“Chargers Crisis—Players & Cash Flow”

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Dean Spanos, Team Spanos, the Chargers, have a problem, a real problem now.

A problem worse than the hatred left behind when they dismissed 55-years of fan loyalty to execute the money grab to move to Los Angeles.

A bigger problem than the two years of media criticism, and the embarrassment of seeing all their home games overwhelmed by fans of the visiting team, who bought out all the tickets.

Despite the quality play of QB-Philip Rivers, the astute drafting of GM-Tom Telesco, and the fiery leadership of incoming coach Anthony Lynn, they still have a problem.

And this time, it is serious.

So they had to move to Los Angeles, where they hoped they would win, and garner a corner of the fan support up there. The market that loves the Lakers, is now enamored by the Clippers, has a World Series Dodgers team, and still supports the Bruins and Trojans.

They hoped too, to increase their revenues streams by going into the 2nd biggest market in the NFL.

Everyone in the NFL makes money thanks to the mega-TV deal from all the television partners. Some teams make lots more, because they win, or they play in a huge stadium, or have a heritage following.

Each team last year got 221M-as part of the TV pie-revenue sharing in the NFL. But the additional bonanza comes from Sky Box Revenues, Club Seats, PSLs, pricey tickets, merchandising and more.

None of that is part of the makeup of Chargers football now. Spanos’ net worth, according to the Forbes Magazine survey of owners, was 1.2B last season. A far cry from Stan Kroenke of the Rams (12.6B) or Robert Kraft of New England (9B) or Jerry Jones in Dallas (8B).

Of course owning your own Stadium, which Kroenke will do, and Kraft and Jones already have, is a big difference maker.

No one cares about that if you are a fan of the team. All they care about are wins and losses and how deep you go into the NFL playoffs.

The Chargers haven’t done that much, just two playoff wins in the last 11-years with Rivers at the helm. They surely don’t do that when it comes to tabulating revenue streams, considering they averaged 25,000-fans a game in their futbol-football stadium they play in in Carson.

And now they have issues, with the impending holdout of running back Melvin Gordon. Philip Rivers may be the straw that stirs the drink for the Bolts, but Gordon’s rushing and pass catching abilities are the meat and potatoes that sets up everything Rivers can do.

Gordon has a year left on his contract, due to make (5.6M) this coming season. He says he’s not coming to camp, and won’t play in the regular season, without an extension. He’s not going to risk getting hurt this year without the guarantee of an extension. He wants a state of the art salary, a lucrative bonus, and guarantees for a group of years going forward.

He’s not going put up huge numbers, while earning half of what Ezekiel Elliott gets in Dallas, or taking home just a third of what Le’Veon Bell will get from the New York Jets.

Gordon’s demands are simple. He wants 14M a year, quite a pay hike from his current salary this season.

Todd Gurley of the Rams will make (14.3M)-bad knee and all. Bell, who held out all last year, will earn (13.1M) in New York. David Johnson of the Arizona Cardinals gets (13M) this coming fall.

Gordon has been enormously productive with the Chargers.

He does everything, but he has also been banged up, four different injuries in the lat four years. The stats are impressive (3,628Y) rushing….(1,577) in receptions….that’s (5,205) all purpose yards and 38TDs in 4-years.

Bell, who walked away from the Steelers, after sitting out last season, piled up (4,045Y) rushing…(2,0005Y) receiving…a combined (6,050Y) and 31TDs in his first 4-years in Pittsburgh

But the Team Spanos problem is more than just the running back. The quarterback is also part of the equation.

Rivers is in the final year of his contract too, and has indicated ‘no more discounts’ in what will be his final deal. No one expects Rivers to ask the absurd money Minnesota shelled out for QB-Kirk Cousins (32M) a year average. But there will be a hefty increase for the Bolts passing star.

Can you say (24M) per year for Rivers? Add Gordon’s demand (14M) per year, and that’s a huge hike in this salary cap era. Throw in signing bonus money of possibly 20M upfront, and you wonder how Dean Spanos is going to pull this off.

His revenues are not what they were in San Diego. His potential to rake in bigger money a year from now seem limited, in that he is going into Kroenke’s stadium financed with the Rams’ owners money.

And there is the impending bill to the NFL League office. Spanos has to start paying (129M) in territorial fees to the NFL this coming season, for the next four years, for the move into the Los Angeles market, just two years ago.

Team Spanos has always had holdout issues with players, and granted you cannot always give the individual player what the agents always demand.

But you cannot play ‘hardball-lowball’ with your top two offensive players, whose contracts are both coming up.

Where is cash poor Spanos going to get the money?

There’s a big difference in the amount of revenues you generate, when you average 65,000 fans a game in San Diego, as they did in the good years, compared to the 25,550 they are getting in their soccer stadium in Carson

Big difference too in the corporate advertising revenue they used to get at the cement edifice that was Quallcom, compared to what they can sell in the LA Galaxy soccer stadium. And ditto for what they can charge for sky boxes and club seats.

Odd as I put pencil to paper to look at the economic of the Chargers. I thought of their ownership money issues, Spanos had to borrow money, a reported 650M, to finance the move to LA, and build new training facilities. Hell, if he had borrowed that money he could have helped finance a new Stadium in San Diego.

And then I thought of Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s comments, the day Spanos left San Diego.

“Dean Spanos will regret the decision he made’. Two years later it appears he really might, if he cannot pay his star players, to play in a market that still doesn’t love his franchise.

Could you imagine what Chargers football without Melvin Gordon for a full season would be like? Could you imagine life without Philip Rivers if he ever got hurt this coming season?

Could you imagine the trauma the Bolts would have on their hands?
Could you imagine the joy, still enraged San Diego fans would experience?

The Chargers have a crisis straight ahead, with players and with cash flow don’t you think?
Spanos could have been revered in San Diego. Instead, he is reviled, by the decision he made.

And a final thought about all this.

Would have never happened if they were still the San Diego Chargers.

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“Angels-Heartache Again”

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Life is so fragile, you, me, your neighbor, a family member, and a baseball player too.

The Angels are dealing with heart ache again, with the unexplained passing of young frontline pitcher Tyler Skaggs, who was found dead in his hotel room on a road trip to Texas, a week ago.

No drug, no foul play, just natural causes, at least that is the theory right now till the toxicological reports are released to his family.

But age 27, who knows, who can explain why. A blood clot, a heart attack, a sleep disorder.

Skaggs, so popular in the clubhouse, a cowboy personality. It took him a lot of starts and stops to get to the Angels rotation. From the Halos to Arizona, back to the Angels, and then finally a fixture in their front line starting rotation.

Players wept. What a scene to see a choked up star outfielder Mike Trout trying to explain his friendship with the fallen pitcher. The same for a tearful Brad Ausmus.

All this for a franchise that ten years ago had to deal with the death of another star young pitcher, Nick Adenhart, his life snuffed out age (22) when his car was hit by a drunk driver, right after a game.

The litany of those who died off the field, who wore the Halo is stunning.

Utilityman Luis Valbuena-killed in a car crash a winter ago in Venezuela in the off season.

Dick Wantz-promising pitcher-dead of a brain tumor in the Angels early years.

Minnie Rojas-relief ace-paralyzed in a mini-bike accident in spring training.

Jim Donahue-pitcher from early Angel years-brain cancer in his 20s.

Chico Ruiz-infield in a car crash.

Mike Miley-former 1st round pick pitcher-killed in car crash

Bruce Heinbechner-pitching prospect perished in a car accident.

Lymon Bostock-star outfielder-gunned down in Chicago in a love triangle in season.

Donnie Moore-ace reliever, fighting depression, killed his wife and then himself in a rage of depression.

On Friday, the Angels start the second half of the season. Uniform #45 will hang in a locker untouched, and respected by all who cross infront of it.

You can tell by the look in the eyes of Trout, Albert Pujols, and so many other Angels, how hard the coming weeks will be.

Not just the battle to climb back into a wildcard playoff race, but to search for the answers, why Tyler Skaggs was taken from them so early in his young career.

Baseball, a lot more complicated than just 100mph fastballs, hits, runs, errors, especially in Anaheim these days.

Angels with a heartache.

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“Memo to Bloggers-Stop the Stupid Stuff”

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Everyone has an opinion, and now most everyone has a way to express it.

The whole world out there has blogs. A ton are developing their own podcasts.

Now they have the freedom to create content, and then to comment on their creation, as if it is fact and they have a valued opinion.

To quote your President Donald Trump….’fake news’

Please.

The latest episodes come from anyone-everyone.

Topics include will the Padres trade relief ace Kirby Yates? Which power hitter out there should the Padres trade for? What can they get for slump ridden Wil Myers? Will San Diego be a seller or a buyer at the trade deadline?

All this, written by people in their bedroom, their garage, their basement. All these authors, so called authorities, have never been inside the Padres clubhouse, in the dugout, or at press conferences or on club conference calls.

The citizens journalists of the world are going crazy with their own content and their own opinions.

Why would the Padres ever entertain thoughts o trading 29-save relief ace Kirby Yates? They have built themselves into a near wildcard team. To get to the next level, you need an established closer. They dealt their last one Brad Hand to the Indians for young catcher Francisco Mejia, who is not quite ready to be an everyday catcher.

There is no closer in the system ready-made. Not Troy Wingenter, prone to episodes of wildness. Surely not 101mph reliever Gerrado Reyes, plagued by walks. Not even the young phenom Andres Munoz, blowing people away in AA-ball.

As one longtime scout told me last week…’yeah they can throw 102 miles an hour but alot of the time they don’t know where the ball is going’.

And why would you think you’d want to package a bunch of your young prospects to trade for an established bat? Why would shipping two or three kids in the system for a short term veteran rental be good business?

And where are you going to play an acquisition, in a crowded infield, or a traffic jammed outfield?

Yes Myers is a huge disappointment, but if you ever got someone hurt, Hunter Renfroe, Manny Margot, Franmil Reyes, you’d need him There is no real established replacement in often hurt Franchy Cordero or even Travis Jankowski, who’d be a diffrence maker.

The best deals come in the off season, when you have real time to shop players, like Wil Myers, and have had time to evaluate with all your scouts, what they saw from prospects in other organizations you might want to do a deal with.

But the bloggers and the podcast people all have these opinions.

The Padres need to quit trading established players for prospects, now they are so close to where they haven’t been in nearly a decade, the playoffs.

They need a well thought out plan to determine if one veteran acquistion can take the team to next level. Dealing Yates now, or even giving up on Myers makes no sense. .

That’s why Bobby Blogger….Peter Podcast should not be taken seriously ever.

The Padres start the 2nd half of the season at (45-45)…on the way towards what I predicted would be an (81-81) season, and real progress. Why mess at all with what has helped with this turnaround?

Let the Padres grow the rest of the season, then determine how to build on it come the off season. This has been a fun first half of the season, and people on the outside want to make changes after all the bad years of baseball we have seen?

Fake News. Faulty opinions. Stop the stupid stuff will you?

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“A Mid Summer Night’s Dream”

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The stars come out tonite in Cleveland. It’s baseball’s iconic All Star Game.

Color, history, electricity.

The best face the best, in what is really more than just an exhibition game.

It’s flair, dynamics, passion.

It started in 1933 as a charity game in Chicago, to raise funds. It marked a beginning of a tradition that no one could derail…not World War II…..Baseball Labor strife…nor even Commissioner Bud Selig.

They play tonite in Cleveland, the annual meeting between the two leagues. Only once, in 1945, was the game postponed.

There have been controversies. Games rained out. Played in the rain. Tie games. Beanballs, ejections, and All Star game shutdown when they ran out of pitchers in the 2002-Selig era.

Even the most absurd, when baseball sponsored two All Star Games from 1959-to-1962.

Then more recently, the Selig driven rule, that the league that won the All Star Game, would have home field advantage for the World Series. Glad that’s gone now.

We remember individual accomplishments, but also the sense of honoring the past, like Tony Gwynn did, escorting Ted Williams, in a wheelchair, to the mound at Fenway Park.

Big days and big plays are what we remember, whether we were a kid, or a 70-year old fan.

Babe Ruth won the first ever game with a home run in that 1933-debut. No one really knew what baseball had stumbled upon with this so-called charity game, that became a treat every summer for fans and players alike.

Big bombs have highlited what we have seen in past July’s.

Tony Perez hit a 15th inning homer in 1967.

Stan Musial of the Cardinals won the game with a blast in 1955

Cal Ripken’s farewell season with the Orioles included an All Star home run forever remembered.

Jackie Robinson became the first colored player to be in the game in 1949, joined by his Brooklyn teammates Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella and the Indians’ Larry Doby.

But it’s the drama, and the accomplishment that forever lives on.

The best moments of all time?

Ted Williams 1946 outing when he went (4-4) coming back from war.

Or Teddy Ballgame’s 3-run home run in the 9th inning, just before baseball went off to war in 1941.

Reggie Jackson, Mr. October, put on a show at Tigers’ Stadium with a 525′ foot home into the light towers, atop the roof in Detroit.

We have video of Pete Rose’s Charley Hustle head first dive, burying Indians catcher Ray Fosse at home plate in 1970.

And you can find the grainy black and white video of King Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants, striking out 5-Hall of Famers in a row, in 1934. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmuy Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin all went down swinging at that impossible to hit screwball in the Polo Grounds..

Baseball has made this a week of Mardi-Gras like festivals during the All Star Break. Home Run Derby, the Futures Game, the Fan Fest, and then the game itself.

Sit back, relax, remember, and then enjoy all things baseball, what was done in the past, what we have to look forward to, tonite.

A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream….that keeps recurring every July. A very special time in baseball.

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“Lakers-Clippers–Changing NBA Landscape”

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The earthquake registered 7.1-on the Richter scale…the one east of Bakersfield.

The NBA earthquake registered just as big and probably rocked the foundation of one team more than others.

The LA Clippers have officially arrived with the mega-money signing of Kawhi Leonard and the mega 7-for-1 trade to get Paul George from Oklahoma City.

The Lakers, who earlier had worked a 6-for-1 trade to acquire New Orleans’ Anthony Davis, and dealt 3-young players and more draft picks, to Washington, to get under the salary cap, didn’t get what they wanted, Leonard.

The Clippers weekend had to be the biggest in club history, exceeding the Chris Paul-Blake Griffin era. Definitely bigger than the day the NBA forced out controversial owner Donald Sterling.

The Clippers win turned into another bad Lakers loss. Yes the Purple & Gold are a playoff team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but they are not the legendary team they had hoped to be.

The roster has been filled out with fillers like DeMarco Cousins, Danny Green,

You can now talk about the Clippers potential in the same sentence as the great run put together by Golden State.

You won’t have to use phrases, six non-playoff years in a row, when referencing the other team in the building, the Lakers, but there is fallout to be concerned about going forward.

Whereas the Clippers have two stars at the zenith of their careers in Kawhi and George, the Lakers have an aging King James, a star but oft-injured AD, lots of role players, and no future draft picks to fix anything, if anything goes wrong.

Long gone now are the Lakers glory years, stretching from West-Baylor-Chamberlain, thru Magic-Worthy-Cooper…to Kobe-Shaq-Phil.

Long gone too are the inept-disgraceful days of all things Clippers-Donald Sterling, low budget high-controversy times.

The Lakers will be good for a short period of time.

The Clippers could be great for years.

Bet on one thing for sure. A likely Clippers championship banner in that building. You can probably bet also, that whatever success the Lakers have in the next two seasons will be short circuited by the Clippers, and short-lived because of the age issues with the Lake Show.

The landscape has surely changed in the LA market. Here come the Clippers…there goes the Lakers.

That was some earthquake…near Ridgecrest….and the one that shook the basketball court at Staples Center.

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