Los Angeles Chargers: Moving to London unfortunately makes sense

The Los Angeles Chargers have been stuck in the NFL’s void without any fans the last three seasons and have the perfect resolution across the Atlantic.

The Los Angeles Chargers moving to Los Angeles has been an absolute disaster thus far. It was one of the most hated moves that a professional sports team has made as the Chargers left the one loyal fanbase it had in San Diego.

After the Chargers could not get the City of San Diego to fund a new stadium with an increased hotel tax, owner Dean Spanos opted for the cheap way out instead of funding a new stadium himself or renovating Qualcomm Stadium and agreed to a lease agreement with the Los Angeles Rams.

The Chargers are Rams will move into their new stadium next season and it will be quite interesting to see how the Chargers fare in a 70,000-seat stadium when they can barely fill up a 30,000-seat stadium, mostly with fans of the other team.

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The Chargers are not the second most popular team in Los Angeles, they are not third, heck, they probably barely scratch the top-10. The Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers undoubtedly have more fans in LA than the Chargers.

Some fans have stuck around (like myself) but a lot of the native San Diego fans have moved on. The dream scenario for most fans would be to move back to San Diego, but that seems highly unlikely.

Instead, it appears as if the Chargers could be the league’s guinea pig for an international team and test the waters abroad in London. The “London Chargers” is a real thing.

Vincent Bonsignore of The Athletic (subscription required) reported that the possibility of the Chargers moving overseas has been mentioned within the NFL. The report goes on to say that the Chargers would be willing to listen to a London proposal from the league, although they are currently committed to Los Angeles.

Luckily for Dean Spanos, there is a stadium there that is already built and does not need to be funded for, as the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the first Stadium to be designed with NFL games in mind, which finally gives an NFL team a viable home in London.

Aside from the travel issues and other hang-ups, all of which will have to be decided by the NFL and the Chargers (as well as the new CBA, perhaps), the Chargers moving to London actually fixes the NFL’s problem perfectly, as unfortunate as that is.

The one way that the NFL can guarantee that they can get a strong and passionate fanbase around the Chargers is by moving them to a brand new market that is new to football. Suddenly, most football fans overseas that do not currently have a team will instantly become Charger fans.

Even those that have a team will definitely turn up to see the Chargers play, and hey, maybe that will convert them into Charger fans, too.

There will be overnight changes, although building a large and dedicated fanbase takes time. Yes, the Chargers will lose some fans here in the states that have remained loyal, but the benefit of getting a team in London is huge for both parties.

And for Spanos, this presents a great chance to rake in the cash. London is such a massive market and with American Football being so new in the marketplace the Chargers’ value would instantly skyrocket as the pioneers on that front. This is how the NFL turns its team in the void into one of the most profitable teams in the league.

It might not be long before the Los Angeles Chargers are no longer the Los Angeles Chargers. For now, though, let’s enjoy seeing the team only fill up half of SoFi Stadium (at least tickets will be cheap).