San Diego mayor says Dean Spanos will regret moving Chargers

San Diego’s mayor offers some harsh words for Chargers Chairman Dean Spanos after Spanos announced the team’s move to Los Angeles Thursday.

San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer didn’t mince words in a press conference on Thursday morning, denouncing Chargers Chairman Dean Spanos over his decision to move to Los Angeles.

“Dean Spanos made a bad decision and he will regret it,” Faulconer said during the televised press conference.

The mayor believes Spanos made a huge mistake moving the team to Los Angeles, and it’s one that will have a lasting effect on the fan base. Harsh words, but they echo the sentiments of fellow San Diegans who woke up to find that the Chargers are leaving.

Faulconer was a newly elected mayor when the Chargers announced their plan to relocate to Carson in a joint stadium venture with San Diego’s arch rivals, the Oakland Raiders. He appointed a committee to assess the best site for a new stadium, but when the committee found that the Qualcomm Stadium site was the most viable option, the Chargers walked away from the negotiations for several months, refusing to meet with the city.

Many fans haven’t forgotten that the Chargers had been meeting with Carson officials for almost a year by the time the threat of relocation to Carson dropped. The land was purchased, and plans had been drawn up. Once the NFL shot the Caron plan down, the only options were to work something out in San Diego or relocate to Los Angeles with the Rams.

The Chargers adopted a citizen’s initiative on the November ballot to push forward a ballot measure to build a new Downtown stadium and convention center annex, dubbed the Convadium because a citizen’s initiative would be able to bypass a lot of red tape at City Hall. Measure C would have given the city the ability to increase hotel Transient Occupancy Taxes to bridge the gap in stadium funding. However, the initiative needed 66% voter approval and only managed to win 43% approval.

Next: Every NFL Team's Best Draft Pick Of All-Time

The upside to losing the Chargers is that San Diego becomes a very viable candidate for an MLS expansion team. Former San Diego Padres owner John Moore has been talking to the MLS in recent months, eyeing a joint San Diego State Football and MLS soccer stadium on the Qualcomm Stadium site. With the proximity to Mexico and a regional love for soccer, an MLS expansion would be a great asset to San Diego.