(Reuters) – The San Diego Chargers are poised to confirm their long-rumored plans of relocating the franchise to Los Angeles, the National Football League (NFL) reported on its website (www.nfl.com) on Wednesday. The Chargers have informed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and other league owners of their intent to move 195 km north along the California coast, and owner Dean Spanos has called a meeting for Thursday, where he is expected to inform his staff. The team has spent 55 years in San Diego but have become increasingly unsettled there in recent years due to their inability to secure permission to build a new stadium.
Earlier on Wednesday, the NFL extended the deadline for the Chargers to decide whether they would relocate until Jan. 17.
However, the team appear to have already made up their minds and are poised to become the second new team in Los Angeles in as many years after the Rams relocated from St Louis prior to the start of the ongoing campaign. The Chargers applied for a move to Los Angeles last January before it was determined they would stay put for at least the 2016 season, during which they finished bottom of the AFC West division with a 5-11 record. Last month, the franchise made preparations for the impending relocation, leasing a portion of an Orange County office facility and working to secure nearby land for practice fields.
The Chargers played their inaugural season in Los Angeles in 1960 before moving to San Diego in 1961.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by John O’Brien)
Reuters
