Roger Noll, a Stanford economics professor emeritus, has sized up the prospects of Chargers chairman Dean Spanos moving the team to a Los Angeles surburb alongside the Rams.

Noll deems the odds “very long” that Spanos will broker a deal with Rams owner Stan Kroenke, who plans a $2.66 billion stadium and complex in Inglewood 125 miles north of San Diego.

If the Chargers come to town, the prices the Rams can charge for tickets, luxury boxes and personal seat licenses will have to drop a bit. The Rams probably will then seek compensation from the Chargers in high rent or control of some revenue sources from Chargers games. Add that to the $500 million the Chargers would have to pay the NFL to relocate in Los Angeles, and that deal has very long odds.

Expect the Chargers to stay in San Diego. If they move, it’s more plausible that they’ll end up in San Antonio or Las Vegas. Or even St. Louis. Source: Los Angeles Times editorial.

Noll also lays out why most economists believe NFL football stadiums are poor economic bets for cities.

My take: If he forgoes a shotgun marriage in L.A., Spanos ought to try to sell the cash-flush NFL on going several extra yards to pay for a stadium in San Diego. The League promised both the Chargers and the Oakland Raiders an additional $100 million if they strike stadium deals in their current cities. Should the Chargers decide to stay in San Diego, the Raiders in 2017 would have the option of moving to Los Angeles. At that point, the $100 million promised Oakland could come into play for San Diego.


A play for San Antonio is one Spanos may have considered five years ago when he led the California fundraising efforts of Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Should Spanos seek San Antonio -- a move that would cause upheaval for generations of Spanos family members who work for the Chargers and grew up in California -- opposition would likely come from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who’s said he’ll protect his stake in Texas. Jones is up 1-0 on Spanos this year, having supported Kroenke in his bid for Inglewood that owners approved, by a 30-2 vote, over the competing Carson plan that Spanos sponsored.