Scott Kaplan says Spanos-NFL freaking out

**rustybolt** · 08-23-2017, 04:30 PM

There is a back story that is being ignored by everyone. Doug Manchester had an offer on the table to purchase controlling interest in the team before they left San Diego. The NFL extended the negotiation window for Spanos / Manchester when Dean literally took the league by surprise and bolted to LA. Manchester was heading an investment group that was going to build a privately funded stadium in San Diego. I've been telling all my friends since day one of the move, that Spanos needs to win and win big to capture a fanbase in LA. Failure to do so will increase the pressure by the NFL to sell the team to Manchester to move back to SD. That's why I'm actually believing this for the most part. I think it's being dramatized, but I think there is more than a grain of truth to it. It matches everything I've heard that the fuse has now been lit. They only had a bit over 19K for their first game and around 17K for this last one. Remember, the NFL shares in the revenue generated, in gate, advertising and especially TV. I told my friends that the NFL is going to expect their usual stipend from the Chargers even now. If they can't meet that....and how can they with the tiny crowds they are drawing and reduced TV revenues, the NFL will declare them insolvent and move to force an ownership sale. IMO the truth is that the NFL has probably given the Spanos family notice that the league's full normal share is expected. Spanos broke league rules when he bolted in the first place. He left a viable stadium offer on the table.

The Chargers earned a net profit of over $65M the last two years. You can imagine how much the NFL made off of the franchise in SD. Have any of you been to the games or seen them? The stadium is only about 1/3 full at the start of the second half. That's a whole lot of beer and hotdogs not being purchased. I said it months ago. If they have a losing season this team will be bought by Eli Broad or Doug Manchester's group. Dean got greedy, for some reason $65M / yr and owning a franchise worth $1B wasn't enough. He turned down the offers from Las Vegas, and Mark Davis suckered Dean into looking at Carson while he stole Vegas away for himself. Dean was looking at Inglewood with Kroenke years ago but Stan made a fool of him there too.

I love the team but hate the owners more than the move per se. If Eli purchases the team and moves it to the City of Industry I'd become a full fan again. But moving back to SD makes the most sense. There is no need to build a fanbase.....just the stadium. Manchester and his buddies have the juice to get it done. They would do what Davis did. Hire real football execs to run the team. John Spanos is perhaps the biggest reason this team has sunk to these depths. It's been all downhill since Dean gave him control.

**Formula 21** · 08-23-2017, 04:43 PM

Fuck Manchester. Royal ass scumbag.

**RTPbolt** · 08-23-2017, 07:11 PM

I dont think a few games of short attendance is a concern....a move is a long game decision. To panic after a few games makes no sense to me. New cosch, new city, temp location....its going to take years to build up demand in LA and turn the franchise into a consistent playoff team in all likelyhood.

im ready to watch some football with our starters and i know the odds are we wont start off fast especially with a new OL, head coach and D coach....thats the reality

**6025** · 08-23-2017, 07:29 PM

The NFL did not extend the deadline, they completely ignored the topic at the last owners meeting a week before the 1/15 deadline.

**rustybolt** · 08-24-2017, 01:26 AM

They did in fact extend the deadline by 2 days. That prompted Dean to bolt to LA because it showed his lack of support among the other owners.

**SDFan** · 08-24-2017, 10:52 AM

Originally posted by rustybolt View Post

There is a back story that is being ignored by everyone. Doug Manchester had an offer on the table to purchase controlling interest in the team before they left San Diego. The NFL extended the negotiation window for Spanos / Manchester when Dean literally took the league by surprise and bolted to LA. Manchester was heading an investment group that was going to build a privately funded stadium in San Diego. I've been telling all my friends since day one of the move, that Spanos needs to win and win big to capture a fanbase in LA. Failure to do so will increase the pressure by the NFL to sell the team to Manchester to move back to SD. That's why I'm actually believing this for the most part. I think it's being dramatized, but I think there is more than a grain of truth to it. It matches everything I've heard that the fuse has now been lit. They only had a bit over 19K for their first game and around 17K for this last one. Remember, the NFL shares in the revenue generated, in gate, advertising and especially TV. I told my friends that the NFL is going to expect their usual stipend from the Chargers even now. If they can't meet that....and how can they with the tiny crowds they are drawing and reduced TV revenues, the NFL will declare them insolvent and move to force an ownership sale. IMO the truth is that the NFL has probably given the Spanos family notice that the league's full normal share is expected. Spanos broke league rules when he bolted in the first place. He left a viable stadium offer on the table.

The Chargers earned a net profit of over $65M the last two years. You can imagine how much the NFL made off of the franchise in SD. Have any of you been to the games or seen them? The stadium is only about 1/3 full at the start of the second half. That's a whole lot of beer and hotdogs not being purchased. I said it months ago. If they have a losing season this team will be bought by Eli Broad or Doug Manchester's group. Dean got greedy, for some reason $65M / yr and owning a franchise worth $1B wasn't enough. He turned down the offers from Las Vegas, and Mark Davis suckered Dean into looking at Carson while he stole Vegas away for himself. Dean was looking at Inglewood with Kroenke years ago but Stan made a fool of him there too.

I love the team but hate the owners more than the move per se. If Eli purchases the team and moves it to the City of Industry I'd become a full fan again. But moving back to SD makes the most sense. There is no need to build a fanbase.....just the stadium. Manchester and his buddies have the juice to get it done. They would do what Davis did. Hire real football execs to run the team. John Spanos is perhaps the biggest reason this team has sunk to these depths. It's been all downhill since Dean gave him control.

I don't know where you're getting your information, but I think you are wrong on a couple fronts. #1 the NFL doesn't get "shares" full or otherwise from the Chargers games. The gate $ is split between home and visiting teams. Game days revenues and local advertising stay in the local market (owner may get all or split some like parking and concessions with the city like in SD before last contract re-do) and there is no stipend paid by clubs back to the NFL annually. #2 the huge global TV broadcast rights contracts with the NFL are split evenly with all 32 teams getting shares. IIRC, the $65 Mil is what the Chargers had left (reportedly- no one knows for sure since they don't open their books to public) after paying salaries and overhead expenses of running the club. #3 the NFL is charging Sapnos $650 Mil for the privilege of moving and they WILL get that on schedule because it is being financed by G/S or some investment group like that and Deno has to pay THEM back- not the NFL. #4 I'm local here in San Diego and followed the stadium saga pretty closely for years. Manchester's name popped up really late in the game with a proposal to build a stadium- but I don't remember it ever mentioned that he had been negotiating with Sapnos about buying any interest in the team.

Now I will go along with the general idea the other owners are not real enthusiastic about having poor sister Sapnos in their exclusive club, and they probably only tolerated his suckitude as long as they did because he went along with the flow and the possibility of having a new venue in SD for future Super Bowls in a fair weather party city. I'm sure their by-laws have provisions for forcing a sale of a non-performing entity they determine is bad for the NFL image in some way or another- or they'll invent 1 if they need to like they are prone to do. I recently started to suspect maybe that has been the Sapnos end game all along: move to LA to inflate the team value and cash out even though there is a time limit (I think 5 years) before teams are allowed to sell after relocation. So, sucking at this small venue for 3 years might just trigger the league into waiving the wait period just so they can sell the team to a richer owner- and Sapnos cashes out earlier than anyone imagined possible.

**Formula 21** · 08-24-2017, 11:16 AM

The season tickets are sold out meaning the exhibition games are sold out. He's made his money, why should he care if no one shows up. It's LA, there's better things to do than watch this shit called preseason football, all the while getting raped by parking and concession prices.

**whitelightning** · 08-24-2017, 01:14 PM

I'd love nothing more than to see the Shithead family relived of ownership of this franchise, sadly, I don't think that will happen.

**richpjr** · 08-24-2017, 02:56 PM

Originally posted by whitelightning View Post

I'd love nothing more than to see the Shithead family relived of ownership of this franchise, sadly, I don't think that will happen.

Sadly, I think we are stuck with Team Spanos forever.

**Steve** · 08-24-2017, 06:39 PM

In an ideal world, if we had come in and played well, it would have made the Chargers the hot ticket in LA. I get it. But if anyone thought it was likely to happen, shame on them. THis is preseason football. Even if they had gotten excited, shame on them. These games are about developing players at the bottom of the roster. If you are a team that does the must win preseason games, then shame on the Chargers.

If the Spanos clan is really freaking out, then so be it. Again, it is all about perceptions. The Rams have not looked that great, and neither have we. It doesn't prove anything. They still have a fan base from last year, and some support from when they called LA home. We aren't going to truly win the LA market in one year, so everyone should forget trying to, and just settle down.

**richpjr** · 08-24-2017, 08:33 PM

I don't actually believe he is freaking out. Kaplan has an agenda and insisted for years that the team would never leave - wtf does he know?

**rustybolt** · 08-25-2017, 12:47 AM

The NFL does have a form of revenue sharing to promote parity. Or large market teams would dominate the league and the smaller market teams won't be able to compete. They don't share on everything but it's a percentage kicked back to the NFL to run their operations and begin to level the playing field. It's no different than the relocation fee the league demands. It's paid to the league then apportioned to the individual franchises. No different than the league getting a percentage of the merchandising revenue as well. Look at these teams as business franchises with each owner owning a portion of the overall business the NFL. Franchises kickback a portion of their revenue to the mother company and so do the NFL franchises. Have you noticed that is exactly what they are called. Better believe that John Elway pays a franchise fee to gool old Papa for his pizza joints. That is one of the reasons they require anti-trust exemption because in reality it's a business cartel. You better believe all members of a business cartel pay a fee to belong to that cartel, the NFL is no different.

Scott Kaplan says Spanos-NFL freaking out

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment