The NFL may yet determine that San Diego did too little, too late and that there is no more aid available to keep the Chargers in their hometown of 56 years.

There has been an awful lot of sitting around and waiting in these parts over the years, talking about what wasn’t possible and offering only vague terms of what was possible.

But local leaders have finally done what was asked of them, showing their cards and pushing this stadium game to the verge of another hand.

It is the NFL’s turn to ante up or walk away from the table.


In the final days of 2016, San Diego officials presented to the Chargers what both sides deem to be a real best offer for public contribution toward construction of a new stadium.

Now, whether ’16 was the Chargers’ final season in San Diego is apparently being decided outside San Diego. The decision on where the team plays next season and beyond is being made in New York and Dallas and Washington and other points around the NFL.

Chargers Chairman Dean Spanos has all but determined he has no choice but to go to Los Angeles, according to several people who have spoken to him recently. But Spanos remains anguished by that conclusion and has appealed to the NFL for help to remain in San Diego. League sources said over the past week, including Monday, that possible solutions are being discussed at “the league level” and “ownership level.”

That help could come, several people around the NFL say. If it doesn’t, those people and others predict, it is all but certain the Chargers will join the Rams in L.A.


Spanos has until Jan. 15 to decide to accept an option his fellow owners gave him last January when they rejected a bid by the Chargers and Raiders to build a stadium in Carson while approving the Rams’ stadium project in Inglewood.

The City of San Diego, along with the county and San Diego State, has made what the Chargers believe is their final collective offer. Significantly, the Chargers believe that money is real, as opposed to the funding proposed early last year.

However, the $375 million those entities say they can provide is more than $100 million less than what the Chargers were seeking. Thus, the message being delivered is that the team’s fate hinges on what further support the NFL can provide – via loan or grant or some other partnership.

The league last year pledged an additional $100 million – on top of the standard $200 million G4 loan – toward construction of a stadium in San Diego. The Chargers were to contribute $350 million in their Measure C proposal, a sum that included the sale of naming rights and seat licenses.


A projected total contribution of $1.025 billion is as much as $175 million less than the team’s estimates of the cost of a stadium in Mission Valley.

The sides have also talked about the team continuing a quest for a downtown venue.

Any proposal involving public money would have to go to a public vote, either in 2018 or 2020.

Working toward passage of that vote, which would require a simple majority because it does not involve a tax increase, would require Spanos to commit to San Diego and cede his option in Los Angeles.


While the Raiders were granted the option to move to L.A. if the Chargers do not, the league can assemble the musical chairs however it wants.

The most likely way that happens is in the approval of the Raiders’ relocation application. That would leave a space open in Los Angeles, taking away the urgency for the Chargers to decide.

Owners covet the league’s spot in the East Bay due to the size of the market and burgeoning economy, and there is no guarantee the Raiders’ relocation request will be approved. But many, if not all, of the same owners who are efforting the Chargers remaining in San Diego are also championing the Raiders proposed move to Las Vegas.

Several sources said the league can maneuver it so a spot can be kept open in Inglewood. Many of those sources indicated maintaining an opening in L.A. is the actual priority over keeping the Chargers where they are.


That’s fine.

The league can accomplish both. It is finally too close to reality to not do so.

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kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com