Spanos commits!

Dean Spanos, chief executive of the Chargers, this afternoon (January 29) issued a statement that essentially said what media have reported in the past 24 hours: "Today I decided our team will stay in San Diego for the 2016 season and I hope for the long term in a new stadium," said Spanos.

He added that, "We have an option and an agreement with the Los Angeles Rams to go to Inglewood next year, but my focus is on San Diego."

He went on to say, in essence, that he and San Diego's leaders must figure out how to subsidize a new stadium in San Diego.

It is necessary for San Diegans to get together and make sure that no new stadium is built with public money. Spanos and his mouthpiece, Mark Fabiani, have insulted San Diegans enough. This missive is a means to apply pressure.

First, San Diegans must demand to see the complete "option and agreement" that Spanos claims to have made with Stan Kroenke, owner of the Rams, and the one planning to erect a stadium in Inglewood.

If Spanos and/or Kroenke refuse to release the complete document, the city and county must refuse to do any more business with the Chargers, other than signing a new agreement on Qualcomm Stadium in 2020, when the current contract expires, or hopefully before.

It has been fairly obvious all along that the Spanos family does not have the funds to meet the demands of Kroenke, whose wealth is at least ten times greater than that of the Spanos clan. Kroenke now plans to build a stadium costing $2.66 billion — well beyond the Chargers' ability to pay.

The most logical road out of this dilemma is for the Spanos family to sell the team to a multibillionaire.