Could the NFL really send the Chargers back to San Diego? It's something being discussed, according to longtime NFL reporter Don Banks.
The former Sports Illustrated reporter, who has worked for NFL Media and currently writes for The Athletic, told a San Diego radio station on Thursday the NFL never wanted to lose San Diego as a market and could force Chargers owner Dean Spanos to take the team back.
"I have been painted a picture from people I’ve talked to that the league was sympathetic … to Dean Spanos’ plight," Banks told The Mighty 1090. "Feels like he had been a ‘league guy’ feels like he had waited kind of his turn on the relocation front, thought he had the votes the year before — Jerry Jones and Stan Kroenke pretty much outmaneuvered Dean and Mark Davis with the Raiders to be the first in line for LA. So it was almost as if this was a bit of a make up.
"There are people in the league — including the commissioner — they did not want to see San Diego forsaken. They would rather there be a team in San Diego. If there’s anything viable that they could find to put the league back in to San Diego, I think they will be in that camp strongly."
The Chargers failed to sell out their temporary home, the 27,000-seat StubHub Center, in their home opener last Sunday. Banks wrote at The Athletic the NFL is shocked by how quickly things have gone south for the Chargers in L.A. As the Rams struggle to draw fans to the L.A. Coliseum, Banks said the NFL does not want the bad "optics" of empty stadiums for three years before the Rams and Chargers are scheduled to move into a new Inglewood stadium in 2020. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Deberg_1990:
Why are we wanting to move the Raiders out of Vegas already?
The people haven’t been given a chance yet to show if they will support them.
The only place that the Chargers name holds any value is San Diego. Shame on the NFL and the Spanos that they can’t make it work there somehow.
The Raiders got a year reprieve because of covid, but I still think having a franchise in the gambling/partying/hookers capital of America will be a disaster. Just too many bad things tempting a bunch of young dumb alphas sitting on mountains of cash. I mean, it's the Raiders, so from that perspective I don't mind, but ultimately it's going to be bad for everybody.
I also think that the Raiders have played their last home game. Opposing fans will schedule vacations around their teams playing there, and there will be enough non-Raider fans who'll go just because they want to take in a game that their own base will be drowned out. Also, I don't see the hardcore meatheads from the black hole making it down from Oakland very often. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Frazod:
The Raiders got a year reprieve because of covid, but I still think having a franchise in the gambling/partying/hookers capital of America will be a disaster. Just too many bad things tempting a bunch of young dumb alphas sitting on mountains of cash. I mean, it's the Raiders, so from that perspective I don't mind, but ultimately it's going to be bad for everybody.
I also think that the Raiders have played their last home game. Opposing fans will schedule vacations around their teams playing there, and there will be enough non-Raider fans who'll go just because they want to take in a game that their own base will be drowned out. Also, I don't see the hardcore meatheads from the black hole making it down from Oakland very often.
Believe or not, the Raiders have a huge following in Las Vegas with many of the fans following them once they moved to Los Angeles.
I have a ton of friends that are either Bay Area transplants or Raiders fans from the 80's and 90's from their time in LA. Most of them traveled each year to see them in San Diego and Oakland and truth be told, Vegas is a far better destination than either city due to the casinos and gambling.
That said, I'm in full agreement about their crowd. As I've said from the beginning, it didn't make much sense to move them to Vegas because every opposing team's fans will circle the Raiders on their schedules each year and make plans for a Vegas weekend.
If time permits, I'll likely head to Vegas to watch the Chiefs this season. [Reply]
It's a shame the Raider fan base and ownership made LA not possible. Because that is Cowboys franchise value worth to that franchise if they weren't fucking idiots. But Las Vegas fits the Raiders as well. Pretty good second choice.
St. Louis for the Chargers would work if they had the right ownership and name change. [Reply]