This is a new game.

Let’s play to win this time.

The city and county need to be willing to start over. The Chargers need to be willing to start.

They really should be given the chance.


Despite the information coming from numerous NFL sources that the Chargers are all but gone, this game is winnable.

The picture painted by those in the NFL know is that the Chargers are vetting terms of a proposed partnership with Stan Kroenke and that their sharing the Inglewood palace is highly likely.

That appears to not be entirely untrue. (Disclaimer: The previous sentence was purposely written in a way that gives pause, fostering the same kind of ambiguous double-talk at which the NFL is so adept.)

But, make no mistake, the NFL on Tuesday sent the Chargers and Raiders back to their home markets. Plain and simple.


When the Rams pulled the option of their going to Inglewood alone from the ballot and owners, left with just deciding between Chargers/Raiders in Carson and Rams/Chargers in Inglewood, voted 20-12 in favor of the latter, it was over.

Commissioner Roger Goodell and his wise men (the L.A. Committee) told the Raiders they were out and the Chargers they could be in only on the league’s terms.

Two sources aware of the process told the Union-Tribune this account as it was happening. Later presented with the scenario that the league directed the outcome at that point, another source involved in the resolution replied, “You don’t need me to tell you that.”

It was, in fact, one of the possible scenarios sources had laid out in the days leading up to the meeting in Houston. In hindsight, especially given the fact the Chargers were on Monday night presented with the parameters of what an Inglewood alliance would look like, it is not difficult to believe what ended up happening was what was going to happen all along.


Just connecting dots on that one. Call it educated speculation. Several people involved in the saga from start to finish acknowledged Wednesday that the end was what they had expected virtually from the start.

Now, we can’t be too confident that the Chargers won’t move. But we should not be naïve enough to swallow the entirety of the spin that emerged from Houston.

The Raiders will be taken care of eventually. An entity like the NFL knows it must strengthen its weakest link as much as possible. It was difficult to keep count of the number of owners who expressed over the past year that the Raiders were an afterthought in this process. Some even proffered the Raiders would “never” be allowed possession of the L.A. jewel.

The league loves San Diego, knows its value, would like the city to remain a part of the family.


Of the three markets whose teams were trying to leave, San Diego was the only one that made NFLers shake their heads and say “Huh? What are we doing?”

Oh, the league knows what it is doing.

It is now up to Dean Spanos to assess his potential return on investment in San Diego versus Los Angeles. He and his siblings (and their investment bankers and lawyers) need to decide between actual wealth versus paper wealth, cash flow against debt ratio and that sort of thing.

When it gets Spanos’ call, the city needs to be flexible, committed to a smart deal versus just committed to a Mission Valley deal. The city needs to know what it’s being asked, then say what it thinks it can do.


The NFL can do more.

The $100 million gift, which will be in addition to the team-friendly $200 million G4 loan, is not all the NFL can do to help the Chargers and Raiders build their own stadiums.

Plenty of people have in the past few days overestimated Kroenke’s power, but it should not be underestimated either.

He doesn’t want anyone else in his building. He may not have a choice, but he could help further incentivize the Chargers and Raiders to keep off his Hollywood Park turf.


Further, there is the matter of the questionable wisdom of three teams in Southern California. It worked 21 years ago – sort of, until two of the teams left.

Many owners are on record saying they think two teams can work in L.A. Further, too many sources continue to independently insist the Raiders are interested in San Diego for it to not have merit.

But is a Starbucks approach to placing that many NFL teams so close to each other really viable here? The stadium shared by the New York Jets and Giants is less than 100 miles from the Philadelphia Eagles’ stadium. But this isn’t the East Coast.

Neither Hollywood (and its surrounding burbs) nor America’s Finest City need the NFL.


If San Diego really wants it, however, those who run the city need to quickly take advantage of this overtime.

It says here they’ll be given the chance.