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 InChiefsHell:
All kidding aside...the Mexico City Chargers...NFL wants to break into that South of the Border market, and as I recall, the Mexico City games have been well attended. I wouldn't be surprised to see that...
London, Mexico... I think it's BS to ask players to move to a foreign country to play American football [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
some of this is true in Florida. Mainly baseball because there is 162 games. Too much to do down here to commit to that many games.
What did this have to do with anything? No one was talking about Florida. We all know you live there... [Reply]
Originally Posted by Cornstock:
Put a stadium halfway between Austin and San Antonio and you're good. As an Austinite, this beats the he'll out of driving 3 hours to Dallas or Houston for a game.
South central Texas is football hungry. Bring us a team.
Anywhere in south texas the entire stadium would be sold out within days and have a 5 year waiting list. The fans would be totally rabid and appreciative. [Reply]
Originally Posted by B_Ambuehl:
Anywhere in south texas the entire stadium would be sold out within days and have a 5 year waiting list. The fans would be totally rabid and appreciative.
Originally Posted by InChiefsHell:
All kidding aside...the Mexico City Chargers...NFL wants to break into that South of the Border market, and as I recall, the Mexico City games have been well attended. I wouldn't be surprised to see that...
Originally Posted by GloucesterChief:
Mexico City is kind of a shit hole but Monterrey is nicer, closer, and richer.
And it's still in Mexico. Playing the occasional game there is one thing. Moving there, living there permanently, raising a family there, is quite another. We're not talking Canada here.
Even for the SJWs, remember, they aren't exactly live-by-example types. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Even at that, that's just by somebody's estimate. There's nothing that definitively says that he would be able to sell the team for more in L.A. with 10k fans attending games vs. San Diego with a full stadium.
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Again, by someone's estimate. I don't get much out of those things since they're all hypothetical.
Sure, Forbes is making an educated estimate but in reality, they've always projected way too low.
Who in their right mind thought that the Clippers would sell for $2 billion? The Clippers were the NBA equivalent to the Chargers. An Also-Ran laughingstock that never won a championship and didn't own or play it their own dedicated facility.
While the sale to Ballmer shocked outsiders, NBA owners were absolutely thrilled because the valuation of their teams, especially those in large markets, have risen considerably. Ballmer's announced that he's building a facility exclusively for the Clippers, just across from Kroenke World, which will raise the value of the franchise even further.
The NBA just closed a monster television contract, which further ensures that NBA owners have become a "Can't Miss" league on the level of the NFL. [Reply]
The bottom line is that Spanos family has no business running an NFL franchise. 98% of their Net Worth is tied to the Chargers, making it impossible for them to build their own facility in ANY state or municipality. Taxpayers in California want nothing to do with subsidizing billionaire football owners.
Kroenke had a cold, calculated plan that began the microsecond he bought into the Rams. His facility will be the NFL's "Mecca" and you can damn sure bet that he won't run the team like he did in St. Louis, which we've already witnessed in hiring McVay, Wade Phillips and so on.
The Rams will win and people will attend Kroenke World in droves. If the Rams win in the meantime, more people will attend the Coliseum and he'll have a Win-Win situation until 2020. [Reply]
"Spanos agreed to pay a $645 million relocation fee, which means the 30 other owners have a financial incentive not to let the Chargers leave L.A. (each team gets a $21.5 million cut of the relocation fee, with the exception of the Rams and Chargers)."
This will be the real reason if KC loses tomorrow..... [Reply]
