The Chargers yesterday signed No. 3 overall draft pick DE Joey Bosa to a four-year contract, and the "critical development in closing the gap between the two sides was a switch of the agent who led Bosa's negotiations," according to sources cited by Michael Gehlken of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The change came after Chargers President of Football Operations John Spanos went public last week saying that the team had made its "best offer" and CAA agent Brian Ayrault "had turned it down." Spanos "vowed the offer would only reduce from there." In the days that "followed the hard-line stance, a transfer occurred" from Ayrault to CAA Football co-head & NFL agent Todd France, who now "co-represents Bosa." One source called CAA's tactic to use both Ayrault and France "Good cop, bad cop." After the agent movement, negotiations "restarted to some degree." Sources said that on Sunday morning before the Chargers' preseason match-up against the Vikings, the team and France "agreed to a deal largely resembling the 'best offer' from last week," a deal featuring 85% cash payout of Bosa's $17M signing bonus, or about $14.5M this calendar year. Spanos declined to comment on the shifting of agents or contract specifics but said, "I prefer to keep the details quiet, but I would like to thank Todd France for his professionalism and his help in getting this deal done" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/30).
CONVENTIONAL APPROACH: In San Diego, Nick Canepa writes an open letter to Mayor Kevin Faulconer asking him to speak on the issue of a new Chargers stadium. Canepa: "There really is no need to keep quiet anymore. ... The Chargers have stated publicly they don't believe they can win this thing without your blessing." He added of the Chargers' stadium/convention center proposal, "It's a good plan. It greatly will add to downtown what Petco began. ... There is vision to this plan. It's not going to get 67 percent of the vote, but there is future in it. It's a great beginning, if nothing else. How much longer can we expect an NFL team to continue playing in a stadium your city has terribly neglected? You can blame the Chargers for many things, but not that dump" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/30). Meanwhile, in L.A., Michael Hiltzik writes the NFL is "at it again, trying to mulct the public for hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to build new stadiums" in Las Vegas and San Diego. But San Diego voters, "to their credit, seem very skeptical about the deal." San Diego is a "vacation and convention destination," and its tourism industries are "right to worry about the effect a big hike in the hotel tax might have on visitors" (L.A. TIMES, 8/30).
