San Diego Chargers Hurting Their Own Cause for a New Stadium

The San Diego Chargers have long been trying to get a new stadium in the city of San Diego.  Numerous plans and proposals have come and gone, and the team is still no closer to finding a permanent home in San Diego.

There are a variety of causes for the Chargers' stadium woes—from the recession to financially stingy owners, to the attempts of nearby Los Angeles to land an NFL team.

However, the Chargers may be shooting themselves in the foot with their recent on-field woes.

To recap, the Chargers are currently tied for last place in the AFC West, and are on a five-game losing streak, despite the fact that they have easily the most talented team in the division.  On paper, the Chargers should be contending for the Super Bowl, but in reality they are severely under-performing.

It's certainly been a disappointing season on the field for the Bolts.  However, could having a bad season really have negative consequences on the team's quest for a new stadium in San Diego?

The somewhat surprising answer is yes.

The Spanos family (the Chargers owners) is trying to convince the taxpayers of San Diego to foot a very large portion of the bill for any new stadium.  So, they need to have as good a relationship as possible with the city and its inhabitants.

Trust is important for owners trying to get their city to fork over a whole lot of money to build a new stadium.  The city government and its constituents want to feel comfortable about entering into such large financial obligations.  If they don't believe that the team's ownership and management are going to take good care of the investment in the team, they are extremely unlikely to be willing to pay so much for a new stadium for a team they don't trust.

This season's on-field woes have steadily been eroding Chargers' fans faith in the team and their ownership and management.  It is, after all, extremely difficult to continue rooting for a team that is under-performing as much as the Chargers have been.

When a team keeps losing, with all of the players necessary to win, the blame usually lies with the coach.  Chargers fans have long been critical of Coach Norv Turner, as the team has failed to even make it to a Super Bowl in the last decade despite consistently being predicted to reach the game and possibly even win it.

Even as the team hasn't delivered on its potential, Norv Turner has remained the head coach.  That failure lies on general manager A.J. Smith and the Spanos family, who stubbornly cling to Turner as the head coach for unknown reasons.

Every week that passes by with another loss by a Norv Turner-led Chargers team, only further damages the relationship between the team and its fans.  That loss of trust could ultimately doom the Chargers attempts to get a new stadium in San Diego.

After all, if you can't even trust a team to try its best to win and be successful on the field, how can you trust them with several hundred million dollars of taxpayer money?