Chargers Not Goofing Off About Moving to L.A.

We would have had Michael Vick, the Kobe Bryant of the NFL, playing here every week in our backyard if they hadn’t given him to Atlanta.

But that’s our team for you, owned by a couple of Goofs, and every time ESPN shows another incredible Vick highlight, you might want to get upset with the Chargers -- it’ll be good practice when they begin play here in 2004.

That’s right, the Chargers are coming, and here’s how it’s going to unfold:

* The Chargers, given 60 days to trigger an escape clause in their Qualcomm Stadium lease beginning Dec. 1, will do so Jan. 27, the day after the Super Bowl has been played in San Diego. (You might be familiar with escape clauses: The Rams used one to vacate Anaheim Stadium and go to St. Louis.)

* The city of San Diego and the Chargers -- per agreement -- will have 90 days to come to terms on a new stadium, which won’t happen.

* That brings us to around May 1, and for the next 18 months the Chargers will be free to shop elsewhere for a stadium deal, which will be show-and-beg time for the Rose Bowl, Coliseum and Avenger owner Casey Wasserman, who is interested in building a downtown football stadium near Staples Center.

* The prediction here is the Chargers won’t wait 18 months, but only until the 2003 season is over -- the last year they’re obligated to play in Qualcomm. Then they will come to terms on a new stadium in Los Angeles -- giving San Diego 60 days to match a stadium offer or say goodbye. A new stadium in L.A., of course, is going to be filled with hundreds of luxury suites set at a high corporate price, which will be prohibitive to match in a small market such as San Diego.

The Chargers will leave San Diego, move into their Carson training camp facility, which they are already contracted to begin using this summer, and will kick off the 2004 season here -- in a temporary site such as the Coliseum.

* I presume, knowing Commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s sense of humor, the NFL will pit the Raiders against the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2004 opener -- the first NFL contest to be played here in 10 years. I wonder if it will be a sellout.

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ALEX & DEAN, the Spanos Goofs, who own the Chargers, are interested only in finding a new playpen for their team. It doesn’t matter if that playpen remains in San Diego or is placed in Los Angeles.

The escape clause in their Qualcomm Stadium lease is going to give them that leverage -- pitting San Diego’s insecurity against Los Angeles’ promise of lots of luxury suites and the NFL’s overriding desire to have a team and new Super Bowl stadium again in the entertainment capital of the world.

That is why the NFL made it clear recently it has an interest in placing a Super Bowl here in 2008 -- a Super Bowl that would fall into the hands of the Spanos Goofs to help market the sale of suites and premium seats in a new stadium.

That is why the NFL hooked up John Moag, point man in the Browns’ move from Cleveland to Baltimore, with the Rose Bowl folks fighting for survival.

And that is why Wasserman bears watching. In addition to being a close friend of Roger Goodell, the NFL’s No. 2 in command and considered by most the leading candidate to replace Tagliabue some day, Wasserman has taken a leadership role in expanding the Arena Football League, which is doing business now with several influential NFL owners.

Wasserman also has aligned himself with billionaire supermarket magnate Ron Burkle. (I wish the Grocery Store Bagger had thought of that.) The pair had been rumored to be interested in buying the 32-story Transamerica Center in South Park and surrounding land with the intent of building a new football stadium there.

“We have looked at it,” Wasserman confirmed Tuesday. “Are we buying it? We’re not buying it today. We clearly believe that’s the best site for a football stadium, but some of the land down there is owned by [Philip] Anschutz, some by Transamerica, some by people you’ve never heard of. But that’s why we’ve looked into buying the Trans-am building. I don’t think anything will happen, though, for a couple of months.”

The Chargers will begin looking for a new home in a couple of months.

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THE NFL has had a fascination with Burkle, or maybe it’s Burkle’s bank account, for several years. The league considers Wasserman and Burkle a dynamic duo capable of winning political support here, while also taking on an ownership piece of a team. The NFL also likes anyone here who makes no mention of the Coliseum.

Now the more successful the Chargers are this season, the more difficult it’s going to be for city political leaders to let the team go. The last time the team went to the Super Bowl, the city not only renovated Qualcomm, but agreed to guarantee sellouts for 10 years, which so far has cost taxpayers more than $30 million.

The Chargers are tied for first, but will collapse and miss the playoffs. Tampa Bay will play Miami in the Super Bowl (remember, I’m a professional -- don’t try this at home), and the next day the hand-wringing will begin when the Chargers make it official they might be leaving.

They’ll play the 2003 season in San Diego, but no one will know for sure if they’re staying or going while negotiations continue for a new stadium, the suspense and bids building, and ultimately the Spanos Goofs emerging the big winners.

It’d be nice to make them pay for not bringing Vick with them when they come here, but with one fewer game on TV once they arrive, I know who’s going to pay once again.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com