A
C. And I don't understand how many times this has to be proven until the NFL gets it.
Talk about forcing that square peg...
Plenty in LA care about the NFL, but they already have loyalty to other teams. The Rams and the Raiders top that list. The Chargers could be sent back to San Diego, and very few in LA would care.
This ^^^^. But change "could" to "should."
The Chargers should be sent back to San Diego, because that's where they belong. I still refer to them as the San Diego Chargers.
NFL wants loyalty from fans. They want their fans to buy shirts, spend outrageous fees for seats, crazy money for beer/food, and be passionate about the team. On the other hand, NFL will abandon anyone for anytime.
No better examples of that than CLE, Baltimore, St. Louis and San Diego.
I have no passion for the NFL. I bought personal seat licenses and haven't attended a game since 2001. Between the drunken fights, what the NFL did to the CLE expansion franchise and the exploitation of fans I just felt like I was Stormy Daniels at the Bunny Ranch. Check that, a Malaysian pre-teen taken from her family to hook high end johns in Singapore.
I look at an NFL game as entertainment only. Should I watch a rerun of Big Bang, stream Barry or watch the Steelers versus Browns? Just a matter of how I feel at the time.
But one thing, I won't be caught dead in an NFL game jersey.
No better examples of that than CLE, Baltimore, St. Louis and San Diego.
I have no passion for the NFL. I bought personal seat licenses and haven't attended a game since 2001. Between the drunken fights, what the NFL did to the CLE expansion franchise and the exploitation of fans I just felt like I was Stormy Daniels at the Bunny Ranch. Check that, a Malaysian pre-teen taken from her family to hook high end johns in Singapore.
I look at an NFL game as entertainment only. Should I watch a rerun of Big Bang, stream Barry or watch the Steelers versus Browns? Just a matter of how I feel at the time.
But one thing, I won't be caught dead in an NFL game jersey.
C. And I don't understand how many times this has to be proven until the NFL gets it.
Talk about forcing that square peg...
NFL needs to get it and get it soon. And we're not just talking about the Chargers.
Now that the Jaguars mustachioed owner isn't moving them to London, perhaps London Chargers will become an option.
Shad Khan withdraws bid to buy Wembley Stadium - will Jaguars-to-London rumors end?
Shalise Manza Young
Yahoo SportsOctober 17, 2018, 4:32 PM GMT
Shad Khan owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars play one game per season in London. Shad Khan has been trying to buy London’s iconic Wembley Stadium.
Ergo, many NFL observers have believed Khan would move the Jaguars to London when the sale was complete.
About that …
Khan withdraws bid for Wembley
On Wednesday, Khan released a statement saying he is withdrawing his bid to buy Wembley Stadium, citing a lack of support from the FA Council. The Council is a 92-member, elected group which decides the major policies of the FA, the governing body of soccer in England.
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan announced on Wednesday that he is withdrawing his bid to buy iconic Wembley Stadium. (AP)
Khan had proposed buying the 90,000 capacity stadium for 600 million pounds, or about $788 million. The FA would have retained the rights to the Club Wembley hospitality rights, and the stadium would have remained the home to England’s national teams.
“At this moment, following last week’s FA Council hearing, it appears there is no definitive mandate to sell Wembley and my current proposal, subsequently, would earn the backing of only a slim majority of the FA Council, well short of the conclusive margin that the FA Chairman has requested,” Khan’s statement said in part.
Martin Glenn, the CEO of the FA, told the BBC the decision to sell Wembley was “more divisive than expected.” The facility is currently owned by the FA; had Khan purchased the stadium, the organization would have put the proceeds into developing grassroots soccer facilities.
Jaguars staying in Jacksonville?
When Khan announced in April that he was trying to buy Wembley, he framed the purchase as one that would strengthen the Jaguars and its home in Jacksonville rather than a sign that the team’s uprooting was imminent.
But the Jaguars have played one home game a year at Wembley since 2015, and will do so through at least 2020. Khan owning Wembley – he also owns English soccer club Fulham – seemed to signal that the NFL’s long-held belief that it needs a permanent team in London (a foolish idea, it reads here) would come to fruition.
For now, at least, it seems that won’t be happening.
In his statement on Wednesday, Khan didn’t close the door on buying Wembley in the future if he were to get the support he needs from the FA Council.
I've lived in the LA area for 37 years. When I first moved here I'd go to a couple of Rams games in Anaheim each season. I was continuosly amazed that there were so many fans from the opposing team. I recall a Browns game where there were as many Browns fans as Rams fans at the game.
There are many reasons football is not a priority in this town. Tickets are pricey for families in a already high cost part of the country, people fight traffic 5 days a week getting to work who wants to fight it on Sunday, other activities like golf, tennis, beach, boating or whatever are more appealing. The large latino community isn't all the enamored with American football. I'm married to a Mexican with a huge extended family in the LA area and football just does not resonate like other sports.
There still are many loyal Raider fans in this city. They have hated the Chargers for years. I don't see the Chargers winning over that group.
There are many reasons football is not a priority in this town. Tickets are pricey for families in a already high cost part of the country, people fight traffic 5 days a week getting to work who wants to fight it on Sunday, other activities like golf, tennis, beach, boating or whatever are more appealing. The large latino community isn't all the enamored with American football. I'm married to a Mexican with a huge extended family in the LA area and football just does not resonate like other sports.
There still are many loyal Raider fans in this city. They have hated the Chargers for years. I don't see the Chargers winning over that group.
Agree...but the issue isn't people sitting in seats, it is the HUGE TV audience. For example, you've got 20m people in SoCal for two NFL teams. The entire state of ohio has 11m for two NFL teams. PA? Just under 13m for two nfl teams.
Halfway between Austin and SA probably wouldn't be a bad spot to draw in both markets. Austin doesn't have any pro sports yet (MLS is likely coming in 2021) and while the drive outside the city isn't ideal, the NFL is probably the one sport that has enough of a draw to make that work. The risk here is that many are already Cowboys and Texans fans.
0% chance the Chargers would go to Texas, or anywhere for that matter, unless the Spanos family decides to sell.
Chargers fan since the AFL in the mid 1960's. They left, they are dead to me. I hear rumors that they've been seen in LA but I have no reason to travel to Lower Alabama anytime soon.
The Chargers burned their bridges in San Diego. Owner Spanos alienated the San Diego fan base by leaving town. I can't see him admitting his mistake and going back to play in a half empty stadium.
That Stadium getting built is dependent upon both teams playing there.
Bottom line, there is no going back to SD.
Oh I don't believe there is any smoke that they'd come here, was simply stating that if an NFL franchise were to consider this area, a location between Austin and SA might be more attractive than either immediately in Austin or SA because of the potential to capture two cities at once and because there's more available land for a large stadium there. This would be much like the Cowboys stadium now being in Arlington, which is between Dallas and Fort Worth. But that's apples to oranges since Dallas is so much larger in population.
You are correct about the TV market. However the TV market will be driven mostly by the success of the team. The weather rarely is bad enough that you have to sit indoors. You might do that if your team wins but not if they suck. Most of the people I know out here enjoy being outside and active as opposed to watching football on TV. UCLA plays a home schedule in the Rose bowl and rarely if ever have more than 80K at a game. But to your point it's a huge market.
yeah...totally agree. If you live in Indy, CLE or Pitt in late October you are looking out the window at 40 degrees, cloudy and a 15 mph wind (like right now!). In LA is is the perfect weather....80, sunny, low humidity. That is why I always root for midwest teams. I saw what the city of champions meant to Pittsburgh in the 80s. In LA or San Fran or NY a championship is just an excuse to buy the Opus One as opposed to the Coppola Diamond Black Label.
When the Raiders moved to LA, it was the death knell for NFL Football in the town. The league alternated the two teams home appearances and the unintended consequence was that, since neither team sold out their home games, the entire LA market was blacked out every weekend. You would only see one "eastern" game on Sundays in LA in the late 1980's to early 1990's when both teams called LA home. This game kicked off at 10:00 AM Pacific Time. Not much bar activity at that time.
I had Rams season tickets in 1988 and, as stated in other posts, many games had as many opposing teams fans in attendance as Rams fans. It is a long way from the "central" LA County area to Anaheim and that drive can take over 1.5 hours even on a Sunday afternoon. People from LA County didn't want to make that trip on Sunday.
The Rams were very good in the late 1980's with Dickerson, Ellard and Jim Everett. I saw a lot of great football. Unfortunately, the Niners had Montana, Craig and Rice!!
^^^This^^^C. And I don't understand how many times this has to be proven until the NFL gets it.
Talk about forcing that square peg...
The Chargers have an attrocious owner. In SD they had a stadium that was bad for the fans and bad for the sponsors. The owner doesn’t have the $ to pay for a stadium so he asked SD tax payers to pay for it. The answer was a resounding no.
Easy answer - have the current owners sell to an ownership group who have some cash. Build a stadium in SD.
Don’t think this happens.
Easy answer - have the current owners sell to an ownership group who have some cash. Build a stadium in SD.
Don’t think this happens.
No ones ever broken a lease before. If the team is seriously making 250 million less per year than anticipated they’ll find a way out of the lease if they want.
I35 in that part of the state is already a nightmare. Game day traffic would be unbearable.
The Chargers can come back here to San Diego if it were with a different owner. One major problem is that there’s a referendum on the ballot to tear down Qualcomm and build a smaller,soccer stadium with hotels and student housing for SD State. I doubt it’ll pass but if it does, there’s limited space for a big football stadium unless they level buildings elsewhere. And only a small minority wants public money paying for a stadium so it would take a guy like the Rams owner to come in a pay for it all.
Good. I hope they bomb! As a former Charger season ticket holder, the Spanos family and NFL screwed SD. I hope the LA project fails. LA’s favorite team are the Raiders!
Maybe there is a bigger issue
If you think about, the Chargers are the only NFL team ever to play in LA that hasn't left LA.
LA is the 2nd largest market in the country. Why has every team left for smaller markets?
With regard to the Chargers specifically, it seems like too close a move. If you grew up in SoCal and counted yourself an LA fan (doesn't matter which team) there was probably some regional rivalry with SD given that it was just a 2 hour drive south. Plus, with the Raiders, they were in the same division. It would be like the Steelers leaving Pittsburgh and the Browns moving in. What Pittsburgh fan would embrace the Browns? or the Bengals?
I guess they hoped they would retain at least a portion of the SD fan base and capitalize on the bigger LA metro area.
People aren't dumb. LA Football teams are like your Mom's new boyfriend. They always leave. Better to not get too invested.
Yeah but people in So. Cal don’t care about professional sports except for the Lakers and Dodgers perhaps. You might as well move them. The reason for the NFL is gambling. It’s a huge industry which just got bigger with sports betting expanding into new Casinos.
