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Should the San Diego Chargers Relocate?

By Keith Demolder

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Dec 14, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers fans yell during the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

At this point in time, the San Diego Chargers do not have a stadium to play football in past the 2015 NFL season. For the time being, they’re going to be staying Qualcomm Stadium, their home for the past 48 years. There have been recent developments that have made the overall situation much more complicated than a yes or no situation.

The purpose of this article is not to break any news or evidence, but rather to commentate and comment and analyze the effects of the Chargers staying in San Diego or going to L.A. For the moment, the Bolts are staying in San Diego (at least for 2015). And while any proposed moved to Los Angeles would be only 120 miles from San Diego, it would still have widespread effects on the team and fan base.

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At the moment, there have been talks with the Mayor and the Chargers in proposing a new stadium deal with potential locations being at the current Qualcomm Stadium lot or next to Petco Park in downtown San Diego.

According to ESPN, “Mostly silent since San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s creation of a stadium advisory group two weeks ago to study potential locations and a funding source for a new stadium, representatives of the San Diego Chargers agreed to meet with the nine-member citizens’ group on Monday.”

The mere fact that the mayor agreed to create a group of San Diego citizens to try and find a new home for the Bolts is a good thing for the city of San Diego and having the Bolts stay put.

This news comes just days after the NFL released a memo that was obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

The memo states, “In particular, as has been discussed on numerous occasions and confirmed in various memoranda, any decision to resume NFL team operations in Los Angeles will require multiple approvals from NFL ownership, which can only be granted by a three-fourths vote of the clubs. These decisions include selection of a stadium site; approval of stadium lease and financing arrangements; and debt ceiling and sharing waivers (if needed); relocation consent and terms; and Super Bowl awards, among other subjects. A key role of this Special Committee will be to preserve the voting rights of the clubs on each of these important issues.”

What this means is that even if the Chargers wanted to move their franchise to L.A., they would need to a). beat out the current franchises wanting to move their franchises as well (Oakland, St. Louis, etc.) and b). receive approval from 24 of the NFL’s 32 teams.

As it appears right now, the Chargers are leaning towards staying in San Diego. But, things can always change when more information comes forward this off-season.

Dec 14, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; Denver Broncos head coach John Fox walks onto the field before pre-game warmups for the Broncos game against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

Staying in San Diego means nothing changes, but think about that statement. Nothing changes.

In terms of pay roll, the Bolts revenue would not change (relatively). At Qualcomm 71,500 people will buy tickets and flood in from all areas of Southern California and the United States to go watch their beloved Bolts play some football. And those people who cannot make it to the game will most likely listen on 1360 AM or 105.3 FM or watch on CBS Channel 8 (the local CBS station here in SD). The players would keep their houses and their love for the city they play for.

But remember, with staying in San Diego, nothing changes. The dilapidated 48 year-old Qualcomm Stadium made entirely of concrete and steel will continue to stay the Chargers stadium until the entire thing collapses under the stress of great playoff expectations.

The slogan “new is always better” does not apply in this situation because nothing changes. Because nothing changes, the revenue, under some economic principles of continuity, will continue to remain the same.

The reason why revenue is so important is because money can buy certain things like free agent contracts and multi-year franchise deals. If the Bolts stay in San Diego and don’t move to Los Angeles, they wouldn’t be losing any existing fans, but at that same token, they wouldn’t be gaining any new fans unless there is a huge migration to San Diego.

Los Angeles is the second largest city and one of the biggest metropolitan areas in all of the United States and perhaps North America. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Los Angeles metropolitan area has a total area of 4,850 square miles (12,561 km2), while the wider combined statistical area covers 33,954 square miles (87,940 km2), making it the largest metropolitan region in the United States by land area. It is estimated that there is over 18,000,000 people alone in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

That is a lot of people.

That means 18 million people living in L.A. would be up for grabs to go to a Charger game. With a move to LA would come an exponential increase in ticket revenue as well as increased local T.V. contracts and construction contracts which would bring in an incredible amount of jobs to the local LA economy.

But, as most things go in today’s society, it all comes down to money. Do the marginal costs outweigh the marginal benefits? If the price is right, the Chargers could be moving to L.A. In essence, this could make the Chargers big-time football. Of course there are some unseen effects that the  Bolts could maybe not have seen coming.

One of the intangibles is overall team legacy.

Imagine the Green Bay Packers moving to Milwaukee or the Tennessee Titans moving to Memphis (biggest cities in Wisconsin and Tennessee, respectively). While money and big contracts could be possible in a bigger market, the loss of overall team legacy could have a higher immediate impact. Many businesses (including the stadium workings themselves) as well as the Chargers employees could potentially be out of a job and a place to work/live.

Not to mention, since the Raiders and Rams came and left L.A., SoCal has been strictly a college football oriented place. Unless you are going to see the L.A. Kiss, it could be potentially hard to try and convert a city that hasn’t seen pro football in about 20 years.

At the same time though, it could help countless people in Los Angeles without a job to find a job working on the new stadium. Because of the added revenue from selling more tickets to a bigger audience, the Chargers would be able to add more players and draft picks and potentially earn an NFL Championship (some of us hope).

Overall, we must all be objective about this case. These points that I have brought up are going to have to be analyzed to the furthest ends of the Earth by the Bolts and their front office. San Diego was a franchise founded in L.A. and perhaps it’s time for the Bolts to come home.

Next: Should the Chargers move to a 4-3?

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