Will San Diego Have an Nfl Franchise Again
San Diego Chargers: Pros and Cons of Bringing the NFL Back to Los Angeles
Philip Rivers and the Chargers may end upwardly in Los Angeles in the virtually future. Donald Miralle/Getty Images
The San Diego Chargers have been all over the NFL rumor manufacturing plant this week.
Word on the street is that a grouping of prominent Los Angeles sports businessmen, led by old Lakers player and office-possessor Magic Johnson and billionaire Philip Anschutz, has inquired about acquiring a significant stake in the Chargers franchise.
Naturally, those rumors have precipitated fifty-fifty more than rumors regarding the possibility of the Bolts moving from their dilapidated digs at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego to a shiny new shrine somewhere in Los Angeles.
Gossip of this sort is nothing new. Aside from San Diego's disability to get a new stadium built for its NFL franchise, the prospect of the Chargers "bolting" north has been sparked by the team's hiring of the Wasserman Media Group in 2009 to marketplace the powder bluish in L.A. and Orange County.
And with a disappointing loss to the Oakland (and formerly Los Angeles) Raiders, questions about the Chargers in San Diego persist.
The notions of motion are largely speculative at this indicate, but are the pros and cons of a poaching of San Diego's team?
Pro: 50.A. Finally Gets a Pro Football Squad Once more
Jerome Bettis and the Rams were once a mainstay in LA.
The most obvious advantage of a Chargers' move to L.A., at least in the eyes of the NFL, is the reincorporation of the nation'southward second-largest media market into the globe of professional football.
At to the lowest degree in the eyes of those who don't recall USC is running a "pro-style" plan downtown.
Regardless, the NFL has been trying for years get its foot dorsum in the door in Southern California, but has struggled to do and then effectively, whether information technology be for a lack of ownership options, movable franchises or support from the urban center for new and/or upgraded facilities.
However, Magic Johnson and Philip Anschutz seem to exist putting together the perfect storm to bring the Bolts back to L.A., which would be a boon to the NFL's SoCal profile.
Con: L.A. Is a Not a Football Town
Bo Jackson and the Raiders had a successful stint in the City of Angels.
The NFL has tried, and failed, to proceed teams in L.A. before.
Southern California was once home to the Raiders and the Rams, until a confluence of forces led to both teams leaving boondocks in 1995.
In the case of the Rams, the team struggled to remain relevant in Southern California after moving to Anaheim to avoid splitting a market with the Raiders, under the sloppy stewardship of noted gold digger Georgia Frontiere.
In the case of the Raiders, legendary owner Al Davis decided to move the team back to Oakland but 12 years after putting upwards a massive legal battle against the NFL to get the team out of the Bay Area. Co-ordinate to Davis himself, "The inadequate stadia in the Los Angeles area for the acting years influenced our decision [to movement back]."
In both cases, the teams had some difficulty selling out their stadiums, due in function to flubs by the league, but more than importantly because of the 50.A. expanse itself.
In other words, Los Angeles is not an ideal football boondocks, or rather, it'south non an NFL town.
Information technology'south not easy to get 100,000 people into a stadium in L.A. on a Sun afternoon when the urban center lacks the kind of football-crazed populace seen in other big cities like New York and Philadelphia.
And while it is certainly a worthwhile risk for the NFL to get back into the lucrative L.A. market, information technology is a pregnant risk, nonetheless, for a league that has prospered without the urban center.
Pro: A New Football game Stadium Downtown
The L.A. Memorial Coliseum has fallen into disrepair in recent years.
While a metropolis like Los Angeles, with its diverse population and massive sprawl, doesn't exactly need a professional football team, having i effectually certainly wouldn't hurt.
In particular, building a state-of-the-fine art football stadium in downtown L.A. would only farther the region's recent resurgence and provide economic opportunity for a population that has suffered somewhat disproportionately from the almost contempo recession.
Developers and contractors would benefit from the construction of such a facility in the short term, while local businesses would thrive thanks to the inevitable overflowing of consumers in the long run.
Additionally, the presence of a sparkling new facility just might encourage the laggardly Rose Bowl and Coliseum Commissions to renovate their respective stadiums as a means of keeping upwardly with the Joneses, so to speak.
Hence, the city itself would profit immensely from the movement of an NFL franchise, with the Chargers being the nearly likely candidate.
Con: More Traffic in an Already Congested City
The presence of an NFL franchise would merely worsen what is already nightmarish traffic in Los Angeles.
Of course, that new flood of people wouldn't come without consequence to the balance of the urban center.
Traffic around Los Angeles is bad enough every bit information technology is, with downtown beingness the nearly congested of all parts of the urban center on a day-to-day basis.
Should the Chargers or whatever other NFL franchise take upward residence around L.A. Alive, the situation would probable worsen.
Even Lord's day cruisers wouldn't be safe from the pangs of traffic gridlock.
Pro: Chargers Cash in on Nation's 2d-Largest Market
The development of LA Live has revitalized downtown.
The movement would unequivocally be a benefaction to the Chargers franchise.
What'south not to like about playing in a bigger market place, in a make-new stadium, in the city where the Bolts were born.
And, as previously mentioned, the Chargers already receive a cracking bargain of exposure in the Fifty.A. expanse, thank you to the team'southward deal with Wasserman Media Group.
A firm, past the style, which is owned past Casey Wasserman, the current possessor of the Avengers of the Loonshit Football game League and a fervent supporter of bringing the NFL dorsum to the Urban center of Angels.
The Chargers came into existence in 50.A. as a charter member of the AFL in 1960 before moving south to San Diego in 1961.
A march to L.A., then, would exist both a step dorsum in time and a step forward in profitability for the franchise.
Con: San Diego Loses Its Biggest Sports Draw
The Chargers just might make full the void left behind past the Raiders in Los Angeles. Donald Miralle/Getty Images
Unfortunately for San Diego, Los Angeles' gain would be its loss.
A Chargers shift n would undoubtedly be hugely upsetting to the likes of Ron Burgundy and his fellow San Diegoites...err, San Diegoans...
San Diegans!
Sorry.
Without a professional person football franchise, the city'due south sports fans would accept only one local team to root for—the San Diego Padres, who have spent the MLB offseason unloading (or trying to unload) their best players.
It'd be tough non to experience for the long-suffering sports fans of San Diego should the Bolts brand the trip upwardly the I-5 thruway for proficient.
Pro: Magic Gets To Polish As an Owner
With his charisma and want to win, Magic Johnson would exist a boon to the NFL. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Then again, it would exist just equally like shooting fish in a barrel to feel practiced for Magic Johnson should he and the Anschutz Entertainment Group engineer the return of an NFL franchise to the fertile football game grounds of Los Angeles.
Magic has been a staple in the world of L.A. sports e'er since his playing days with the Lakers.
After being forced into retirement due to his contraction of HIV, Johnson has channeled his competitive spirit and infectious free energy into a number of highly successful business ventures, which at present be nether the umbrella of Magic Johnson Enterprises.
In that location'due south niggling doubt that Magic would exist only as successful every bit an NFL owner, with his unparalleled vision and bulldoze helping him to make the dream of pro football in the City of Angels a reality once once again.
Conclusion: A Long Charge Ahead
Only time will tell if Philip Rivers and the Chargers leave sunny San Diego backside for the bright lights of LA. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
At this point, the return of the NFL to Los Angeles is something of an inevitability.
With talk of football in the thruway capital letter of the country beingness such a recurrent topic among fans and affiliates alike, at that place's just too much fume for there not to be some kind of fire.
Nevertheless, whether its the Chargers or some other franchise making the move, and whether that move happens 2 years from now or 10 years down the line, is still very much in dubiousness.
Thus, the most recent rumors will, for at present, only add together fuel to what is becoming the eternal flame that is the give-and-take of professional person football in L.A.
Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/534699-san-diego-chargers-pros-and-cons-of-bringing-the-nfl-back-to-los-angeles
0 Response to "Will San Diego Have an Nfl Franchise Again"
Post a Comment