12/21/24
October 24, 2015
Chargers Will Apply to Move to L.A.: The San Diego Chargers have declared their intention to relocate to Los Angeles for the 2016 season, expressly to get the jump on a potential Raiders or Rams move.
I've lived in Wisconsin for a little over a year, but I'm a San Diego native (surprisingly rare!) and still have hometown stuff in my Google News feed, so this isn't really surprising at all with how the discussions were going. SD was trying to hammer out a really quick stadium deal and get all the approvals in place, but the Chargers' owners basically announced their potential joint deal with the Raiders in Carson so late that there hasn't been enough time to clear all the legal hurdles, and that's been the main source of contention between the team and the city lately. The city announced that they were going to hammer through an environmental approval and all that stuff, while the Chargers have been saying the whole time "there's no way that'll hold up in court", which is essentially true. Even if a new stadium had the majority of San Diego behind it (and I don't think it does), there would be lawsuits picking apart every possible thing to keep it from being built, just like there were with PetCo Park.
I feel like if the owners weren't such utter, utter douchelords, they could have easily had a stadium built years ago, but they've poisoned the well to such a degree that I don't think a stadium would pass public vote in San Diego without them selling the team. Getting PetCo built and approved was a pain in the ass, and it was right around the time it finished that the Spanoses started saying that they also deserved a new stadium downtown. Around the same time, there was a huge scandal with the Chargers' lease at Qualcomm, where the city bought any unsold tickets, so that for the owners, every game was technically a sellout. However, every game being a "sellout" did nothing for home game blackouts, which happened fairly frequently since the Chargers were awful at the time. Since then, the owners have basically held a gun to the city's head every year demanding a new stadium, but they lack the political good will for any city government to take it seriously, so all that ever happened was special commissions doing studies on building a new stadium, but nothing more. It was actually kind of funny earlier this year when the Chargers announced their Carson deal, and the most milquetoast mayor San Diego's ever had's solution was to appoint another commission to study the issue, rightfully offending the Chargers, and the commission's recommendation was to put a new stadium right where the current one is, which has not ever been what the Chargers wanted.
Anyway, the Packers have a new fan.
posted by LionIndex at 03:58 PM on October 24, 2015
posted by LionIndex at 10:10 AM on October 25, 2015
I guess the fact that Raiders fans were far more in evidence yesterday should not surprise me.
posted by billsaysthis at 12:29 PM on October 26, 2015
That's the crazy thing, that they're planning on splitting a stadium with the Raiders in an area where I'd guess the Raiders still have a far larger presence than the Chargers have managed to build up during recent years and the Norv era. Yesterday will look like a picnic compared to future "home" games against the Raiders, even if the Raiders don't end up moving into the same stadium.
posted by LionIndex at 01:24 PM on October 26, 2015
If we can sucker the Brits into making the Jaguars their team -- an achievement on par with making the Colonies embrace Sunderland above all others -- my meth-inquisitive, headline-generating tropical people might not be a bitter jilted ex of the NFL 10 years from now.
Yeah, right up until the NFL decides that the Britons' newly-earned fandom should be rewarded with a team actually residing there, and what better choice than the one whose colors they have become most familiar with? At least you'll be able to say that you cheered for AFC Jaguars before it was cool.
posted by bender at 02:10 PM on October 26, 2015
This looks like it is really happening. Bummer for San Diego, but at least L.A. is in the same region.
As a Jaguars fan I've been watching the L.A. moves with trepidation. I'm concerned that a St. Louis move will open the door for Jacksonville owner Shahid Khan to fulfill his original goal to have an NFL team in that city. The Rams staying put helps us keep a team, since no one is talking about us moving to L.A. any more.
This week, the Jaguars extended the deal to play a home game a year in London through 2020. Part of the deal lets the team market itself overseas, which no other NFL team can do. Khan would extend it to 2030 if he could.
It sucks to lose a home game -- Dallas would've played in Jacksonville last season otherwise -- but becoming London's team might be saving this small market's NFL future. Our web traffic was bottom of the league, but it has climbed into the top 10 because of international visitors. The London game is 15% of our ticket revenue. There's talk we'll get a road game there each year and play back-to-back games overseas.
If we can sucker the Brits into making the Jaguars their team -- an achievement on par with making the Colonies embrace Sunderland above all others -- my meth-inquisitive, headline-generating tropical people might not be a bitter jilted ex of the NFL 10 years from now.