As of Tuesday night, the St. Louis Rams are now the Los Angeles Rams. By a vote of 30-2, the NFL owners approved the move for the Rams back to Los Angeles after leaving Southern California 20 years ago.
The L.A. rams will play their games in Inglewood in a brand new $1.9 billion stadium. For now, it looks like the Rams will play their games at the L.A. Coliseum until their new stadium is finished being built. As for another team in L.A., that is still to be determined.
The Raiders had bowed out of the relocation, although it looked almost certain that the Raiders and Chargers were going to move to Carson together and share a stadium. After almost a day-long meeting in Houston yesterday, the Raiders will remain in Oakland for the time being.
For the Chargers, they have one year to negotiate and work out a deal to move into a shared stadium with the Rams. For Dean Spanos, the owner of the Chargers, this is not quite what he had in mind. Reports had circulated for months saying Spanos did not want to share a stadium with the Rams and with Stan Kroenke, so perhaps this is some leverage for Spanos and San Diego to get a deal done to stay put.
If the Chargers don’t agree to a deal by January 2017, then the Raiders will get a chance to work out a deal to share the stadium with the Rams. Reports surfaced last night saying the Chargers were “very angry” with how things played out, and now the limbo and relocation questions remain.
For now, they remain the San Diego Chargers, but they could still be playing their first game in Los Angeles as early as this Preseason, if an agreement is put in place before the season gets underway.
For the city of San Diego, they will start re-negotiating with Dean Spanos in hopes of getting a deal done sooner than later. The uncertainty of where the chargers will be playing is going to hurt everybody: the city, the players, the coaching staff, the management, and, of course, the fans. The hope is the Chargers can get a deal done sometime by the end of March, whether it is in Los Angeles or San Diego.
For now, the Chargers are staying put, but the situation is still extremely fluid. For Chargers fans who wanted some clarity from the meetings yesterday, this isn’t quite clarity. This is more slow pain, anxiety, and worrying about where the Chargers will be when the season kicks off in September.
If the Chargers agree to a deal to move to L.A., the question still remains of where they would play. It is unclear if the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which is almost 100 years old, can house two NFL teams on top of already housing USC. Other temporary venues are being looked at, just in case the Chargers move this season, while the city of San Diego is also looking at other options and places to put a brand new stadium, just in case Spanos and San Diego can work out a deal to stay put.
As for now, the San Diego Chargers remain, but any day now, they can end up becoming the Los Angeles Chargers. Stay tuned.
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