There’s been plenty of NFL ownership drama over the past year, and the Broncos are now no longer the only AFC West team with a power struggle going on. The Chargers have entered the fray, as Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times writes.
A sister of Chargers owner Dean Spanos, Dea Spanos Berberian, has filed a petition in Los Angeles County Court asking a judge to force a sale of the team. Fenno writes that Berberian argues “that mounting debt has imperiled the family’s finances and the only solution is to put the NFL franchise on the market.”
Berberian is a trustee of the family trust alongside Spanos, and she “alleges the trust’s debts and expenses exceed” $353MM. “Every day that passes increases the risks that the charitable beneficiaries and the Spanos family legacy will suffer irreparable financial and reputational damage,” if the team isn’t sold, the petition reads.
According to the court filing this has been going on behind the scenes for quite some time, as Spanos told his siblings in a 2019 letter that he would retain an investment bank at the end of the 2024 season to help sell the team. Berberian is attempting to force a move sooner than that, but either way it sounds like the Spanos family won’t be owning the franchise long-term.
That being said, Spanos and two of his other siblings released a defiant statement in response to this filing, which you can read in full here, denouncing Berberian’s effort.
“For the three of us the Chargers is one of our family’s most important legacies, just as it was for our parents. Unfortunately, our sister Dea seems to have a different and misguided personal agenda. If Dea no longer wishes to be part of this family legacy, the three of us stand ready to purchase her share of the franchise, as our agreements give us the right to do. In the meanwhile, the operations of the Chargers will be entirely unaffected by this matter, which relates only to the 36 percent share of the team that was owned by our parents,” it reads in part.
Spanos is no stranger to controversy, as he became a very polarizing figure among Chargers fans in San Diego after moving the team to Los Angeles a few years ago. This will take months if not years to fully play out, but we’ll keep you posted.
Biggie said it best.
Mo money….mo problems.
Lol a bunch of privileged children who never had to wipe their own butts arguing over money that their parents worked for and built, ooooof chargers are my least favorite team now followed closely by the Texans and every weirdo that works for them
Your cheap “plague on both their houses” comment fails to address the heart of the matter, that the family’s charitable trust is in danger of going under, and that it is allegedly borrowing from one bank to pay off another bank because it is so exposed to the Chargers’ financial shortcomings.
sounds like the sister wants money. and hates the chargers. if they are prepared to buy her out then they have money
Welcome news for Charger fans. People can complain about their own team’s owners all they like, but the Spanos family is easily the most incompetent ownership group currently in the league. All of the greed and lack of concern for fans of Kroenke, minus any sort of business acumen. I hope for the sake of their fans that the team is sold, personally.
Turning the St. Louis Rams back into the Los Angeles Rams was a beyond smart decision. Chargers on the other hand lol.
the idea of estranging two entire fanbases to put two teams in one city is beyond absurd.
Not in this case.
Combined population of the metro San Diego and St. Louis areas = 6.14 million
Population of the metro LA area = 18.71 million
The NFL can spit in the old cities faces as long as LA fans actually show up (and watch/stream) this time.
LA fans don’t have to show up. Visiting team’s fans will pack that new stadium.
Yeah, it makes sense. Except for the whole screwing the old fans over for money thing. Ehh, who cares about them anyway, right? It’s not like any of THEM are millionaires…
Rams came home to the fan base they alianated years earlier. While I have felt St Louis’s pain it’s kind of turn about fair play. LA didn’t steal the Chargers, the NFL did
A pox on the Spanos house. After failing to extort a new taxpayer funded stadium from San Diego, the family moved the franchise to LA, assuring itself permanent second class status.
I’ve been a Redskins/now DC fan since the 80’s. Danny can give Spanos a solid run for the title.
Imagine owning a nfl team and not having enough money….
Loved this quote ‘“Every day that passes increases the risks that the charitable beneficiaries and the Spanos family legacy will suffer irreparable financial and reputational damage,”
Their poor reputation could be damaged! Not that!
I imagine Dea likes to have a whole lot of disposable income at the ready to lavish herself with. She might have to cut back on the Gucci and Prada for a while and let a few servants go LOL. Good luck being the only one of 4 who wish to force a sale
What does Jessie Spano have to say about this ??
“I’m so excited, I’m so excited, I’m so……scared”
Haha fantastic
The poor souls, there there….
Bring back the estate tax and increase it until a Spanos finally has to work a day.
AMEN!
x2 lfg
Come on Jeff Bezos this is ur chance to officially pass Walmart by joining the NFL
The St.Louis Chargers!
Dean Spanos is an arrogant, egomaniacal, and epically incompetent owner. Actually, not an owner…rather a trust-fund man child who is lost in the woods of his own delusions. The Chargers are irrelevant and will continue to suffer endless and absurd losses under their permanent cloud of bad karma. Good riddance to the inbreeding clan of the Spanos regime.
Great. Now I just need someone in the McCaskey family to force them to sell the Bears.
Hope the end result of all this is a return to San Diego.
San Diego is well rid of the NFL. They already have a world class zoo.
Maybe Paris Hilton will buy the team !!!!!
Barron Hilton was the 1st owner and founder of the team
son of Conrad Hilton
Gene Klein Bought the team in 1966
and then the Spanos Family has owned the team since 1984
The team has had a very up and down history. One Super Bowl Appearance, For teams that played in the Old AFC West it would be interesting to see what the all time records/ Super bowl appearances etc bear out
Regular Season
Chiefs 495-425-12
Broncos 488-434-10
Raiders 481-440-11
Chargers 459-462-11
Breaking this down
Broncos were the worst team in the AFL Days easily
Chargers started out well in the AFL
then dropped off
Raiders were bad from 60-62. From 63-2002
the Raiders had few bad seasons.
The Chiefs were good under Hank Stram and Marty Schotteinheimer and now recently under Andy Reid
The Broncos had few good seasons until Dan Reeves and Mike Shanahan.
Throw the Seahawks in as they were a member of
the AFC West until 2002
367-340-1
Playoffs
Raiders 25-19 3 Super Bowl Titles 5 appearances
1 AFL Title
Broncos 23-19 3 Super Bowl Titles 8 Appearances
Elway 2-3 Morton 0-1 P. Manning 1-1
Did the Raiders get jobbed in the AFC Title game in Denver in 1977 YES!!!!!!!!!!
Chiefs 15-20 2 SB titles 4 Attempts
3 AFL Titles
Seahawks 17-18 1 SB Title 3 Attempts
all since they went from AFC West to NFC West
Chargers 12-18 1 AFL Title 1 SB Appearance
From 60-65 Chargers only missed getting to the AFL Title game once in 1962. They went 1-4 in those games.
Since then They have gotten to the Conference title game 4 times winning it once, and lost 1 SB.
The last Conference title game was Norv Turner riding Marty Schotteinheimers coat tails. The Chargers success has been few and far between. Since the Early days of Sid Gillman, You had the Air Coryell days, and some success with Drew Brees and Phillip Rivers. Even some with Stan Humphries.
You had Fouts, Hadl, Rote, Kemp.
If you don’t have team consistency you are not going to win. You get too pass happy that puts more pressure on the defense. Teams that are balanced, that run the ball tend to win more then teams that just throw, throw throw.
Nice post, appreciate your effort there.