Los Angeles Rams

Chargers official: Report of impasse with Rams in Los Angeles 'completely false'

Published Jan. 26, 2016 7:25 p.m. ET

foxsports

By Vincent Frank

A report earlier this week from XTRA Sports 1360 radio host Steve Hartman over the weekend indicated that the San Diego Chargers were at an impasse regarding the potential of sharing a stadium with the Los Angeles Rams in Inglewood has now been countered by the Chargers organization itself.

COO Kevin Demoff, who has been the public voice of the Chargers during the entire relocation process, told NBC’s Pro Football Talk on Tuesday that said report was “completely false.”

Hartman reported on Monday that an official within the Rams organization told him that the two sides have reached in impasse in negotiations surrounding the potential of sharing the stadium in Inglewood.

Both the Chargers and Rams have been engaged in negotiations since a league-wide vote approved the Rams relocation to Los Angeles earlier this month. The same vote gave the Chargers the first opportunity to join the Rams in Inglewood.

If the Chargers decide against relocation prior to the NFL-imposed deadline of next January, the Oakland Raiders would then have the opportunity to move to Southern California.

All of this could be public posturing by both sides.

The Rams are willing to either offer an equity partnership in Inglewood or house the Chargers on a lease agreement. Though, there is no indication just how equal the aforementioned equity partnership would be. At the very least, we don’t know what the Rams are offering behind the scenes.

As you might already know, the Chargers have balked at the idea of sharing a stadium with the Rams if the parameters of a co-tenant relationship included a lease. After all, that would limit the Chargers’ earning potential in the nation’s second-largest media market.

What we do know is that the Chargers have already applied for two trademarks surrounding Los Angeles — a clear indication the team is prepared to move.

As of right now, the NFL has set a late late-March deadline for the Chargers to move to a temporary location in Los Angeles in time for the 2016 season.

If an agreement isn’t agreed to by then, the Chargers would then be forced to play a lame-duck season in San Diego — something officials in their current home market are justifiably against.

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