Eventually, the NFL will move a team or two back to Los Angeles. But that apparently won’t happen before every last ounce of leverage is used to help teams that could relocate finagle new stadiums in their current locations.
With Minnesota and San Diego providing the current hot spots, and with the Vikings’ stadium situation apparently on a path toward some sort of a resolution, the league is getting involved with the Chargers’ effort to build a new home without having to move. Or at least threaten to.
According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (via SportsBusiness Daily), Commissioner Roger Goodell will meet with San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders regarding the efforts to build a new stadium there.
“Just to get an update from the mayor on what’s happening on the stadium front,” Goodell said Wednesday night. “It’s not unusual. I do that when I come into cities where we have [teams].”
Chargers owner Dean Spanos approves of that message.
“I think it’s important for us, the mayor and the city,” Spanos said. “Nothing but positive can come out of this.”
Goodell says he wants to keep the Chargers in San Diego. “We have to find a solution here,” Goodell said. “Right now, the San Diego Chargers are here because the Spanos family wants to be here. I believe they want to continue to be here. It’s up to us to find a solution.”
Goodell also said that the placement of a team in Los Angeles is “not necessarily” a given. And that makes sense. It’s all about leverage, exercised by the league against everyone and anyone in order to get the best possible deals for the NFL and its teams. By maintaining uncertainty for as long as possible, the NFL can put the maximum squeeze on San Diego, Minnesota, Los Angeles, and any other community that will pony up all or part of the proceeds for a shiny new stadium, for fear of losing their teams.
And once the NFL returns to L.A., another city like Toronto or London will emerge as the next source of leverage for the next wave of new stadiums.
Actually, there is no “next wave.” The quest to convince fans to choose to attend games has created a neverending arms race, prompting teams to want bigger and better buildings into which paying customers can be lured.