Open Letter to Chargers Owner Dean Spanos

Dear Dean,

If your goal is to sell the team, then go.  It’s fine.  If your goal is to take the $70 million dollars your dad spent on the Bolts and turn that into a multi-billion dollar windfall for your family, then just sign the lease to be a tenant in LA and sell the team before they even open up “Corporate Co. Stadium” in Inglewood.

Then, you’ll be a billionaire and you can set up generations of your family to be wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.  And I’m sure you’ll do some good with the money.  Just as you have during your time in San Diego, I’m sure you’ll donate a good portion of that money to important organizations that are searching for cures to diseases and improving our schools.  You can take that money and be honored for your generosity.

But if you like owning an NFL franchise and this is something that you’re in for the long-haul, if owning the Chargers is going to be your legacy and something that you’d like to one day pass on down to your children’s children, then you should really take some time to imagine what your LA-based franchise looks like.

First off, let’s think of what your “home” games in LA will look like.  You think a lot of visiting fans show up to Chargers’ games now?  Just wait until you’re playing in a city with even more transplants in a stadium 15-minutes from LAX. And even scarier is what happens when the novelty of the new stadium wears off and those opposing fans aren’t filling the seats.  Just ask the Niners how that shiny, corporate paradise in Santa Clara is doing, or take a look at the turnout for Rams games at the Coliseum this season and remember that you’ll always be L.A.’s second team.  The Rams have a history in LA.  Even if you try, the Chargers history is not traveling up the 405.

And keep in mind that this will be somebody else’s stadium.  I’m sure the rest of us will never know what it is like to be at one of those NFL owners meetings, but I have a hard time imagining that a room full of big swinging dicks will have a whole lot of respect for a guy who make his money from revenue generated in someone else’s stadium.

We know what it would look like if you committed to San Diego.  Think of the Bobby Ross heyday in the early 1990s or the special Decembers we shared from 2005-2012.  I remember when the Bolts’ clinched the West in 2009 in a Week 15 contest against the Bengals.  It was the middle of the 3rd quarter in a one possession game and the Bengals had just gotten the ball back.  The Q was rocking. Rocking so hard that the Bengals had back-to-back false starts, a delay of game, and THEN took a timeout to prevent getting another penalty.  That's four attempts to get the snap off on a first down in the middle of the 3rd quarter, not a third down with the game on the line.  Marvin Lewis commented after the game how he’d never seen a crowd affect a series in the middle of the third quarter like that.  Keep in mind, this wasn’t a playoff game or a bitter rival.  This was just the Q being the Q.  If you commit to San Diego, it will be like that again.

Second off, let’s think of the best possible situation for you in LA.  Let’s imagine that with the stadium decisions in someone else’s hands, you can just focus on building a winning football team and you actually bring home a Super Bowl championship.  What do you think people will be saying and thinking when you raise the Lombardi trophy?  You’ll be known as the man who couldn’t get it done in San Diego.  The man who moved his team for business reasons.  And think of what the reaction will be when you win.  Tens of thousands of fans that hopped on the LA bandwagon will be there to celebrate and cheer you on.

But, oh what it would be like if you did it for San Diego.  Millions would show up for the victory parade.  Think about that party that welcomed the team back from Pittsburgh in January 1995. Imagine that times 50.  The Chargers have spent half a century teasing, torturing, and occasionally pleasing the San Diego faithful.  When you finally bring the title home, there will be generations of San Diegans who will celebrate with you.  Who will share in the moment of disbelief and pure and utter joy, who will fall to their knees and thank the heavens, who will drive to cemeteries and pay a visit to that father or grandfather who got them hooked on the Chargers.  The Chargers championship will be the boldest mark on the timeline telling the history of America’s Finest City.  It will be a memory that is passed on from generation to generation.  That’s not happening in LA.

And think of what they’ll say about you when you raise the Lombardi trophy. The man who saved the the NFL in San Diego.  The man who stayed loyal.  The man who did the hard thing and turned down the automatic riches that would have come with uprooting his franchise when a stadium solution got tough.

And when the Final Fours and the bowl games and the concerts put San Diego on their regular rotation, who is the first person the hoteliers are going to thank?  You, Dean, YOU! The city will probably build you a statue.  Commit to San Diego and the Spanos’ will be forever enshrined as San Diego royalty.  Even beyond San Diego, sports fans worldwide will give you a tip of the cap for your show of loyalty.  Your chances at a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame next to LT and Junior will go up tenfold.

Dean, I'm sure this isn't the first message like this you've received and I fully respect that nobody else can understand how difficult a decision you are faced with here. But as one of the poor souls who has lived the past few years with a permanent portion of brainspace occupied wondering about what you're going to do, I just wanted to take a moment to point out that while either choice has its risks, the rewards of staying in San Diego cannot be matched. Anywhere.

Sincerely,

Eric Walder (first game: 1992 Playoffs vs. the Chiefs)