The San Diego Chargers will remain in San Diego for the 2016 season, the team announced on Friday, but has also agreed on a deal in principle to share the Rams' Inglewood stadium project in Los Angeles.
Chargers agree on Los Angeles stadium sharing option with Rams, but will play in San Diego in 2016
The Chargers moved one step closer to relocating to Los Angeles on Friday.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
“Today I decided our team will stay in San Diego for the 2016 season and I hope for the long term in a new stadium,” Chargers owner Dean Spanos said in a statement.
“I have met with Mayor Faulconer and Supervisor Roberts and I look forward to working closely with them and the business community to resolve our stadium dilemma. We have an option and an agreement with the Los Angeles Rams to go to Inglewood in the next year, but my focus is on San Diego.”
Terms of the deal to share the Inglewood stadium were not reported.
NFL owners roundly rejected the Chargers' proposal to build a new stadium with the Oakland Raiders in nearby Carson, Calif., during a league meeting on Jan. 12. Instead, Rams' owner Stan Kroenke gained approval from all but two NFL owners to move his franchise to Inglewood, Calif., for the 2016 season and start constructing a multibillion-dollar complex that is expected to be completed by 2018 at the earliest. The Rams will play in Los Angeles Coliseum, which has reportedly agreed to host two NFL teams, while their $1.9 billion stadium is being built.
Spanos said in a statement following the NFL’s initial relocation decision that he was content with the results of the owners’ meetings.
“My goal from the start of this process was to create the options necessary to safeguard the future of the Chargers franchise while respecting the will of my fellow NFL owners,” Spanos said. “Today we achieved this goal with the compromise reached by NFL ownership. The Chargers have been approved to relocate to Los Angeles, at the Inglewood location, at any time in the next year.”
As part of that deal, the NFL agreed to kick in $100 million in additional funds to help the Chargers stay in San Diego or the Raiders stay in Oakland. San Diego’s last reported offer on public funds topped out at $350 million. The cost for most new NFL stadiums typically exceeds $1 billion.
The Chargers went 4-12 in their last season in San Diego, which was only the second time since 2003 they’ve finished below .500. The Chargers played in L.A. during their inaugural season in 1960 as part of the AFL before moving south the following year.
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