Some turmoil in LA.
It appears the Spanos family’s move of its National Football League Chargers franchise from San Diego to the Los Angeles area in 2017 has not worked out all that well for them. , the sister of controlling owner Dean Spanos, filed a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday requesting a forced sale of the team, claiming there is no way the family can pay off its business debts. Berberian, Spanos and two of their siblings own 15% of the team each with another 36% in a family trust. Alex Spanos bought the team in 1984. In 1994, Alex Spanos turned over the day-to-day operations of the team to his son Dean. Neither Alex nor Dean Spanos ever got a new stadium for the business in San Diego. The Spanos family took an offer to share the Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s planned Inglewood, California stadium just outside of the Los Angeles’ city limits near the airport. Berberian contends the business is losing money and draining a family trust. Her siblings disagree. The business is worth more than $2 billion.
Berberian has picked out an owner for the team. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Bezos might be interested in purchasing an NFL team. There were reports that he was kicking the tires as part as a possible purchase of a stake of Daniel Snyder’s Washington Football Team. Snyder recently bought out his partners. Berberian’s petition includes a passage that “the Chargers could be a perfect opportunity” for Bezos. Dean Spanos, Alexis Spanos Ruhl and Michael Spanos put out a statement saying they are not selling. The dispute comes at a time when NFL owners are getting a big bump up in annual TV fees through 2033 which means the Chargers franchise value will grow. It is just business.
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