For more than 50 years the Chargers called the City of San Diego home. And although that the Chargers were never able to win a Super Bowl Championship in the 6-1-9, they provided plenty of excitement for their fan base which included the “Air Coryell” offense of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, to the AFC Championship team in 1994 which included Hall of Fame middle linebacker Junior Seau. But all of that love was replaced by ill will when Chargers owner Dean Spanos announced his intentions this past January to move his club from San Diego to Los Angeles. Spanos had been seeking a new stadium for years from the City of San Diego which never came to fruition, and thus he decided to hop on Interstate-5 took take his club to L.A.
The plan is for the Chargers to share a brand new, state-of-the-art stadium in Inglewood once it is completed with the Rams who returned to Los Angeles in 2016 after they spent 21 years in St. Louis, Missouri. Until the stadium is complete, the Rams are playing their home games in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum which was their home from 1946-1979 before they moved to nearby Anaheim, while the Chargers are playing at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. The Coliseum is able to accommodate more than 93,000 fans for football which the Rams have been unable to fill. The Chargers have also had issues in selling out their temporary home which only seats 30,000 people. But the Chargers issues are much worse off than that of the Rams.
In three home games this year the Chargers have failed to sell out once, while some of the seats have tarp over them. In each contest at the StubHub Center, there have been more fans in the stadium supporting the opposing team which was magnified during the Chargers loss this past Sunday to the Philadelphia Eagles as the stadium sounded more like Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Initially the Chargers played one season in Los Angeles before they moved to San Diego in 1961, which is a far cry from the Rams who played in the L.A. area for nearly 50 years before leaving for St. Louis. For nearly 15 years there was a growing contingent of people who wanted to see the Rams return to Los Angeles which the National Football League finally came to grips with in 2016. However the NFL was hell bent on having two teams in the L.A. market which is currently blowing up in their faces like the Hindenburg.
Los Angeles is not ready, nor will they ever fully accept the Chargers. And it doesn’t help the situation that the Chargers have begun this season with a record of 0-4. The Chargers are well on their way to a third consecutive losing season which would have gotten lost in the shuffle in San Diego, but not under the Hollywood spotlight.
Yahoo Sports recently published an article about the National Football League possibly sending the Chargers back to San Diego. According to the article, the NFL never wanted to lose the San Diego market. But after Spanos had tried for years to get a new stadium in San Diego, he saw no other alternative for his franchise but to move to Los Angeles.
Having the Chargers in Los Angeles has not sounded right ever since it was announced and after three home games it has been illustrated for the viewing audience. Putting the Chargers in Los Angeles is a classic example of greed by the National Football League as there has been a solidified fan base in San Diego which now feels betrayed, while the team is now playing in a city that has shown that they don’t want them.
The Chargers still have five home games this season which includes contests versus the Denver Broncos, Washington Redskins, and Oakland Raiders. These teams all have established fan bases which means that the StubHub Center will continue to sound like a visiting stadium for the Chargers.
Winning could make fans in Los Angeles warm up to the Chargers more, but this team cannot get out of their own way as they’ve consistently found ways to lose games in recent history which included their first two games this year as kicker Younghoe Koo missed a field goal in the waning seconds of each contest.
Dean Spanos
But it would be ironic if the National Football League were to send the Chargers back to San Diego, especially since there is no love lost between the city and Spanos. However a return to San Diego for the Chargers would mean that NFL must acknowledge that they made a mistake which is something that does not happen that often, while there would also be the issue in regards to who would then help the Rams foot the bill for the new stadium in Inglewood.
This saga is far from over as the Chargers could be playing “musical stadiums”. But one thing for sure is that the National Football League and Spanos have clearly outsmarted themselves.
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