It’s all up to the Chargers -- can they goof it up?

I have teased the goofs who own the Chargers for more than 25 years. You can just imagine how excited they are about the prospect of one day joining us in Los Angeles.

But I hope it never happens.

I like work-free Sundays, sitting in front of TV with a pick of entertaining games to watch while not concerned whether our middle linebacker can make bail on a DUI arrest before the opening kickoff.

I’ll never have to pay to enter the new stadium, but someone in my family will undoubtedly want to go, and I know who will be asked to buy the tickets.

Whatever the prices, they will be outrageous, and do you really want to pay full price for exhibition games?

Of course, there are probably a number of reasons why it would be good for L.A.: employment, business growth downtown, AEG’s long-range bottom line, and a boon for football fans who think tailgating is a wonderful dining experience.

So who makes out here?

It depends on the Chargers and the NFL, along with some more questions that AEG and company point man Tim Leiweke need to answer.

I’m happy to report on Leiweke’s progress to date because it is fun to watch someone take on a challenge and do more than anyone thinks possible in such short order.

This doesn’t make it an endorsement, though.

Leiweke believes a team can play here next season and move into a new downtown stadium in 2016. He’s the same guy who has to buy tickets so his hockey team can attend the Stanley Cup finals every year.

I’ve been writing about our Los Angeles Chargers and will attend today’s game. But I do so only to tease the goofs and the small-town yokels who think it’s vital to have a NFL team.

If the Chargers are coming to L.A., it’s more likely now they will do so in 2013. Or 2016.

But I also believe there’s a way for AEG to begin work on a new convention hall and stadium next June, as planned, if someone presses Commissioner Roger Goodell for help.

When Browns owner Art Modell moved his team to Baltimore, the NFL guaranteed it would give Cleveland a team three years later so the city could begin construction on a new stadium.

If the NFL believes in the AEG project and makes a long-term commitment to L.A., no team has to concern itself with taking up residence in the Coliseum for the next four or five years while the stadium is built.

The Chargers are the only viable team to move here, but any team moving to L.A. would prefer to move into a new stadium.

The Raiders don’t count as an option, although I’m told some consider them a NFL franchise.

If the NFL guarantees L.A. a team by 2016, that puts the Rams, who have a way out of St. Louis after the 2014 season, in play. It also puts the heat on the Chargers.

The Chargers are free to move every year from Feb. 1 to May 1, but AEG doesn’t expect to get environmental impact report approval on a new stadium until mid-May, which would leave questions unanswered for the Chargers.

Those familiar with the Spanos family business interests, which include building apartments, say the Spanos family is averse to risk. AEG might consider EIR approval a formality, but teams don’t announce an agreement with a player most of the time until a contract has been signed.

So the Chargers will probably wait, while keeping an eye on the Rams.

Those familiar with the financials on this deal say the team that moves into Farmers Field in 2016 will turn a $50-million annual profit. If the Chargers don’t keep their eye on the Rams, they really do risk being considered goofs.

NFL involvement also keeps Leiweke engaged. From the outset I challenged Leiweke to remain on task, given his world travels and AEG workload.

He has done everything he said he would and has advanced this project, which was the brainchild of Casey Wasserman, to where he can now predict, “It will happen.”

But what happens if the NFL doesn’t guarantee L.A. a team, and what if the Chargers don’t make the move to L.A.?

What if such a delay results in higher construction costs?

AEG points to the $400-million price tag set for its L.A. Live hotel project, those costs mushrooming to $1 billion. Three of AEG’s partners backed out of the deal, but Philip Anschutz stayed firm and picked up the tab.

OK, but what happens if Anschutz can’t reach the same agreement he struck with the Lakers when building Staples Center?

Anschutz is taking on all the risk in this deal, so he will be asking for a discounted sales price. NFL owners wouldn’t be caught dead in a discount store, let alone discuss the possibility of selling a piece of their team at a reduced price.

But what’s the Chargers’ alternative? Remain in San Diego in a run-down stadium with no plan for a new playpen?

Dean Spanos took over the Chargers in 1994 from his father, Alex, whose tenure as owner was a disaster. Leading with his ego, he liked to refer to “my fans,” as if the folks in San Diego embraced the Stockton-based businessman.

A few years ago, Alex announced he was dealing with severe dementia.

Those who know Dean wonder if he will be slow to act now while trying to protect his father’s San Diego legacy — given the expected outcry if the Chargers leave.

Alex has no San Diego legacy, but that doesn’t mean that Dean and his family don’t think so.

And so it goes, the NFL with the chance now to come back to town while there is still football in San Diego today and maybe again next year and three more after that.

No hurry. As some of us might say, L.A. has its own legacy to protect: The city that doesn’t miss having a team.

t.j.simers@latimes.com