If Chargers President Dean Spanos is inclined to take a new stadium deal in Inglewood, he might not have too much more time to bargain with Rams owner Stan Kroenke.
His team is facing a series of NFL and city deadlines.
"Every day the Chargers don't make a decision, I think, is to their detriment,” said Liam Dillon, assistant editor of NBC 7’s media partner Voice of San Diego.
“The sooner they get up there, the easier it's going to be for them to sell season tickets and do all these things they need to do -- tell their potential free agents where they're going to play next year. They have to make a decision as soon as possible."
After all, they've got a "sure thing" in the $2 billion pigskin palace that Kroenke's building.
San Diego's offer of a much cheaper new stadium in Mission Valley doesn't cut it for them.
They're angling for a hybrid venue in East Village, linked to a convention center "campus."
The team has until March 23 -- when NFL owners meet next in Daytona Beach, Florida -- to notify the league whether it'll be in LA this year, or waiting to decide until a Jan. 17 deadline next year to pull the trigger on Los Angeles.
Meantime, the Chargers have between Feb. 1 and April 30 to exercise the annual “escape clause” in the Qualcomm Stadium lease.
But if the team lets that go by the boards, it could face the prospect of playing an awkward lame-duck season at the Q.
NBC 7 heard this perspective from Josh Escovedo, a Los Angeles attorney involved in a civil trial Thursday in San Diego: "A shared stadium such as a Los Angeles stadium is obviously such a huge profit-maker for the league, and it has had much success in terms of what they did in New York with the Giants and Jets.
"So I think it's a good deal either way. But for the sake of the city, I hope the Chargers stay."
That's just what LA Mayor Eric Garcetti told ESPN Thursday, after having spoken with Kroenke Wednesday night.
Should any conclusions be drawn from that?
Would Kroenke prefer the Raiders as a roommate for his Rams?
NFL observers have been saying the Rams would profit from more financial "synergism" with the Raiders than the Chargers.
