Former Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith said he’s put Chargers football in his rear-view mirror.

Smith, though, keeps track of the NFL Stadium Game, especially as it plays out in San Diego, and the longtime NFL executive told the U-T’s Kevin Acee he has league sources in the know.

From what they’ve told him, the Bolts have a long, long future in San Diego.

“The Chargers are staying here,” Smith told Acee on Wednesday night, via 1090 AM. “They have to do a deal.”


Smith is aware of the NFL narrative that the Spanos-owned Chargers have an option to become a tenant in Inglewood, where they would join the Los Angeles Rams.

“The reality is, there is no option,” he said. “There is an option, but it will never be exercised.”

From what his NFL sources tell him, Smith said the League will make sure, if push comes to shove, that the the Chargers remain in San Diego, the team’s home since 1961.

“San Diego is coveted by the National Football League and the owners,” Smith said. “The League wants a team here. They want them to stay here.”


Smith spoke to other Bolts subjects, too. As expected, the Generalissimo strongly supported Team Spanos’ actions opposite CAA-represented Joey Bosa in recent months.

My take: Readers of The Blog will note that Smith’s position on the NFL Stadium Game is nearly identical to my position (no, Smith isn’t a source) over the last two years. Folks have tried to put lipstick on the pig concerning a Chargers move to Inglewood, and I doubt they’ll put away the cosmetics any time soon. The more attractive scenario for the League, which has the clout because it funnels about $250 million to each franchise every year, is to keep the Chargers in San Diego. Putting the Bolts in L.A. dilutes the potential of “getting L.A. right,” a huge objective of League powers. Too, shoehorning the Bolts into the Kroenke Dome would shut off America’s second-largest media market to other NFL franchises that, in time, after the Rams have regained their footing, may make a lot more sense than the L.A. Chargers.

San Diego, meantime, offers the League: 1) deep roots in a market that Kroenke said far exceeds St. Louis’ financial upside; 2) a top-flight Super Bowl destination; 3) the chance to maintain AFC West rivalries that are approaching six decades in length.

The logical course for San Diego’s elected officials and voters is clear. Drive the kind of bargain that the NFL would, were the NFL, an industry that projects $25 billion in revenues next decade, on the public’s side of the negotiating table. Pay up, gentlemen.


San Diego taxpayers, fleeced on the ticket guarantee to the Chargers and also the ghastly renovation of Qualcomm Stadium, finally may have a fighting chance in this edition of the Stadium Game. Bearish independent audits of the Chargers facility initiative, Measure C, and the NFL’s high regard for San Diego argue for a no vote on Nov. 8.

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tom.krasovic@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @SDUTKrasovic