Chargers, Rams Progressing Toward LA Deal

Chargers owner Dean Spanos said earlier this month that he was shelving relocation talks until after the season, but he and the Rams’ Stan Kroenke are in close contact and progressing toward an agreement to share a stadium in Inglewood, Calif., according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports.

Los Angeles Rams & Chargers (featured)

The $2.6 billion facility in Inglewood won’t be ready until 2019, so the Chargers are considering relocating to Carson, Calif., for the next two seasons and playing at the StubHub Center. Although its capacity is just 27,000, some in the Chargers organization prefer temporarily utilizing the StubHub Center in lieu of sharing the Coliseum with both the Rams and USC Trojans, reports La Canfora.

For their part, the Rams are motivated to make a deal with the Chargers happen. Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff made clear last week that there aren’t any roadblocks in the way of an agreement. Further, the Rams can’t sell personal seat licenses and suite deals until they know whether the Bolts will join them in Inglewood, notes La Canfora. That could give the Chargers leverage in negotiations and result in the franchise paying a less expensive relocation fee if it heads to Los Angeles.

The Chargers could have joined the Rams in LA this season, but they opted to give the city of San Diego more time in hopes of landing a new stadium. Little progress has been made on that front, and the Bolts’ Jan. 15 deadline to decide whether to partner with the Rams is fast approaching. Theoretically, given that the Chargers’ lease with San Diego runs through the 2020 season, they could extend the LA deadline again and continue lobbying for a stadium in the city they’ve called home since 1961. However, given that relations between the Chargers and Rams have improved from where they were a couple weeks ago, it seems likelier the Bolts are playing their final season in San Diego.

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