Bolting out of San Diego

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

As of next season, the San Diego Chargers will be no more. They are now the Los Angeles Chargers. The team announced its departure from San Diego after 56 years. The team had played in Los Angeles during the 1960 season but moved after realizing they couldn’t make enough money being in the same town as the more popular Rams. But here they are repeating history, this time even sharing their new stadium with the Rams.

Until the Chargers stadium is built, they will be playing in the StubHub center, while the Rams are playing in the Memorial Coliseum until the Inglewood stadium is built. But they are sharing their stadium with major league soccer team the LA Galaxy.

The Chargers fans from San Diego are not taking the loss of their team so well. They have been protesting and burning the jerseys of their former NFL team. Citizens have refused to watch the Chargers play next year and could potentially hurt the league’s ratings similar to St. Louis’ reaction last year with the Rams.

A study showed all primetime games during the 2016-2017 had all dropped at least 15 percent in ratings, costing the league hundreds of millions of dollars.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says the move for the fans was a “painful one,” although he didn’t stop them from moving roughly 125 miles north of their former home.

Former San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson and NFL announcer stated, “You still have the opportunity to support your team. You know, they’re only an hour-and-a-half up the coast,” in the Fort Worth Star Telegram. “And so you know, there’s a silver lining, if you will, in this. Knowing that at least you still can support them, and they didn’t, you know, move to another state.”

So, the fans to most people are overreacting to the move of the team. If they are truly a Chargers fan they are able to make the journey to still see them whereas the distance between the Rams new home and their former home is over 1,800 miles away.

The fans may be outraged now, but for those who will support the Chargers, hometown or not, they will be able to go to their games still.

Only ratings of next season will be able to tell if the Chargers move will be a permanent one. Otherwise they may be sent back to their old home.