Chris Mortensen Claims NFL Has Long Been Concerned Chargers Would Fail in Los Angeles

It seems the entire sports world is dumping on the Los Angeles Chargers after a bombshell report on Wednesday exposed the NFL’s concern about their viability. Venerable ESPN reporter Chris Mortensen joined the parade on Thursday and dropped even more bad news for Dean Spanos and his franchise.

Mort was a guest on Ben and Woods on The Mighty 1090 in San Diego and was an open book about what he’s been hearing from around the NFL for some time. The biggest bit of news to come from his appearance is that the NFL has long questioned the viability of the Chargers in Los Angeles.

Give the whole interview a listen here:

Some key quotes are pulled below.

On the latest report about concerns over the viability of the franchise in Los Angeles:

"“The owners’ concern about the viability of the Chargers in the LA market (has) long been there. But it was pushed through, and when the vote was taken it looks like it was unanimous and that’s baloney.”"

On their status as a tenant in the Inglewood stadium:

"“As also was mentioned, they’re a tenant. And our own Bill Polian — he was the first I heard to say it — being a tenant almost never works. And that’s what they are, that’s what they always have been in terms of this model.”"

On whether the team should have moved to Los Angeles:

"“Nationally — and I’m not talking about national media — I think everybody was really disappointed that the Chargers left San Diego.”"

Mortensen later said he didn’t see a current viability for the franchise to move back to San Diego but that he wanted to see it happen.

So now we’ve got an incredibly well-sourced ESPN NFL expert claiming the owners have long had concerns about the Chargers’ viability in Los Angeles and that the vote to send them there was “pushed through.”

Oh and he opened the segment saying that his colleague Tony Kornheiser articulated it perfectly in the following rant on “Pardon the Interruption” on Wednesday:

So now we’ve got an incredibly well-sourced ESPN NFL expert claiming the owners have long had concerns about the Chargers’ viability in Los Angeles and that the vote to send them there was “pushed through.”

The last 24 hours can’t have been pleasant for Spanos and company.