5 reasons the Chargers relocating to Los Angeles is the right move
By John Buhler
The Chargers have announced that they will move to Los Angeles, ending a 55-year stint in San Diego. Here are five reasons relocating is a good thing.
It seemed inevitable. The longer the stadium issues with San Diego continued, the more likely the Chargers would be to relocate to Los Angeles. On Wednesday night, ESPN’s Adam Schefter was the first to report that the team will be making the relocation a reality.
The plan for relocation is to play at the 27,000-seat StubHub Center, home of the MLS’ Los Angeles Galaxy in Carson for the next two years while the new stadium in Inglewood is being built. In Inglewood, the Chargers will be joint occupants of the new stadium with the Los Angeles Rams.
Seeing professional teams relocate can be tough, but here are five reasons that the Chargers to Los Angeles is only a good thing.
5. More attractive destination for free agents
This sounds odd given the climate of Southern California, but by relocating from San Diego to Los Angeles, it makes the Chargers organization all the more attractive to free agents. The weather is awesome in both cities, but Los Angeles is a city of stars.
For the same reasons that professional athletes like to play in New York, the same rules apply to playing in Los Angeles. In the course of two offseason, the NFL went from having no teams in the second biggest media market in the country to having an NFL franchise in each conference: the Chargers in the AFC and the Rams in the NFC.
This gives Los Angeles two 53-man rosters to sell players on in NFL free agency. It drives up the level of competition in free agency between the new-found rival Chargers and Rams. A player that wouldn’t have considered either the Rams or Chargers organization in free agency in 2015 may be more inclined to sign with either club in 2017 now that they are in Los Angeles.
Of course the Chargers are going to need to continue to draft well, but relocating to Los Angeles increases their media exposure considerably and makes them a more lucrative free agent destination. Chargers stock has a huge bump because of the move, similar to what the Rams experience last season.