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Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
Spanos sells steaks to Donovans? (Sorry, bad play on the homophone)— January 14, 2017 8:45 p.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
Here's what I think regarding your points 1) True - unless the NFL leadership was really really really stupid and actually believed Spanos when he said he tried hard to stay in SD. 2) Definitely true 3) True - I'm leaning towards incompetence. 4) Maybe. Perhaps if Falconer had bypassed an election and did some sneaky tricks he could have come up with enough public money for the Chargers to stay. To his credit, he insisted on an election for a major outlay of public money. 5, 6) Yes - if the NFL was really interested in keeping the Chargers in SD they would have given them more time. The Raiders seemed more interested in LV than LA. 7) Maybe - depends if the Chargers believe their own BS about how they have a lot of fans in OC and LA. Personally I don't think the LA market affects the SD market much. 8) Yes 9, 10) I don't think the Mayor, city council, and county supervisors should have been INTENT on getting a business deal done. They should have - and were - willing to put a limit on what they were willing to offer. 2 years ago they offered 350M in public money towards a stadium in Mission Valley. If Spanos was at all serious about wanting to stay in SD he would have negotiated from there and put something on the ballot that the mayor and city council agreed with. But Spanos wanted 1.15B towards a downtown stadium.— January 14, 2017 8:04 p.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
I don't know.— January 13, 2017 10:23 p.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
I heard on 1360 AM that the NFL has subtracted the 11M spent promoting measure C from the 550M relocation fee the Chargers owe to the NFL.— January 13, 2017 5:43 p.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
I'd have to agree - it's all of the above clueless - completely misjudged public reaction and other NFL owners' reactions on multiple occasions greediest - was not willing to "settle" for a 375M taxpayer gift to stay in Mission Valley and was not willing to sell shares in the team to investors in return for stadium funding laziest - never went out to address public or media or rarely even politicians stubborn - insisted on wanting a "Jerry World" level palace in downtown SD instead of Mission Valley— January 13, 2017 11:18 a.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
Sorry my last paragraph didn't make much sense. What I basically meant is that local sports talk show hosts supported measure C but my impression is that most of them can understand why people voted against it and that all of them blame Spanos more than local politicians for the Chargers leaving.— January 13, 2017 10:52 a.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
In general I think Don has done a great job reporting on San Diego issues and the Chargers stadium issues. However certainly you are correct that the local media has been very tough on Spanos (deservedly so) I listen to AM 1360 a fair amount. Hosts on sports radio station 1360 AM have all been ripping Spanos and Goodell. Frankly, they have not been ripping local politicians. I think the perception of the local sports radio hosts is that while they supported the city politicians doing whatever it took to keep the Chargers they could understand and respect that the city and county was willing to work with the Chargers and give them a lot of money to stay in San Diego. While they all strongly supported measure C, Most of the hosts blame measure C's failure on Spanos and the Chargers not the politicians.— January 13, 2017 6:24 a.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
Yes - that is possible. People in SD hate the Chargers now but if they come back in 5 years they will be loved again.— January 12, 2017 9:02 p.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
It's possible that the Spanos family could take a real bath on this one. They have to pay 550M relocation fee to the NFL + moving expenses + rebranding expenses. Then they will initially have a small fan base (unless the team is championship caliber). So if the NFL declines substantially they might not ever recover that initial investment.— January 12, 2017 6:45 p.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
I disagree with Ponzi and Visduh. This IS over. For the San Diego Chargers at least. I think it was over for Spanos a long time ago. We'll see the subsidy issue start up again when we start trying to lure another NFL / NBA / NHL / MLS team. SD politicians have already started that.— January 12, 2017 4:41 p.m.