Many San Diegans think Dean Spanos is disloyal for even considering to relocate the family business to Carson. But the reality is that the owners of the Chargers football team have the opportunity to double the value of their business overnight. They would be crazy not to act.

Forbes estimates the value of the Chargers at $1.5 billion, and if they win the NFL’s Los Angeles relocation sweepstakes with a swank new publicly funded stadium in Carson, the value of the Chargers will likely increase to nearly $3 billion. Loyalty or no loyalty, that is a no-brainer for any business owner.

The bad news for fans is that the Spanos family likely has already accomplished their goal. The only people who can stop them now are their fellow NFL owners, who appear set to make official what most San Diegans have known in their hearts for years. The Chargers are leaving San Diego.

As a devout Chargers fan my entire life, that is a sad realization. I treasure the memories of the glory days of Chargers football — Fouts, Winslow, Jefferson, Joiner, Kelcher, Benirschke and all the other great players of that era. I watched every week with my dad, with frequent interruptions by my brother and I tackling him to the ground in our living room while pretending to be big Wilbur Young unnecessarily punishing a quarterback. To this day, the only football I watch is the Chargers game every week.


But the departure of the Chargers is also an unequivocal positive for our city. We will be released from our very costly, frustrating and often abusive relationship with the NFL. Most importantly, the departure of the Chargers creates incredibly exciting opportunities in Mission Valley and downtown for transformational new development. The Spanos family will get what they want in Carson and San Diego taxpayers won’t be saddled with the cost. Everybody wins.

If things work out, we will be getting out of the NFL stadium chase at just the right time. The value of small-market NFL teams has nearly doubled in the last three years. Just this year, the average value of an NFL franchise increased 38 percent to $2 billion. The value of the 49ers increased 70 percent in 2015 just because they moved out of Candlestick Park. The corresponding demands of NFL owners for public financing for new stadiums have also skyrocketed.

Think housing market bubble. Irrational exuberance. If we buy now, we are chasing the top of the market. Realistically, we are going to need more than a half-billion dollars in public money to keep the Chargers or lure another NFL team once the Chargers leave. All for eight regular season home games a year. It just makes no sense.

And we would be buying into an institution — the NFL — on as shaky ground as the housing market was in 2007. The day of reckoning of the NFL’s denial of the risks of brain injury from playing football is upon us. As parents continue to recognize the risks and find alternative athletic opportunities for kids, the NFL’s long-term viability is seriously compromised. Combine that with taxpayers across the country slowly but surely learning to say no to the NFL’s bully tactics, and the future is not bright for the NFL or for cities that mortgage their financial future to chase the NFL dream.


With all that said, Mayor Kevin Faulconer has been right thus far to vigorously pursue a deal to keep the Chargers. He has exhausted all avenues to keep the team. He has put a fair deal on the table, contingent on a vote of the people. He has forced the Chargers to be honest about their intentions, and they have responded with 100 percent clarity that the organization wants nothing more to do with San Diego.

It is time to recognize that the Chargers’ departure is a blessing in disguise for our city. It is time for the mayor and all San Diegans to pivot to the incredible non-NFL opportunities that present themselves.

The Qualcomm site has as much or more potential as Liberty Station or the Embarcadero or other San Diego jewels also in the midst of remarkable transformations. The potential of the 166-acre Mission Valley site to be redeveloped into a transit-oriented, mixed-use SDSU housing/entertainment/riverpark hub is something everyone can get behind.

It is time for these opportunities to be embraced and for San Diegans to be OKwith the Chargers pursuing their L.A. dreams. Everybody will win.


Zucchet is general manager of the San Diego Municipal Employees Association and a former San Diego councilman.