NFL worried about Chargers viability in LA

[Epstein's Mother]

1 hour ago, eball said:

And in other news, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

 

Thank you for a laugh from the over 50 crowd.?

[iinii]

1 hour ago, Wyo_Bills Fan said:

Before the Chargers moved, San Diego residents voted down a Hotel Tax which would have went up like three percentage points and would have paid for the city's contribution to the stadium and then some.  The only tax San Diego residents would have paid is if they stayed in a hotel themselves. 

 

Approximately 15 plus years ago, the Chargers offered to pay for the entire new stadium themselves if the city would grant them the land Qualcomm sits on.  The city council voted that down.

 

Sad situation.

That is sad 

[kota]

I live in LA.  It's the melting pot of the US.  YOu cannot move a team here and have it be successful.  The only way a team would be successful is if there was an expansion club where all LA residents could call their team.

 

I am a Bills fan but if there was a real LA team i would be inclined to watch and root for them if the Bills weren't playing.

[billspro]

It sucks that LA has two of the more talented rosters in the NFL.

 

I think all the fans saw this coming when the Chargers moved.

[4_kidd_4]

6 minutes ago, iinii said:

That is sad 

 

Nothing sad whatsoever about telling a tax-free league of billionaires to pay for everything themselves.

[Fan in San Diego]

2 hours ago, sullim4 said:

Move them back to San Diego and have private investors build a stadium or completely gut and renovate Qualcomm.  Why is this so hard to figure out?

 

Because Spanos thinks the fine people of San Diego should pay for the new stadium. The fine people of San Diego thinks Spanos should pay for the new stadium. I agree with the fine people of San Diego. 

[T master]

It was stupid to move them from San Diego but you can't tell a Billionaire nothin especially when the multi Billionaire league is pushing it weather it makes sense or not !! 

[PetermansRedemption]

1 hour ago, cba fan said:

San Antonio St Louis Portland Oakland...plenty of options. Even SD after they approve and start building a stadium.

 

SD completely screwed the deal by turning them down time after time for deals that essentillay cost the taxpayers ZERO. Just like Cleveland did to Modells Browns.(although Modell was just asking for some support but not to the mega-level the city gave Indians and Cavs.)

with two bye weeks, larger game day rosters, no team playing on short rest IE team with bye week before are only teams eligible for thurs night games etc etc.....a ban on players playing every snap every week etc etc...….. and only 1 or 2 preseason games. YES this would address the safety issue. It can be done and could include two expansion teams to help placate the NFLPA as even more jobs are then created along with the bigger rosters.

San Antonio makes perfect sense. Having lived there for a few years I was shocked there was no major sports team other than NBA. San Antonio supports the Spurs very well. I have no doubt they would support an NFL franchise. Logistically, the highway system is amazing. It is a city of 1.5 million and you can travel from any point of the city to another in 30 minutes. Go just 30 minutes outside the city center and there is a ton of open land to build a stadium as well. Also would be easy to attract free agents with how beautiful of a city it is and the warm weather. 

[ctk232]

56 minutes ago, yungmack said:

This is exactly the opposite of the truth. For decades, the Rams were always among the attendance leaders. They began to lose their mojo when Frontiere took over the team. In spite of Al Davis's bizarre behavior and attempts to extract ever more money out of the area, the Raiders were -- and remain -- wildly popular in the area. Sc and UCLA have rabid followings and pull in large crowds when the teams are good. High school football is huge throughout the area. I don't know why people keep making these knuckleheaded statements. It's right up there with "Trump's a fantastic businessman." In other words, it's a belief that flies in the face of facts, history, reality.

You're absolutely right, and I apologize for my misguided generalization. To amend my prior, they still couldn't care less for having the Chargers there. While geo-location does matter, they don't care for this team.

[Fadingpain]

That franchise is a leading contender to end up in London one day.

 

I think that's still some years out, but it's coming, unfortunately.

The owners will f-ing love it.  

 

Why make a few hundred million a year when you can make a billion a year with a global sport?

 

 

[iinii]

16 minutes ago, 4_kidd_4 said:

 

Nothing sad whatsoever about telling a tax-free league of billionaires to pay for everything themselves.

They could have stayed in SD and built their own stadium if the city would have given them the land was what the poster said. Now SD is stuck with a giant albatross that will sit like the useless hulking relic it is or spend massive amounts of money to tear it down. I doubt anyone buys it and renovates it so it is sad that they couldn’t have agreed on a realistic long term solution. In this case the billionaire was going to spend his money. 

I am not for the billionaires and their tax exemptions but sometimes you have to see the big picture and realize the powers that be and there isn’t much you can do about it. 

Spanos is still going to be a billionaire no matter where the team plays. Pegs and company are going to get theirs. If you are so opposed to the big boys club get rid of your gear and turn the game off. 

[1st&ten]

57 minutes ago, 4_kidd_4 said:

I’m pulling for the entire league to just fold.

 

Then go back to 1920’s style, field regional teams and make up your own schedule. Then the “Staley Swindle” all over again!

 

Leather helmets & no forward pass ???

[Kelly the Dog]

2 hours ago, vorpma said:

I attended a game at the LA Coliseum in 1984 watching the Rams play the Falcons; Eric Dickerson in his prime yet the fans in attendance acted bored with many empty seats. Too much competition for the entertainment dollar, the Chargers should have stayed in San Diego, they had a strong and loyal fan base with lots of discretionary income.

It had 100,000 seats. Most stadiums now are 60 or so.

 

The Chargers and the NFL made a ridiculously stupid decision trying to place the Chargers in LA. I don't know why, but they thought a substantial if not large number of Charger fans in SD would remain loyal to them because of the proximity of the cities, and the 1-2 hour drive for a lot of them wouldn't be bad. But it was the same concept as moving the Bills to Toronto and they should have known that. Very few Buffalo fans would have remained faithful to the Bills if they were the Toronto Bills. I don't know one person who would have been, although I am sure they exist.

 

In fact, it's easy to imagine the Chargers would be hated more than liked if they moved to LA. Corporations and local companies will buy up enough tickets in a new stadium but thinking SD fans would remain Charger fans when they were betrayed and there is a lot of jealousy/rivalry with LA was dumb.

[cba fan]

1 hour ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

The 18 game schedule waters the product down. 

 

The players don't want it and I don't blame them. 

 

Longer season, pushes the draft later and later. 

 

. 

-other leagues played 18 game seasons.

-game situation would be mitigated with my 2 byes etc etc I noted earlier.

-draft being later is absolutely no factor as season ends only one week later so no factor. draft stays on week it is.

 

season now runs Sept 9 to Dec 30 and Super Bowl is 2-3-19 = 22 weeks

 

I start 18 game season w 2 byes Labor Day weekend like it did for decades Sept 2. Skip the two week layoff before Super Bowl. So early start and no break only adds one week to end of when season ends now. Season ends only one calender week later on Feb 10.

 

my season runs Sept 2 to Feb 10. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by cba fan

[GunnerBill]

2 hours ago, apuszczalowski said:

Too many logistical issues with London. Going to be near impossible to sign FAs, too much travel for games, having a game played their once in a while will get crowds, but a team would fail miserably if permanently located there.

 

If they expand out of the US, Canada and Mexico would be the only logical choices.

 

It would not be impossible to sign FAs. That is nonsense. London is a fantastic city and I am certain NFL players would have no issue moving here. There is no language barrier either. As for the travel.... I mean NFL teams are used to getting on a plane every week to travel for games. I don't think that is insurmountable at all. It is a long way from the west coast of the US to London. So what? 

 

The one issue that I can see is the third of your points.... would people watch. We sold out 4 games last year and they were hardly stellar match ups on paper. We sold the 85,000 seats for a game this Sunday (again hardly elite teams) in 24 hours. There is zero doubt in my mind that initially we would sell 8 regular season home games without issue. We could have sold the 3 games this year three times over. London is more ready from that respect than LA has been or than Jacksonville was when awarded a franchise. The fanbase is here. The doubt I have is how long that is sustainable if the team starts to struggle. Because that fan base is made up of people who already have other teams and if the London Jags or the London Chargers sucked would people revert to those old allegiances? That is the biggest doubt I have about the viability of London. 

 

The Jags have the best chance of making it stick because they have already made progress in developing a fan base but I do think whether a fan base is sustainable is a fair thing to wonder. 

[Damian]

Put a stadium/team right between Charleston & Savannah.  There are no pro sports teams in either city.

[iinii]

I like 18 games with two fewer pre-season games. Play everyone in conference and a second within your division opponents. The top eight go thru to the playoffs and nobody gets a playoff bye. 

This should have the cream at the top and no pretenders like when the Titans made it to the SB. They were in a an extremely watered down division. Cleveland was expansion and the Bungles were.....the Bungles. There’s 4 wins right there. Having an extra team in the division negated an AFC game and an NFC game for each club. 

By some metric I don’t remember the Bills had a tougher schedule and shouldn’t have been playing on the road.

yeah that’s it.....

[Spiderweb]

2 hours ago, Peter said:

 

Agree to disagree.

I disagree with your agree to disagree. You are simply not being realistic 

[4_kidd_4]

56 minutes ago, 1st&ten said:

 

Leather helmets & no forward pass ???

 

Absolutely. Like men.

[4_kidd_4]

1 hour ago, iinii said:

They could have stayed in SD and built their own stadium if the city would have giventhem the land was what the poster said. Now SD is stuck with a giant albatross that will sit like the useless hulking relic it is or spend massive amounts of money to tear it down. I doubt anyone buys it and renovates it so it is sad that they couldn’t have agreed on a realistic long term solution. In this case the billionaire was going to spend his money. 

I am not for the billionaires and their tax exemptions but sometimes you have to see the big picture and realize the powers that be and there isn’t much you can do about it. 

Spanos is still going to be a billionaire no matter where the team plays. Pegs and company are going to get theirs. If you are so opposed to the big boys club get rid of your gear and turn the game off.

 

Bolded A; They can certainly afford to buy the land. Just another excuse to put the blame on a city/region.

 

Bolded B; I’m pretty close to it. Only watch the Bills. No cable/ESPN in my house. Usually buy a new Bills hat and/or tee for every season, cut that out about 3 years ago. Was gonna bail on seasons this year (16year STH), but re-upped at the last minute because of the group I go with.  I regret my renewal, and this will definitely be my last season.

 

Quite frankly, my interest in the league has waned exponentially over the last 5 years or so. I’m finally at the point of just don’t care. Also, not really a huge fan of Pegula, and the hero worship of him around here. Want a new barn Terry? Drill a well.

 

Things changed when Ralph passed, and I’m obviously not a fan of, as you put it, “The Big Boys Club”. 

[RochesterRob]

4 hours ago, ctk232 said:

Right? Insert obligatory south park ski instructor meme here.

 

So tired of LA and NYC having multiple teams - NYC at least has historically had both teams long enough to create a base for each. LA couldn't care less about football, and while the Rams are being the Rams, why have the Chargers? Was never a good move.

 

Maybe Bon Jovi can finally have his Toronto NFL team...

  No &%#@* way I want a competing team in Toronto.  Stay on the West Coast and look into Vancouver if Canada is a priority.

[row_33]

1 hour ago, 1st&ten said:

 

Leather helmets & no forward pass ???

 

 

still bootleggers and meat packing plants to run things?

 

[ctk232]

Just now, RochesterRob said:

  No &%#@* way I want a competing team in Toronto.  Stay on the West Coast and look into Vancouver if Canada is a priority.

No one wanted it except for Bon Jovi and Goodell. It won't happen though.

[RochesterRob]

3 hours ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

?Houston...Houston Oilers?

  I kind of miss the Oilers name.  Permanently gone per Bud Adams' wishes.

[JoPar_v2]

I got the impression from Leibowitz’s book on the league that the other owners don’t view Spanos too highly. The option to lease from the Rams was a pity move. Goodell really wanted Spanos to work something out with San Diego.

 

if you get a chance read The Big Game - there is an incredibly sad description of the “rally” the Chargers held in LA towards the end. Paid actors posing as fans, the whole bit. What a cluster****.

[purple haze]

4 hours ago, Paulus said:

Chargers should move to Irvine, as should the Angels. They should just claim Orange County. The OC Angels and the OC Chargers. People would go, because the stadiums in Irvine would actually be nice, and the surrounding area would as well. 

Irvine is ???. And I doubt the Chargers get that many fans there either.  They need to go back to San Diego and work things out.

[Paulus]

42 minutes ago, purple haze said:

Irvine is ???. And I doubt the Chargers get that many fans there either.  They need to go back to San Diego and work things out.

Irvine is central to SoCal. If I lived anywhere in CA I'd rather travel to Irvine unless I had to travel through LA to get there. Crappy traffic is a cause for a lot of LA avoidance. "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

Edited October 17, 2018 by Paulus

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

The Jags have the best chance of making it stick because they have already made progress in developing a fan base but I do think whether a fan base is sustainable is a fair thing to wonder. 

A few visits from Marrone, and the Brits will be wondering who the 'sullen colonial' is.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Ridgewaycynic2013
Editing for editing's sake.

[reddogblitz]

4 hours ago, pop gun said:

The NFL in LA or the NHL in Atlanta is the definition of insanity. 

 

LoT of homesick yankees in Atlanta ...

[billsfan89]

4 hours ago, Peter said:

 

Spanos and the Chargers gave San Diego every opportunity to keep the team there.  Spanos did not want to move the team unless it was a last resort.

 

As an aside, if I were an NFL owner, I definitely would consider moving the team to London if I could not make it work in LA or somewhere else.  As an owner, being in London would present a huge opportunity to be the UK's team with very little domestic competition for the support of people there.  Having attended an NFL game, I think London is ripe for an NFL team.

 

P.S. Yes, I know there are naysayers here and elsewhere about having a team anywhere other than in the US.

 

If the logistics work out travel wise then I think the NFL Will have a team in London at some point. But if the Chargers are not working out in LA then I honestly think they should give San Diego a chance to get the team back. San Diego is a big city with a good amount of money in it, the team has a history there, and the city has the infrastructure to make the NFL work. I know they didn't want to move in the first place but the city would not budge on a stadium deal. Hopefully if they back out of LA they try and make San Diego work again. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

2 hours ago, 1st&ten said:

...& no forward pass ???

Sort of like the Buffalo Bills, 2018?

Edited October 17, 2018 by Ridgewaycynic2013

[BuffaloBill]

I’ve said this ever since I lived in LA, it is not an NFL town.  First, teams have been in and out.  Second, there are too many other forms of entertainment.  The NFL needs to be careful to not overplay its hand by trying to seed its product in places where it is not strong at the expense of small markets like Buffalo where it has an insanely loyal fan base.

[vorpma]

2 hours ago, Kelly the Dog said:

It had 100,000 seats. Most stadiums now are 60 or so.

 

The Chargers and the NFL made a ridiculously stupid decision trying to place the Chargers in LA. I don't know why, but they thought a substantial if not large number of Charger fans in SD would remain loyal to them because of the proximity of the cities, and the 1-2 hour drive for a lot of them wouldn't be bad. But it was the same concept as moving the Bills to Toronto and they should have known that. Very few Buffalo fans would have remained faithful to the Bills if they were the Toronto Bills. I don't know one person who would have been, although I am sure they exist.

 

In fact, it's easy to imagine the Chargers would be hated more than liked if they moved to LA. Corporations and local companies will buy up enough tickets in a new stadium but thinking SD fans would remain Charger fans when they were betrayed and there is a lot of jealousy/rivalry with LA was dumb.

Great post Kelly!

[purple haze]

26 minutes ago, Paulus said:

Irvine is central to SoCal. If I lived anywhere in CA I'd rather travel to Irvine unless I had to travel through LA to get there. Crappy traffic is a cause for a lot of LA avoidance. "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

Traffic from San Diego going north through Irvine is bad too.  Traffic out here is the worst and no direction is spared.  Put the Raiders in Irvine folks will show up.  The Chargers are a non-starter outside San Diego.  Irvine, Anaheim, it won't matter.  Won't be as bad as being in Carson, but it won't be good either.

[iinii]

1 hour ago, 4_kidd_4 said:

 

Bolded A; They can certainly afford to buy the land. Just another excuse to put the blame on a city/region.

 

Bolded B; I’m pretty close to it. Only watch the Bills. No cable/ESPN in my house. Usually buy a new Bills hat and/or tee for every season, cut that out about 3 years ago. Was gonna bail on seasons this year (16year STH), but re-upped at the last minute because of the group I go with.  I regret my renewal, and this will definitely be my last season.

 

Quite frankly, my interest in the league has waned exponentially over the last 5 years or so. I’m finally at the point of just don’t care. Also, not really a huge fan of Pegula, and the hero worship of him around here. Want a new barn Terry? Drill a well.

 

Things changed when Ralph passed, and I’m obviously not a fan of, as you put it, “The Big Boys Club”. 

I have an interest in the Bills doing well but am very much against fracking and that puts Pegs in the no fly zone, so I am at some sort of Mexican standoff metaphorically speaking. Cheers 4

[Paulus]

3 minutes ago, purple haze said:

Traffic from San Diego going north through Irvine is bad too.  Traffic out here is the worst and no direction is spared.  Put the Raiders in Irvine folks will show up.  The Chargers are a non-starter outside San Diego.  Irvine, Anaheim, it won't matter.  Won't be as bad as being in Carson, but it won't be good either.

Yeah, Sunday traffic heading north from San Diego is crap. Still, ***** LA. 

 

Perhaps they should move the chargers to Temecula, near all the casinos, haha.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

3 hours ago, iinii said:

They could have stayed in SD and built their own stadium if the city would have given them the land was what the poster said. Now SD is stuck with a giant albatross that will sit like the useless hulking relic it is or spend massive amounts of money to tear it down. I doubt anyone buys it and renovates it so it is sad that they couldn’t have agreed on a realistic long term solution. In this case the billionaire was going to spend his money. 

I am not for the billionaires and their tax exemptions but sometimes you have to see the big picture and realize the powers that be and there isn’t much you can do about it. 

Spanos is still going to be a billionaire no matter where the team plays. Pegs and company are going to get theirs. If you are so opposed to the big boys club get rid of your gear and turn the game off. 

 

...TV revenues.......look when Bidwell Sr ran the Cards....they were playing before 35,000 at home games......he could care less because of TV loot....Bidwell Jr takes over and they became competitive, as in the Warner era......or how about Mike Brown in Cincy?.....doesn't he have something like 4 people in their Scouting Dept and one is his daughter?....with Pegula writing a check for $1.4 BILLION, and with him saying the Bills are "Kim's baby", they're "in to win" and not for the money IMO......

Edited October 17, 2018 by OldTimeAFLGuy

[iinii]

1 minute ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

...TV revenues.......look when Bidwell Sr ran the Cards....they were playing before 35,000 at home games......he could care less because of TV loot....Bidwell Jr takes over and they became competitive, as in the Warner era......or how about Mike Brown in Cincy?.....doesn't he have something like 4 people in their Scouting Dept and one is his daughter?......

To these guys Watkins has the little job.

[Mr. WEO]

5 hours ago, sullim4 said:

Move them back to San Diego and have private investors build a stadium or completely gut and renovate Qualcomm.  Why is this so hard to figure out?

 

 

Hmmm, yeah.  Maybe some private investors....like the Spanos's!!

 

But seriously, that's never going to happen because the money (fandom) isn't in SD either.

 

Blame all 32 owners who couldn't wait to sign off on this, smelling more money for them in it.

[GunnerBill]

55 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

A few visits from Marrone, and the Brits will be wondering who the 'sullen colonial' is.

 

We like a hard nosed bastard. Dougie is right up our street.