Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
The San Diego Chargers are moving to Los Angeles. A letter from team owner Dean Spanos posted Thursday morning on the team's website and Twitter account says the Chargers will make the move at the start of next season.
The Chargers have been in San Diego for 56 years. They will join Rams in giving the nation's second-largest media market two NFL teams for the first time in decades.
San Diego "will always be part of our identity, and my family and I have nothing but gratitude and appreciation for the support and passion our fans have shared with us over the years," Spanos wrote.
The letter continued:
"LA is a remarkable place, and while we played our first season there in 1960 and have had fans there ever since, our entire organization knows that we have a tremendous amount of work to do. We must earn the respect and support of LA football fans. We must get back to winning. And, we must make a meaningful contribution, not just on the field, but off the field as a leader and champion for the community."
A letter from Dean Spanos pic.twitter.com/rTNIvrsN1A
— Los Angeles Chargers (@Chargers) January 12, 2017
In a statement following the announcement, Mayor Eric Garcetti called L.A. "one of the world's great sports towns" and welcomed the Chargers.
"L.A. already has more visitors than ever before. The Chargers will make our NFL tradition even richer, and give sports fans everywhere one more reason to be in Los Angeles," Garcetti wrote.
But the team shouldn't expect such a warm reception from everyone here, writes LA Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke, who detailed his reasons why the team's move is a bad one in a column late Wednesday, before the announcement was official.
Summing up his stance: "We. Don’t. Want. You."
Matt Hall with the San Diego Union-Tribune and Allan Lopez of WeChargeLA.com will join Take Two to discuss.
This story has been updated.