From an unlikely news outlet comes the latest development in the looming push to put an NFL team back in Los Angeles. Veteran Toronto-based sports personality Bob McCown of the Fan 590 reports that Philip Anschutz “has or will purchase” 35 percent of the Chargers.
McCown adds that the move “apparently” will be the first step in a move of the team to Los Angeles.
The report meshes with recent remarks from Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani, who attempted to throw water on a potential connection between an attempt to sell a chunk of the franchise and the rumors of a possible move of the team to L.A.
“We are concerned,” Fabiani told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “There’s been a confluence, a merging of several different stories, and we’re going to have to work hard to see that people know the real facts.”
But Fabiani added this little tidbit: “If AEG buys a piece of this team, then people have a right to be concerned.”
Anschutz is AEG, and if McCown’s report is accurate, it soon will be time for folks in San Diego to worry about their team moving back to the city where it played its first AFL season.