Chargers to stay in San Diego for now, but have deal with Los Angeles Rams

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Chargers have made a decision about their future in Southern California — sort of.

The team has decided to stay in San Diego for at least one more season but also has agreed on a deal to share a new stadium in Los Angeles with the Los Angeles Rams.

Plan A right now is San Diego. Plan B is Los Angeles.

"Today I decided our team will stay in San Diego for the 2016 season, and I hope for the long term in a new stadium," Chargers chairman Dean Spanos said in a statement to fans Friday. "I have met with (San Diego) Mayor (Kevin) Faulconer and Supervisor (Ron) Roberts and I look forward to working closely with them and the business community to resolve our stadium dilemma. We have an option and an agreement with the Los Angeles Rams to go to Inglewood in the next year, but my focus is on San Diego.This has been our home for 55 years, and I want to keep the team here and provide the world-class stadium experience you deserve."

The Chargers have until Jan. 15, 2017 to make a decision about joining the Rams in L.A. — an option that extends to Jan. 15, 2018 if a referendum to approve funding for a new stadium in San Diego is approved prior to this Nov. 15.

In effect, the deal with the Rams gives the Chargers a safety net in case they fail to lock down a new stadium plan in San Diego, the team’s home since 1961.

But it also comes with risk. By not moving to Los Angeles right away, the Chargers are letting the Rams get an even bigger jump on the market with ticket sales and marketing. The Chargers also are looking down the barrel of a possible losing ballot measure in San Diego, where public financing for an NFL stadium is not popular and where residents have grown fatigued of the team’s ongoing threat to ditch town for L.A., 120 miles up the road.

"We are very supportive of the decision by Dean Spanos to continue his efforts in San Diego and work with local leaders to develop a permanent stadium solution," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement Friday. "NFL ownership has committed $300 million to assist in the cost of building a new stadium in San Diego. I have pledged the league’s full support in helping Dean to fulfill his goal."

The deal with the Rams comes 17 days after a climactic NFL owners meeting in Houston in which NFL owners overwhelmingly approved the relocation of the Rams to Los Angeles after 21 seasons in St. Louis. The relocation resolution included giving the Chargers the first option to join the Rams in their new $2 billion stadium planned for Inglewood, near the L.A. airport.

“The Los Angeles Rams have reached an agreement with the San Diego Chargers to join us in the new Inglewood Stadium, if they choose to exercise their option to relocate within the next year," Rams owner Stan Kroenke said in a statement. “We look forward to partnering with the Chargers in Inglewood, but the decision of course is Dean’s to make.”

If the Chargers reach a new stadium deal in San Diego, the league said it would provide an extra $100 million in support, in addition to a $200 million loan from the league. A new stadium in San Diego likely would cost at least $1.1 billion, including $350 million or more in public funding that could be rejected or approved in a public vote this year. The team presented polling data to the NFL last August that showed a 65-percent disapproval rate for such a proposal.

We appreciate Mr. Spanos' commitment to staying in San Diego for the 2016 season to work with the region on a stadium solution," said a joint statement from San Diego Mayor Faulconer and San Diego County Supervisor Roberts. "We look forward to discussing his vision for a new San Diego home for the Chargers, and will be working with him and our negotiating team on a fair and viable plan to put before voters. We have agreed to meet again in the near future."

In Inglewood, the Chargers might be seen as a second-fiddle to the Rams, who played in the Los Angeles market for nearly 50 years before moving to St. Louis in 1995. The Chargers also would be playing in a stadium development project owned by Rams owner Stan Kroenke. But to win approval for his project from NFL owners, Kroenke was required to make his new stadium appealing to a second team.

He did that for the Chargers, setting up a stadium deal in which each team can boost their fortunes depending on their own sales and performance.

Even if they’re a tenant of the Rams, the Chargers still could see huge revenue boosts in L.A., compared to San Diego, where they play in a stadium built in 1967. The Chargers have been trying to get a new stadium in San Diego for more than a decade but have lacked an acceptable or actionable plan to get one, leading them to explore their options in L.A.

The deal with the Rams gives them additional stadium leverage in San Diego, as well as the security of knowing they have a home in L.A. if it doesn’t work out.

"Everyone on both sides of the table in San Diego must now determine the best next steps and how to deploy the additional resources provided by the NFL," Spanos said in his statement. "I am committed to looking at this with a fresh perspective and new sense of possibility."

If voters reject a new stadium for the Chargers in San Diego, the Chargers also will have a more publicly acceptable reason for leaving their longtime fan base.

On the other hand, if voters do approve a new stadium for the Chargers in San Diego, the Chargers still will have changing market factors to consider: The Oakland Raiders have the right to move to L.A. to join the Rams if the Chargers turn L.A down to stay in San Diego.

That could mean three NFL teams within 125 miles of each other in Southern California after going 21 years with only one team in Southern California. That lone team was the Chargers, who say that 25 percent of their current local revenues come from neighboring Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties.