Did you see where the San Diego Chargers ownership plans to file the necessary relocation papers to the NFL in January so that the franchise could relocate to the Los Angeles area. Nothing says loyalty like we sorry but it’s time to go and thanks for your past support.
I’m Evan Weiner with the Politics of Sports Business.
San Diego, Oakland and St. Louis ownership have been toying with fans emotions as stories coming out about a possible move by Rams owner Stan Kroenke, vacating St. Louis for Los Angeles or San Diego’s Spanos family going to Los Angeles or the Oakland Raiders Mark Davis going to Los Angeles or San Antonio. The Chargers ownership is telling other owners and the NFL office that they want to make sure the relocation papers are part of the NFL record. San Diego claims a quarter of their tickets are sold in the LA area so they need protection. Neither St. Louis nor Oakland ownership has announced whether they will follow suit. All of this happening while the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars reaffirmed his love for London, England by agreeing to play an annual game in that city leaving Jacksonville with just two pre-season games and seven regular season games for the next few years. Jacksonville has sunk a lot of municipal money into the city owned venue but they seem fine with losing one large payday a year which could go to paying down the debt.
St. Louis and San Diego political leaders are still pushing to get stadiums built. So far neither Los Angeles area towns that want an NFL team have real numbers available to see just how much it will cost to build an NFL stadium in Inglewood and Carson, California. As the NFL season hits the halfway point, time may be running out on fans in Oakland, St. Louis and San Diego or the clock may be beginning as owners heighten relocation threats to get new stadiums in those cities.
This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, Evan Weiner