On the heels of San Diego voters striking down a ballot initiative that would have paved the way for public financing of a new stadium, it appears that the Chargers are planning to relocate to Los Angeles.
Facing a firm January 15th deadline to decide whether to utilize their opt-in clause to join the Los Angeles Rams in Inglewood, the writing is really on the wall here for the Chargers.
Though, it’s now being reported by NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport that owner Dean Spanos has not yet completely made the decision to move a bit further north.
“Spanos has not made a firm decision on what he’ll do and if he’ll move. He’s gathering information, keeping an open mind, and going over what scenarios might work,” Rapoport reported on Monday. “Several sources believe, a month out, that the Chargers are leaning toward moving to L.A. However, negotiations often do not really heat up until closer to the deadline, so it’s hard to imagine San Diego has put forward its best proposal to keep the team from moving.”
Spanos is slated to meet with San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and other city leaders later this week. That’s when we’ll likely have a firmer understanding of where the organization stands about a month away from it having to make a decision here.
Though, it must be noted that the Chargers are lacking many options in San Diego. Short of some sort of public financing of a new venue, it would make little sense for the organization to pass up the opportunity to join the Rams at their soon-to-be erected state of the art venue in Inglewood.
As Rapoport noted in his report, there are multiple financial reasons for the Chargers to relocate. More than anything, a move to Los Angeles would likely double the team’s value. That’s something we can’t take lightly in sifting through any indication that Spanos and Co. might want to remain in San Diego.
This all comes with it looking increasingly likely that the Raiders will move to Las Vegas. Should the Chargers decide against joining the Rams in Los Angeles, Mark Davis and the Raiders would then have the opportunity to do just that. This makes what happens between the Chargers and San Diego so important to multiple NFL teams heading into January.