If the Chargers leave San Diego, it will because the NFL believes the region's leaders did too little, too late and the league is not willing to do any more.
In the final days of 2016, local officials came up with what both sides deem to be a real best offer for public contribution toward construction of a new stadium.
Now, whether 2016 was the Chargers' final season in San Diego is apparently being decided outside San Diego.
Essentially, the decision on where the team plays next season and beyond is being made in New York and Dallas and Washington and other points around the NFL.
Chargers Chairman Dean Spanos has all but determined he has no choice but to go to Los Angeles, according to several people who have spoken to him recently. But Spanos remains anguished by that conclusion and has appealed to the NFL for help to remain in San Diego. League sources said over the past week, including Monday morning, that possible solutions are being discussed at "the league level" and "ownership level."
That help could come, several people around the NFL say. If it doesn't, those people and others predict, it is all but certain the Chargers will join the Rams in L.A.
Spanos has until Jan. 15 to decide to accept an option his fellow owners gave him last January when they rejected a bid by the Chargers and Raiders to build a stadium in Carson, Nev., while approving the Rams' stadium project in Inglewood, Calif.
The City of San Diego, along with the county and San Diego State, has made what the Chargers believe is their final collective offer. Significantly, the Chargers believe that money is real, as opposed to the funding proposed early last year.
However, the $375 million those entities say they can provide, is more than $100 million less than what the Chargers were seeking. Thus, the message being delivered is that the team's fate hinges on what further support the NFL can provide.
The league last year pledged an additional $100 million toward construction of a stadium in San Diego, bringing the NFL's total commitment to $300 million. The Chargers were to contribute $350 million in their Measure C proposal, a sum that included the sale of naming rights and seat licenses.
A projected total contribution of $1.025 billion is as much as $175 million less than the team's estimates of the cost of a stadium in Mission Valley.
The sides have also talked about the team continuing a quest for a downtown venue.
Any proposal involving public money would have to go to a public vote, either in 2018 or 2020.
