Chargers Chair Dean Spanos and execs John Spanos and Tom Telesco handled the final team meeting yesterday morning, though "little answers on the franchise’s future came" aside from "clarity on the team’s offseason workouts," according to sources cited by Michael Gehlken of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The team will "practice this spring at its San Diego facility, regardless of franchise location." The "current lease at Murphy Canyon does not expire until this summer if the Chargers" move to L.A., which Spanos has until Jan. 15 to "exercise his option to do so." Charger LB Joshua Perry said, "The biggest thing that guys want is just an answer" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/3). In San Diego, Kevin Acee wrote what is "left for the Chargers is a decision on whether to depart" and "take their tired act" to L.A. Chargers fans at the team's season finale Sunday against the Chiefs "sent the team’s owners a different sort of message ... as loudly as they had throughout the season." Acee: "If it wasn’t a figurative middle finger, it was worse." Sunday's game "was an exhibition in exhaustion, the latest illustration that all but the most ardent fans (and even some of those) are over this whole thing." A crowd of 54,915 was announced, though Qualcomm Stadium "didn’t seem that full, and it wouldn’t have been even close if not for the usual mass of visiting fans" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/2).
ANTE UP: The UNION-TRIBUNE's Acee in a front-page piece writes it is now the NFL's "turn to ante up or walk away from the table." Sources said that Spanos has "all but determined he has no choice but to go" to L.A. But Spanos "remains anguished by that conclusion and has appealed to the NFL for help to remain in San Diego." Sources said that over the past week, including yesterday, "possible solutions are being discussed at 'the league level' and 'ownership level.'" The City of San Diego, along with the county and San Diego State Univ., has "made what the Chargers believe is their final collective offer." The Chargers "believe that money is real, as opposed to the funding proposed early last year." However, the $375M those entities "say they can provide" is more than $100M less than "what the Chargers were seeking." Acee: "The message being delivered is that the team’s fate hinges on what further support the NFL can provide -- via loan or grant or some other partnership" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/3).
MEN IN THE MIRROR: The Chargers fired coach Mike McCoy after Sunday's game, and John Spanos said that he and Telesco "need to improve their own performance." Spanos: "You have to look in the mirror. We all have to do our jobs better." Spanos said that the Chargers will "not enlist a consultant or a search firm" in hiring their next coach (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/3). The UNION-TRIBUNE's Gehlken reports McCoy was notified of his dismissal Sunday evening "shortly before leaving Qualcomm Stadium, and minutes after conducting a postgame press conference with reporters." Dean Spanos, John Spanos and Telesco "were the ones who informed McCoy he would not be retained." Ultimately it was John Spanos' "final call." McCoy had one more season under contract (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/3).
