Chargers Do Not Have Plans To Relocate Before '09 Season
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Chargers Would Have To Pay City $56.2M If
Team Terminated Lease Agreement This Year |
If the Chargers are going to leave San Diego, "it won't be in 2009," according to Nick Canepa of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The team can inform the city between February 1-May 1 that it is moving out of Qualcomm Stadium by paying a lease-termination penalty of $56.2M, but Chargers Special Counsel Mark Fabiani said that "that isn't going to happen." Fabiani: "We will not be bringing a termination notice to the city of San Diego." The Chargers have hired Wasserman Media Group (WMG) to market the team in L.A., and Fabiani said, "It's a Catch-22 for us. The fans expect us to sign the best players and sell out the stadium and yet they get nervous if we try to expand our revenue base. Any future changes depend on our ability to expand our revenue base." Fabiani "declined to say what would happen in 2010, when the lease payment penalty drops" to $54.6M (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/28). In L.A., Tom Hoffarth writes the news that the Chargers have hired WMG implies that the Chargers are "about to come crawling back" to L.A. WMG Chair & CEO Casey Wasserman, who owns the now-dormant AFL L.A. Avengers, "has been using his indoor team as a practice wife, so when the day comes for an outdoor football franchise to make up its finicky mind, he'll have an engagement ring ready." Hoffarth: "Upon further review, we'd kind of actually welcome the Chargers back, nearly 50 years after they literally bolted" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 1/28).
SAYING SORRY: In San Diego, Kevin Acee reported Chargers GM A.J. Smith called Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson Monday to "talk to him about comments he made last week that have drawn fire across the nation and inside the organization." Asked last week about a statement Tomlinson made on his Web site last Wednesday, Smith "responded in a way that was widely interpreted as his mocking Tomlinson." Smith then wrote on the Chargers' Web site, "It was important to me that LT know exactly what happened. I just answered a question and unfortunately my response was inappropriate. After reading my response to the question, I can see why it was interpreted the way it was. I absolutely meant no disrespect toward LT -- none" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/27). Tomlinson said of the incident, "One thing was reported, and he let me know that another was supposed to be said, and he did actually apologize for what came out and he sounded sincere" ("Jim Rome Is Burning," ESPN, 1/27).
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Smith Taking Heat For Recent
Comments About Tomlinson |
TIME TO BOLT? Fanhouse.com's Kevin Blackistone said Smith has "not done a great job running that franchise and maybe now they can take a look at what he's done ... and say, 'You know what? Maybe A.J. Smith isn't really right for this organization'" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 1/27). ESPN.com's Jeff Chadiha said, "I think that whole team now looks at A.J. Smith as a guy who they can't trust, who they can't believe in and who's probably not going to have their back when it comes contract time" ("Jim Rome Is Burning," ESPN, 1/27). Saints QB Drew Brees, who played for the Chargers from '01-05, said the incident was "not a surprise to me. I think there is a track record there that you can't ignore" ("The Jim Rome Show," 1/26). ESPN's Chris Mortensen said Smith is "known to have a chip on his shoulder and to be arrogant, but I think he stepped over the line, and I believe the Spanos family that owns the Chargers believe he stepped over the line" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 1/26).
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