Chargers President Dean Spanos yesterday made his "first public comments this year on his team's stadium quest," and it appears the "onus is on the Citizens Stadium Advisory Group to, essentially, make it feasible for the Chargers to remain in San Diego," according to a front-page piece by Kevin Acee of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. Spanos said, "I’m anxiously awaiting what the mayor and the task force come up with. ... I’ve said we want to be here. We’ve tried to be here, but the nature of the deal is going to make the difference." He added, "Everybody is going to have a very good idea where this thing is going to go in the next few months." Spanos estimated that the "vetting and haggling process could take approximately two months after the task force submits its financing proposal for the development they announced last week would be in Mission Valley." The task force believes a $1.2B price tag "would provide many, but definitely not all, of the amenities in other recently built stadiums." But Spanos said that it was "impossible to project whether that would be acceptable to the Chargers without seeing what is proposed." Spanos also said that he is "willing to stay in San Diego for less than what he’d make" in L.A. -- both in terms of "premium seats and sponsorships and team value." Spanos: "I’m hoping there is a proposal and a deal that may not be as lucrative or have the upside L.A. has, but if it can keep us competitive. ... That’s the most important thing to me." He added, "This is a big business. It gets back to survival. You don’t want to be 32nd in the league in terms of revenues and in terms of everything" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 3/17).
THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE: In St. Louis, Wallis & Uber noted Rams Owner Stan Kroenke "hasn't talked to the public" since he introduced Jeff Fisher as coach in '12. Even St. Louis Post-Dispatch Rams beat writer Jim Thomas, who "used to get an exclusive interview with Kroenke every March, has been cut off from his source." Thomas said, "I've been shut down on that. I've gone back and forth on that many times with the people that are involved. ... He wants to move the Rams to L.A., to Inglewood. It's very clear now, whether he's enunciated that to anyone, public or not" (KOMU.com, 3/16).
