Chargers set to bolt to L.A.

Chargers Chairman Dean Spanos has called an 8 a.m. staff meeting for Thursday, at which time he is expected to inform his employees that the franchise is moving from San Diego, its home of 56 years, to Los Angeles.

The move was first reported Wednesday night by ESPN, although the story’s author, Adam Schefter, also said that a league source cautioned that “Spanos has yet to send a formal relocation letter to the NFL, yet to notify public officials in Los Angeles or San Diego of the team’s move, or even tell the members of the San Diego organization about his plans. The source insisted nothing is final.”

But, Schefter wrote, “the Chargers have notified NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and other league owners, of their intent to move to Los Angeles for the 2017 season.”

Multiple sources confirmed the staff meeting, with one saying Spanos planned to be in Los Angeles later Thursday. Another league source said of the plan to move, “All I can tell you is my understanding is it is true.”

A spokesman for Mayor Mayor Kevin Faulconer had no word from the team about a move.

“The Chargers have not contacted the city,” spokesman Matt Awbrey said in an email Wednesday night.

County Supervisor Ron Roberts, who had worked with Faulconer on a San Diego stadium proposal, said: “If reports are true the Chargers are moving, it’s disappointing. But you can only do so much.”

Charger fans were disheartened, especially with recent talk suggesting the team might stay, at least a while longer, in an attempt to work out a stadium deal.

“I am a lifelong Chargers fan,” said Richard Wade, managing editor of the Bolts from the Blue website. “And as such, I find it incredibly appropriate as well as exceptionally painful that they got my hopes up one last time before dashing them as time was expiring.”

On Twitter, Chris Holloway ‏posted: “Plaza Section 43, Row 16, Seats 3-4. My family has had these seats for over 20 years. Even if inevitable, tonight hurts, bad.”

At some point Wednesday night the Chargers’ headquarters in Murphy Canyon was egged. Later, a San Diego police patrol car was parked outside the building.

Civic leader Phil Blair, CEO of Manpower San Diego, said he would be surprised if the Chargers had really decided to leave San Diego for Los Angeles. While the team owner may believe there’s a larger financial reward being in Los Angeles, Blair says he’s not so sure.

“I can’t see them being second fiddle to the Rams or being a tenant in someone else’s stadium,” said Blair, a former member of San Diego’s Convention Center Corp. board. “Is it a financial decision where I as the owner want to go where the profits are or is this a family company that loves San Diego and really wants to make it work? I think moving to L.A., long-term, is a mistake.”

Most players learned of the news Wednesday evening just how fans did: on social media.

Chargers cornerback Jason Verrett said that he was on the phone with safety Jahleel Addae when Addae, who was logged onto Twitter, blurted out that it’d been reported the team was relocating to Los Angeles. Some mixed feelings followed, as both have spent the entirety of their careers in San Diego.

Addae arrived in 2013 as an undrafted rookie.

Verrett, a Pro Bowler, followed as a 2014 first-round pick.

“I didn’t believe it at first,” Verrett said. “I was like, ‘Man, I ain’t going to believe it until the announcement.’ But once I saw it on Twitter, I was like, ‘Damn, it’s crazy.’ They finally made a decision on where we’re going to be. Of course, San Diego is the city that drafted me. I was looking forward to it being my home.”

Similarly, other players were surprised to learn the news.

“Wow!” one said via text message.

Those reached were still processing the development, waiting for an official announcement. But there clearly was relief among players toward the prospect of having clarity about the franchise’s location, both for them and their families.

The Chargers have been seeking a new stadium in San Diego for more than 15 years, and a year ago were given a deadline of Jan. 15 to move to a stadium the Rams are building in Inglewood. Earlier Wednesday, the NFL extended that deadline by two days, to Tuesday.

The lack of a modern football stadium in San Diego — and the additional revenues generated by such elaborate facilities — prompted the departure of the team, which has been one of the region’s most popular and recognizable civic institutions.

The Chargers have agreed to become tenants in a $2.66 billion stadium Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke is building in Inglewood. It has not been announced where the Chargers would play before that stadium opens in 2019, but most speculation has been it will be at StubHub Center in Carson, which seats fewer than 30,000.

The report of the move comes two months after San Diego voters rejected a tax increase for a combined stadium and convention center annex the Chargers proposed for downtown. Measure C was supported by 43.6 percent of voters, far less than the two-thirds required for approval.

That proposal came after the team pursued at least nine different stadium solutions beginning in 2004, though some say many of those proposals lacked financial details.

In fall 2015, the Chargers declined to consider a proposal from county and city officials for a new stadium in Mission Valley on the site of the team’s current home — Qualcomm Stadium, which opened in 1967.

While experts say the local economic damage from the team’s departure will probably be minor at the most, San Diego’s image could suffer outside the city and local community pride could take a hit, especially among the team’s more enthusiastic fans.

The Chargers’ pending departure would leave San Diego with only one franchise among the nation’s four major sports leagues: the Padres. The Clippers’ departure in 1984 cost the city its NBA franchise, and San Diego has never had an NHL team.

Many say the arrival of the Chargers turned San Diego into a real sports town and also helped put the city on the national map. While the team never won a Super Bowl and only made it to one, it made the playoffs many times.

San Diego is the eight largest city in the nation by population but it has the 28th largest TV market.

The city also has relatively few large corporations to buy luxury boxes in stadiums and support pro sports in other ways, such as paying for stadium naming rights.

The departure of the Chargers could start a whole new process in San Diego of trying to get another NFL franchise. Since the Colts left Baltimore for Indianapolis in 1984, every city to lose NFL football has successfully fought to get the nation’s most popular pro sports league back.

However, St. Louis, which got the Rams to replace the departed Cardinals in 1995, ended up losing the Rams to Los Angeles last year.

NFL officials have said they still consider San Diego a viable NFL city, partly because it served as a popular Super Bowl venue in 1988, 1998 and 2003.

The Oakland Raiders have been frequently mentioned as a possible replacement for the Chargers in San Diego, but the Raiders have been exploring a possible new stadium in Las Vegas.

And the Qualcomm Stadium site in Mission Valley, which is considered the most likely spot for a new NFL stadium, is already being eyed by local community leaders for other uses.

They include a river park, new facilities for nearby San Diego State University and a small stadium that could be jointly used by the SDSU Aztecs and Major League Soccer.

If the Chargers had chosen not to exercise their option in Inglewood, the Raiders would have gotten the opportunity to do so.

The Chargers and Raiders in 2015 proposed a joint stadium in Carson, but the NFL last January chose the Rams’ proposed stadium in Inglewood instead. The league, however, gave the Chargers one year to decide whether to join the Rams.

In early December, the NFL approved a final tenant-lease contract between the Rams and Chargers and a payback plan for the $550 million relocation fee the Chargers must pay the league.

A announcement of a move would end speculation that Chargers Chairman Spanos would give San Diego another chance to cobble together a viable stadium plan that would prompt the team to stay.

Spanos met Dec. 22 with Mayor Kevin Faulconer, County Supervisor Ron Roberts and San Diego State President Elliot Hirschman to discuss the potential financial framework of such a proposal.

The proposal included $200 million from the city, $100 million from the university and $75 million from the county.

It’s unclear whether the Chargers leaving would politically damage Mayor Faulconer’s long-term political aspirations. He easily won a second and final term as mayor last June, but the moderate Republican has been mentioned as a candidate for governor and U.S. Senate.

The reported move comes on the eve of his third State of the City address on Thursday.

Chargers officials said the dynamics of their long pursuit of a new San Diego stadium shifted significantly in 2014 when Kroenke, the owner of the Rams, first proposed moving his team to Inglewood into a large stadium he envisioned at the former site of Hollywood Park racetrack.

Ironically, previous owner Barron Hilton moved the Chargers in 1961 from Los Angeles to San Diego, where they played in Balboa Stadium until what is now Qualcomm Stadium opened six years later.

Verrett, the Chargers’ cornerback, offered empathy for the city’s loyal fans, calling it a “shocker” to them. He grew in the Bay Area and rooted for the Raiders, who may relocate to Las Vegas.

Verrett also acknowledged the opportunity that awaits from a business standpoint in Los Angeles.

“It’s going to be different,” Verrett said. “To be real, I feel it’s another New York-type market. I feel LA and New York are the two best markets for sports. As an athlete, you’ll definitely be able to branded off more, marketwise, especially if you’re balling on the field. Things of that nature are going to come.”

The Chargers recently leased a new headquarters and training facility in Costa Mesa in Orange County, roughly 40 miles from Inglewood.

The Costa Mesa lease covers 101,000 square feet of office space next to Interstate 405 in The Hive complex and an adjacent 3.2-acre parcel for training and practices.

The team could make the site its new permanent headquarters. But other sites would also be considered, a team official confirmed.

The Chargers said before Christmas they were working with the city of Costa Mesa to obtain permits to prepare practice fields and occupy the office space.

Staff writers Michael Gehlken and Lori Weisberg contributed to this report.

jay.posner@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutposner

UPDATES:

7:55 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details.