but the two sides are engaged in a massive game of chicken to decide whether the league will pay him to stay put. Per CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora and his patented unnamed sources (though other outlets are reporting similar things):

http://www.fieldofschemes.com/2017/01/12/12005/nfl-meets-to-discuss-raiders-chargers-moves-doesnt-decide-squat-because-why-rush-into-things/

http://www.fieldofschemes.com/

[Auggie]

15. Great site. Thanks for sharing.

It all so loathsome

[DinahMoeHum]

3. LA Times: Chargers, We Don't Want You.

Chargers shouldn’t look for a welcome wagon in L.A.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-chargers-to-la-plaschke-20170111-story.html

[El Supremo]

6. They're going to play in 30,000 seat StubHub Stadium???

What a joke!

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/report-chargers-plan-to-play-in-30000-seat-soccer-stadium-in-2017-2018/

[Brother Buzz]

8. Spanos would be good to go if he can just figure how to....

glue a bunch of lucrative luxury suites onto the StubHub Stadium.

[getting old in mke]

10. It would be kinda cool

to see a game in that small of a stadium, though.

[TexasTowelie]

11. Missouri-Born Asshole Outsmarts NFL, California

Dean Spanos, a billionaire Californian and alumnus of the University of the Pacific, rose to the presidency of the San Diego Chargers through grit and determination, and certainly not because his father owned the team. Last night he fulfilled his destiny by finally pulling the trigger on his oft-made threats, and announced he was leaving San Diego for Los Angeles and the imagined financial windfall engendered by a new stadium.

But Deano has been outwitted by a lanky, taciturn Missourian — and he doesn't even know it yet.

The Missourian is billionaire land baron and amateur wig model E. Stanley Kroenke. He is Dean's new landlord, because he had the foresight to start building his own dream LA stadium last year.

Kroenke, a self-made man who discovered a loophole in the system — if you marry a billionaire heiress you can still claim the "self-made" thing — will now collect all the stadium's revenue streams. On top of that, Spanos has to pay Kroenke rent for his half of the stadium and cover the cable bill on alternate months.

More at http://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2017/01/12/missouri-born-asshole-outsmarts-nfl-california

[Jamaal510]

12. This is a dumb move.

What fan base is there in LA for the Chargers? Spanos and the NFL are stupid. They make billions and they won't build their own stadiums in SD and Oakland? They want the cities and taxpayers to do it.

[JonLP24]

13. Brother Buzz says that between a quarter and a third of their season ticket holders live in Orange C

Last edited Thu Jan 12, 2017, 09:49 PM - Edit history (1)

Which is why they are playing in Stubhub in Carson rather than LA Coliseum.

I don't know LA though.