san diego-los angeles chargers-dean spanos

Sunday was the first game in Los Angeles for the newly relocated Chargers, and although the franchise is looking forward, the fans it left behind in San Diego are not quite ready to move on.

Last week, San Diegans raised $10,000 for a series of anti-Chargers, anti-NFL billboards around StubHub Center, and on Sunday, someone in an airplane flew over the stadium with a banner that read, “Worst owner in sports? Dean Spanos pay your rent.”

Here’s a video of the flyover:

Spanos, of course, is the Chargers owner, who moved the team after the citizens of San Diego voted against a tax hike that would have paid for a $1.8 billion new stadium. He is not a popular man in San Diego and is apparently not much more beloved in Los Angeles.

Probably not the reaction Spanos imagined getting in his new city.

But more damning for Spanos and the Chargers than the anger from old Chargers fans is the apparent apathy from would-be new Chargers fans. With the Rams also in L.A. and sports fans in the area loaded with alternative ways to spend their Sundays, the Chargers are having a tough time filling even the 27,000-seat StubHub Center.

Announced attendance for the game was 25,381, which is both an embarrassing figure (even in a small stadium) and difficult to believe based on the photographic evidence.

One city hates the Chargers for leaving, the other city doesn’t care that they have arrived. Maybe that “worst owner in sports” banner wasn’t so far off.

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.

2 thoughts on “Banner flown over (sparsely attended) Chargers game calls Dean Spanos ‘worst owner in sports’

  1. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Glad that they lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! glad that they are not welcomed in L.A.. Good for the fans that booed……Spanos need to be ashamed!!! Leaving a city that cared for them, loved them, and now he’s embarrassing the city!!!! It’s one thing to do it here in San Diego, but now they are L.A. problem!!!

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