It’s the very definition of irony- the three NFL teams that already moved OUT of Los Angeles comprise the same exact trio that’s considering/considered a move/have already moved back IN to L.A. The Rams are already there, now they’re getting their dance partner.
Update: the now Los Angeles Chargers have unveiled their new logo, and it looks exactly like what you would get if you cross-bred the L.A. Dodgers with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Los Angeles Chargers unveil their new team logo https://t.co/0XwJCmpCJr pic.twitter.com/llNBMbFAW9
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) January 12, 2017
*checks mentions*
*squints*
*clears throat*for the record, us & the @dodgers are just friends https://t.co/jBoJhZlYVD
— x – Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) January 12, 2017
That’s the San Diego Chargers. The Oakland Raiders were the odd team out in the NFL’s Los Angeles vote early in 2016, with the St. Louis Rams getting the go-ahead to move to Southern California in 2015 and the San Diego Chargers getting first dibs on joining them should their one-year attempt at a new stadium fall flat.
It did, and now the move is on.
Via USA TODAY Sports, two hours ago:
San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos informed NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and some fellow owners Wednesday he intends to move the franchise to Los Angeles, abandoning the team’s home of 56 years to start over in a new market and share a futuristic new stadium with the Los Angeles Rams.
Indeed the Chargers just pulled a Ron Burgundy, and said “go fuck yourself San Diego.”
The NFL moving back to Los Angeles is a story that we’ve followed closely and covered in detail. Since late 2014, it appeared inevitable that Angelenos would get a second team. NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport On the Chargers potentially moving to Los Angeles:
“I talked to [Rams] COO Kevin Demoff, he said they’re actually in talks now about the Chargers moving to LA, that the owners are in a good place, that there are no obstacles in the way if this is what the Chargers want to do. The Rams wanna make sure this is an attractive option if the Chargers do choose to go this way.”
We saw this coming at the end of last year. Jay Glazer’s Sunday Scoop on FOX NFL Sunday, December 20th, 2015 edition said:
“A year ago, we stood up here and said that the owners were pretty sure that the St. Louis Rams were the team that was going to move to L.A. Now, I am standing here a year later saying that the owners right now are pretty sure that the team that’s going to move to L.A. is the San Diego Chargers. That’s the only team that everybody seems to be in agreement with, but nobody is in agreement with who they are going to partner with.
Half the league right now is saying that is has to be the Raiders and their deal with Bob Iger and the other half is saying, ‘No, we need Stan Kroenke here with the St. Louis Rams.’ These owners are going to vote in two weeks and we know they are going to fight it out and there is going to be all sorts of subterfuge, but in the end, it is really going to come down to, ‘Who are the San Diego Chargers going to pair with up here in Los Angeles?”
Will we see a time share in Carson, California’s new stadium with the Chargers and Rams? How will this affect the San Diego Chargers community if their Bolts do move out? Indeed the Chargers just pulled a Ron Burgundy, and said “go fuck yourself San Diego.”
We asked probably the most iconic player in Charger history, legendary quarterback and current CBS Announcer Dan Fouts, for his take. Read it at this link.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, Bold and the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication, appears regularly as a guest on CGTN America, WGN CLTV News and KOZN 1620 The Zone.
Follow him on Twitter and Instagram