“NFL-Letters Have New Meaning”

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This is the modern day National Football League, where everybody makes profits, from the brilliance of Robert Kraft in New England with Patriots Place, to Jerry’s World-home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Small market Green Bay is so very profitable, and even smaller market Buffalo, and the pride of the Tri State fan support, the Steelers.

It’s different in other leagues.

Early day life in the NFL was a hodge-podge of franchises that moved around. The Portsmouth Spartans became the Detroit Lions. The Decatur Staleys became the Chicago Bears. And there were franchises known as the Duluth Eskimos, Dayton Triangles, and the Pottsville Maroons in Pennsylvania.

There was the All American Football Conference with the likes of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers, yes that’s right. Of course that league spawned the legendary Cleveland Browns and more.

There was the Continental Football League with the Toronto Rifles and Wheeling Neptunes.

We had upstart leagues, like the AFL, where the Chargers were born, but also containted failing teams like the New York Titans. It did merge with the NFL and the rest of history.

We had the World Football League. Anybody remember the Hawaiians and the Detroit Wheels.

There was the USFL, where President elect-Donald Trump owned the New Jersey Generals, and played the likes of the Washington Federals and the Arizona Wranglers.

And for awhile there was NFL-Europe with the Scottish Claymores and Frankfurt Galaxy and London Monarchs.

The Arena League had a place and a great run, remembering Kurt Warner and Iowa Barnstormers.

The XFL was here today, gone tomorrow, with its most famous player, a running back “He Hate Me”.

But modern day football is a raging success, only marred by franchise shifts, despite the profit brought in thanks to the great TV contracts.

But not everyone is a good operator.

Teams moved for lots of reasons, some triggered by renegades like Al Davis, who left Oakland, went to LA, sued the league and won, then went back to Oakland. He was the most successful of all.

The list of owners of transferred franchises come in all sizes and shapes and backgrounds.

The Chicago Cardinals were owned by Stormy Bidwell and family. They became the St. Louis Cardinals, then moved to the Valley of the Sun, becoming the then Phoenix Cardinals. A mom and pop, poorly run franchise.

The Baltimore Colts legacy, Unitas, Marchetti, Berry and Moore were put on a Mayflower Moving van and moved in the middle of a winter night during a snowstorm, by the disgrace that was then owner Robert Irsay. HIs son Jim inherited the team now in Indianapolis. Mention the father, and you can feel the hate.

The most painful move came when Art Modell, a tremendously influential owner in the NFL, responsible for the early years TV contracts and Monday Night Football, took the Browns out of Cleveland led them to Baltimore as the Ravens. That despite averaging 82,000-fans a game. Modell was a brilliant exec but over extended. He lived his life in exile, disgraced, never to be forgiven.

Bud Adams was eccentric, explosive, and overbearing. His Houston Oilers were beloved in the Bum Philips ‘Luv Ya Blue era’, but they left, headed to Memphis then onto Nashville. Stadium issues more than anything else triggered to move to the mid-south.

Georgia Frontiere inherited the Rams on the death of her husband. The franchise relocated from the LA Coliseum to Anaheim Stadium, was in a love relationship with its fans, though she was hated. It wound up going to St. Louis in a new TWA Dome, had success, then failed, was s old and now moved back to LA thanks to the maverick Stan Kroenke.

It all sets the stage of where we are today. The Spanos Family yanking the Chargers out of San Diego, again because of stadium issues. A team that has become a loser, run by a family looking for a money grab.

NFL history should write the Bidwell’s were the worst owners. Irsay was the worst person. Frontiere the most unethical. Modell the saddest case of near-do-well going bad. Team Spanos maybe the most greedy.

The NFL has a major crisis on its hand. Not just the concussion lawsuits. Not PED’s nor domestic violence. But rather this.

The money-grab that seems to be everywhere in the league. No idea what Roger Goodell, the Commissioner, is going to do about it. Not much of an idea of whether the filthy-rich owners really care what anyone thinks.

Old time coach Jerry Glanville had that favorite phrase he coined a couple of decades ago, as he ran the Atlanta Falcons.

NFL means “Not For Long” if you don’t play better.

Maybe the updated version should read.

NFL…”No Fan Loyalty”. Just ask Chargers fans what they feel this day.

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CHARGERS-THIS SAYS IT ALL”

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IT HAS BEEN 5-DAYS SINCE CHARGERS OWNER DEAN SPANOS ISSUED HIS 7-SENTENCE STATEMENT HE WAS MOVING THE TEAM TO LOS ANGELES.

HE TOOK A 21-MINUTE FLIGHT TO LOS ANGELES, ENDING A 56-YEAR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHARGERS FANS IN SAN DIEGO.

DAYS AFTER THE MOVE, WHILE REFUSING TO TALK TO THE SAN DIEGO MEDIA, AND WHILE CONDUCTING A MEDIA TOUR IN LOS ANGELES, WITH SELECT CHOSEN MEDIA, HE WHINED, SAYING HE WAS STUNNED HE WAS BEING PORTRAYED AS A VILLIAN IN HIS HOME TOWN OF SAN DIEGO.

HE SHOULD HAVE ASKED THE MODELL FAMILY, OR THE IRSAY FAMILY, WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR THEM, WHEN THEY MOVED THE ICONIC BROWNS OUT OF CLEVELAND, OR THE COLTS FROM BALTIMORE.

IT WASN’T JUST A SELECT GROUP OF CRITICAL MEDIA IN SAN DIEGO. IT WAS LOS ANGELES. IT WAS ACROSS THE NATION. AND IF HE WAS UPSET HE, HIS FAMILY, AND HIS NEW LOGO WAS BOOED WHEN SHOWN ON A VIDEO BOARD AT THE STAPLES CENTER DURING A LAKERS GAME, HE SHOULD UNDERSTAND, THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING.

A SAMPLING OF WHAT HAS BEEN SAID AND WRITTEN, HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE. WELCOME TO THE REST OF YOUR LIFE DEAN SPANOS.

UNION-TRIBUNE…
…”HE’S A VILLAIN”
…”SPANOS IS A LOSER”
…”HE’S A COWARD”
…”HE RAN AWAY LIKE A RAT”
…”THIEF IN THE NIGHT”
…”INCREDIBLE BELLIGERANCE”
…”THE NFL OWES SAN DIEGO AN APOLOGY”

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LA TIMES
…”WE DON’T WANT YOU…OWNER’S A SCOUNDREL”
OC REGISTER
…”WITNESS THEIR DYSFUNCTION”

RIVERSIDE PRESS..
…”BAD FRANCHISE-BAD OWNER”
LA DAILY NEWS..
…”DEAN SPANOS IS FRANK MC COURT.

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NEW YORK TIMES
…”CONGRATS LA-YOU NOW HAVE 2-TERRIBLE TEAMS.”

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
…”NFL, EVEN MORE, LOSES ITS SOUL”

CBS.COM
…”ONE OF MOST CLUELESS OWNERS-ONE OF THE MOST GREEDY

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USA TODAY..
…”IF SPANOS IS WILLING TO BORROW $550M TO PAY AN LA RELOCATION FEE-WHY NOT INCREASE PLEDGE TO STAY SAN DIEGO?”
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AND WHAT DO YOU FANS THINK?

Welcome to Your New Home-Chargers”

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So the Chargers arrived in the Los Angeles market…hours after their heartless owner issues a 7-sentence letter, announcing he was moving the team out of San Diego.

Dean Spanos, a coward, refused to face the San Diego media, after stonewalling everyone in town, taking the fans money, treating them with disdain.

Didn’t matter, because the jilted San Diego political leaders did all the talking.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer called the Chargers owner spiteful for the way he treated city negotiations, trying to get a new stadium built. San Diego didn’t lose the Chargers…the Chargers lost Ssan Diego.

County Supervisor Ron Roberts said the Chargers leaders treated San Diego civic leaders with dis-respect.

Adam Day of CSAG said the civic nightmare was over in San Diego.

Elliot Hershman of San Diego State said your word has to be your bond-the Chargers never kept their word.

Spanos and his entourage flew to LA to begin a media tour, expressing excitement about moving into a new market.

Wait till fans get a grasp of the product they are getting, 26-losses in 36-games. Wait till the media gets a taste of the stand-offish arrogant way the Chargers conduct their business.

Wait till the embarrassment of playing in a small soccer stadium sets in, and see how the national media describes the semi-pro atmosphere the Chargers will play in the next two years. You know, Carson, the city skyline with all those oil refineries, sitting next to its former preseason camp home Cal State-Toxic Waste (Cal State Dominguez Hills).

See Roger Goodell issue his own press release, full of lies, how Spanos exhausted all efforts to get a stadium built in city, working a full year with city officials. Hard to work and accomplish anything when you don’t ever meet and negotiate.

And then there is the reception from the working press.

The LA Times headlines blaring ‘we don’t want you’…The LA Daily news comparing Spanos to disgraced Dodgers owner Frank McCourt…

The Riverside Press calling the situation a bad franchise with a bad owner….the Orange County Register telling fans you will witness dysfunction and irrelevant…

The San Francisco Chronicle saying by this move, the NFL loses another piece of its soul….and the New York Times writing ‘congrats LA now you have two losing teams’.

So history will write the Chargers left town during a driving rainstorm. Their fans dumping all their Bolt memorabilia in the front parking lot, then setting it on fire at Chargers Park.

A sad ending for a franchise so beloved in our community, but owned by someone who has become most hated.

At the end of the day, Dean Spanos was born with a silver spoon. Had he not been given the franchise to run by his father, he’d be on a street corner with a tin cup.

Looking forward to seeing the new franchise in its new home. Waiting for it to fail, and he be forced to sell it.

Dean Spanos can take the team and his tainted reputation out of town. He cannot take its history, its Powder Blue jerseys, nor the memories from us.

“Chargers Football-A Dark Night-A Darker Future”

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It was rainy, cold and raw, a bad night weather wise in Mission Valley. It was an even worse night to be a San Diego Chargers fans.

The black skies overhead only drove home the darkest feeling you could have, with the news that owner Dean Spanos had told NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell he was moving the franchise to Los Angeles.

This after 56-years of loyalty to a franchise, in which the Spanos family has given San Diego just 9-winning seasons in their 33-years of ownership..

This after 1-Super Bowl appearance under theirleadership..

This after the ousting of Super Bowl coach Bobby Ross, and the the firing of Marty Schottenheimer after a (14-2) season, all following the first ownership move, the dismissal of Don Coryell. .

What followed were the mistakes in the hiring of head coaches Norv Turner and Mike McCoy.

All compounded by the poor treatment of players, the forced holdouts of top draft picks like Joey Bosa and LaDainian Tomlinson.

The club sanctioned running off of key component players like Vincent Jackson and Darrin Sproles.

The rude treatment of icons like Junior Seau, Rodney Harrison and others dealt away.

The history of the brazen treatment of front office people like Steve Ortmeyer, John Butler and AJ Smith.

The on going war with city leaders over any and all plans for a new stadium.

The insults directed at past mayors. The gun fire returned when one mayor called the Spanos family ‘welfare queens’;

Name any relationship the Chargers had, it ended badly. The business deals, including the Ticket Guarantee, forever stained the family as money grubbers and nothing else.

The arrogance in the odd years they won, turned into ignorance when you saw the Spanos sons take over the football and business operations of the team.

The franchise has lost 26-of its last 36. Attendance is the worst since 2000. Revenue streams have seen the team go from 15th to 29th in the NFL.

The owner allowed his point man, Mark Fabiani, to smear the city-county leadership for nearly a full calendar year, while civic leaders tried to help finance a new stadium for a rich man.

You can never forget, nor likely forgive the Spanos family, despite the philanthropic things they did in their early years in the community. A net value of (2.4) billion no longer buys you much love in the town you are deserting.

I said two years ago, Dean Spanos legacy would be the end result of the stadium drive. It has ended badly for the city of San Diego and its Powder Blue fans..

The Chargers ownership always talks about loyalty, as long as the net result is a positive for their family.

Moving to LA is a prime example of their end-game forever. Money, money, more money.

Their scorched earth policy destroyed their political currency down town. The fans revolted over the threats to move to LA, and the poor product on the field in San Diego.

At the end of the day, the patriarch father, Alex, gave his son the franchise to run, and the son, Dean, ran it into the ground and is now running out of town.

You get the feel, if Dean wasn’t given a silver spoon in life, he’d be on a street corner with a tin cup.

His legacy is forever tarnished. His franchise, under his leadership, is failing.

And on a cold-wet-dark night, he did what Art Modell (Cleveland) and Bob Irsay (Baltimore) did, leave in the middle of the night.

A dark night now likely to be followed by darker days.

Money and power corrupt, the rich and famous, and the ignorant and irreverent, who own the Chargers.

No one wins this morning. Not the Chargers moving to LA. Not the faithful fans in San Diego.

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“Power Brokers Playing the Game”

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And so the meetings begin this morning, in New York, on Park Avenue.

The NFL owners, the ones who run the game, play the Monopoly game, as if they were on Boardwalk, and the rest of us were on St. Vincent Avenue.

NFL owners meet to configure out how to prop up two troubled franchises, the moribund Raiders, and the downward trending Chargers.

The ownership groups of both have problems. The Raiders, a poorly funded franchise. The Chargers, a poorly run franchise. Both playing in crumbling stadiums. One, Oakland, in a city fraught with economic and social woes. The other, in San Diego, with a melting pot population base that keeps voting down public funding, for most everything.

It’s a critical situation for the NFL. Hanging in the balance is the lucrative market in Los Angeles, which guarantees the next incoming owner, enormous value to his franchise.

The NFL has issues though. The rich man Stan Kroenke, funding the Hollywood Park stadium, owns a franchise that is a mess on the field, and in the front office. This is a huge embarrassment to the NFL, to have had 90,000-fans show up for the opening of the Rams season, then see the season burn to the ground, where home attendance plunged to a half full stadium by season’s finish.

The Raiders have a strong brand of fans up and down the West Coast, but play in a dungeon of a stadium, in a city that has no resources.

The Chargers have a credibility leadership problem at the top, with the Spanos family decision makers. They have insulted and offended the fan base, and the civic leadership, that wants to help. Not much talent on the field, and no political currency in town.

Beginning today, running thru tomorrow, this is how I see the NFL acting.

They will spend the bulk of their time trying to sort out the Raiders to Las Vegas scenario. Yes, they will say things like protecting the home market, getting it right, and doing all they can, but in the end, nothing can get accomplished in the East Bay.

The biggest issue for the NFL is not the Las Vegas market, and its clientele-fans-visitors, but rather the local money. Do they want to do business with casino owner Sheldon Adelson, who wants to be part owner?

The NFL should not pull the ‘morals’ card out of their pocket. Jerry Jones was part owner of the sports fantasy league, Draft Kings, and that is a semblance of gaming. The Giants, Jets, Patriots and other teams have casinos signage in their stadiums, and that’s advertising gambling and all, isn’t it?

Las Vegas has the money, the leadership and state support. It’s not like the NFL leaving Cleveland or Baltimore, or even St. Louis. Raiders fans will trave and Las Vegas believes its tourists will check out the product.

This looks like a slam dunk, and it solves one problem with the LA market. The Raiders are no longer in the equation.

On to the Chargers, where the problem is fraught with issues. The owner does not have the assets to pay 650M in territorial fees to move to LA, even if he gets a stadium rent deal of just a dollar a year from Stan Kroenke.

He goes into a market with a poor product, in a town that does not want him, and the shiny new stadium is not going to net him the big cash flow you would expect, because he is a tenant..

His real goal is likely to drive the value of his team up to 2B, then have the Spanos family sell the team, take the profits, and go off into the sunset. Chargers fans would cheer, but they will have lost the franchise to LA, after ownership wrecked the relationships in San Diego.

The NFL committees can come up with bridge financing to help San Diego come up with the money to build a new stadium in Mission Valley.

But that entails another set of problems. If the NFL goes beyond its initial promises, does it not open a can of worms with the next group of cities that need money for stadium construction?. If you gave and gave and gave to save San Diego, are you doing the same for Buffalo or Jacksonville or the next city?

I am convinced the NFL does not want Spanos and Sons in Los Angeles. Remembering that the shield is all about profits, and new revenue streams, and therefore making the 2nd team in LA an expansion team, is the real end-game here. It may be four years from now, but think of what they would charge, to put an NFL team into Los Angeles and London, and the profits they would realize?

So they fork over another 200M to get the San Diego deal done, but realize that expansion in a couple of years, would net them, maybe 5B with a couple of more teams.

It allows Kroenke the time to finish the stadium, and fix his ailing franchise too.

And with the Raiders heading to Las Vegas, and a San Diego solution possibly coming to a vote, the NFL could still give the Bolts a year’s extension as a protection against a “no” vote from city-county taxpayers on the new Mission Valley stadium. Spanos might still have that option in 2018, but the NFL will push for everyone to vote ‘yes” to finance this, and keep their team.

Oh one other item, about Chargers leadership.

Anyone want to bet me, Dean Spanos and Mark Fabiani announce on Thursday afternoon, an hour or so before Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s “State of the City” address, that Spanos has agreed to a new resolution by the NFL.

Just track the history of the stuff Spanos and Fabiani pulled off in 2014 and 2015, as the Mayor, city and county, tried to put together financing. Every CSAG press conference or announcement, was preceeded by something the Chargers did, or were going to do, to soil what San Diego was going to do.

Real slime-ball stuff. Happened non-stop for over a year. You think a tiger changes his stripes?

The owner agrees to stay here another years, and work to get something passed, with the NFL money. They will want to paint him as the ‘savour’ of the Chargers franchise, after he was the ‘devil’ for two years running, trying to move.

I’m not big in conspiracy theories, just connecting all the dots, from all the people I have spoken to.

Raiders to Las Vegas. Chargers get another year with hope to get the deal done. NFL helps fix the Rams. Still to be delivered an expansion franchise in LA down-the-road.

Check with me Friday morning. I think I am right.

Like I said, Monopoly game here. Chargers, pass go, and collect 200-dollars, and we won’t let you land on Baltic Avenue.

It’s the way the NFL does business. All for one, one for all, as long as it all goes into their pockets.

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