On a day that pretty much surrounded talk of the Oakland Raiders uprooting to Las Vegas, comes this stunning revelation. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the San Diego Chargers are on the verge of announcing their intention to move to Los Angeles. An announcement could come as early as Thursday.
“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,” Schefter reported late Wednesday evening.
In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t necessarily earth-shattering news. The Chargers had the right to opt in on a clause that would have enabled them to follow the Rams to Los Angeles. That was agreed to when the NFL voted to support the then St. Louis Rams relocation back to Southern California last January.
Then, in November, voters in San Diego failed to pass a bill that would have provided public financing of a new stadium in California’s southernmost city. Again, that seemed to be an indication that the Chargers were as good as gone.
But as Wednesday drew on and as NFL owners met, it seemed to be more about whether the Raiders themselves would be relocating to Las Vegas. While that’s still very much a possibility, it now appears that the Chargers have made the first move.