Would the Los Angeles Chargers ever consider a move back to their old home?
We are now a few weeks away from the Los Angeles Chargers starting their fourth season since relocating from San Diego back in 2017.
The Chargers’ second tenure in Los Angeles has been interesting, to say the least. A good amount of their fan base in San Diego didn’t follow them to their new location up the coast of California and it’s resulted in the Chargers playing in front of a “home” crowd that is mostly made up of the opposing team’s fan base eight times per season.
This year, the Chargers will be moving into their brand new, state-of-the-art stadium that will also be the home venue for the Los Angeles Rams. So with their new stadium, will the Chargers finally have a home-field advantage in Los Angeles?
Could the Los Angeles Chargers move back to San Diego one day?
It’s still a bit mind-boggling that after spending over 50 years in one location, the Chargers decided that their best option was to alienate their longtime fan base and move the team to a rival city.
As usual, it was a decision that was heavily influenced by money. Chargers owner Dean Spanos couldn’t get the stadium deal he wanted in San Diego, so he gave up and convinced Rams owner Stan Kroenke that their teams should play in the same stadium.
If the Chargers were going to ever move back to San Diego, it would likely have to be done under the guidance of new ownership. The bridge between the team’s old home and their current owner is pretty much burnt to a crisp at this point and the chances of it ever being repaired are microscopically small.
In addition to the Chargers needing a new owner, a move likely wouldn’t be able to be made until 2039 when their reported 20-year lease agreement with the Rams and their new stadium expires. Unless the team or the league is able to figure out a way to break the lease before then, the Chargers’ home is going to be in Los Angeles for quite a while.
With the Chargers’ old stadium in San Diego heading towards demolition in the near future, the team would also need the city to agree to build them a new facility if they were ever going to move back to their longtime home.
This is what caused the franchise to move to Los Angeles in the first place, so who knows what could happen if these negotiations were to ever begin again. There will likely be a lot of change taking place with the Chargers and the city of San Diego during the next 20 years, so perhaps this long period of time could result in both sides becoming more willing to work something out.
Basically, if anyone is still holding out hope for the Chargers to leave Los Angeles and move back to San Diego sooner than later, that’s probably not going to happen.
But if the franchise continues to struggle to generate support from their new home though, moving the team back to San Diego before their lease in Los Angeles expires in 2039 is something the NFL might have to consider.