At some point in the next week and a half, San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos will make a decision that could reshape the NFL.
The Chargers have until Jan. 15 to exercise their option to join the Rams in Los Angeles and return to the city where they were founded in 1960. Or the Chargers could remain in San Diego and continue to pursue the new stadium they've unsuccessfully sought for the past 15 years.
NFL owners opened the door almost a year ago for the Chargers to move to L.A.; the final decision belongs to Spanos.
On one side is the opportunity to pay $1 a year to be a tenant at the Rams' stadium in Inglewood, Calif., that's scheduled to open in 2019. The move would come with a fee of $550 million to $650 million, depending on how it is financed and the increased value of the franchise from playing in the country's second-largest market. One of the perils of the move north, though, is the chance that another NFL team could relocate to San Diego and claim the market the Chargers have owned for 56 years.
The decision comes at a critical time for the NFL. The league is dealing with the fallout of the Rams' leaving St. Louis while the Raiders could depart from Oakland, both against the backdrop of plunging television ratings this season.
After years of would-be stadium plans _ most recently an unsuccessful proposal last year to join the Raiders in Carson, Calif. _ the Chargers could finally be moving to L.A. But as always in this complex saga, the situation can change quickly.
The Los Angeles Times asks and answers questions about where the decision stands and what might happen as the deadline approaches:
