Good morning.
Mark Fabiani, point person on the stadium issue for the San Diego Chargers, talked with Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith of The Mighty 1090 AM radio about the latest developments regarding his team's effort to get a stadium deal done.
You can listen to that conversation here.
Of note, Fabiani said with the Carson City Council approving the team's $1.7 billion joint stadium project with the Oakland Raiders, the project is now fully entitled like the St. Louis Rams' stadium project in Inglewood.
Fabiani said if the Chargers were to relocate to Los Angeles, the earliest the team could play in Carson is 2019.
While Fabiani said he understands the team could make more money on a stadium deal in Los Angeles, the Chargers are willing to take less on a stadium deal in San Diego if an agreement allows them to stay competitive with the rest of the league.
"You're never going to make all the money in San Diego that you can make in Los Angeles," Fabiani said. "That's just not possible. But what we need to do is to be able to be competitive with what we have in San Diego.
"You're never going to be able to match Carson, but you can stay competitive in San Diego economically in a new stadium, which obviously we believe we can do. If we didn't believe we could be competitive with a new stadium in San Diego, we wouldn't be working on it.
"If you had a new stadium with modern everything, like every other modern stadium has, you would be competitive here in San Diego. The question that's foiled us all these years is how do you pay for it."
Darren Smith of The Mighty 1090 AM radio talks with San Diego County supervisor Ron Roberts in this video, who says he remains optimistic a stadium deal can get done in in San Diego.
ESPN NFL Insider John Clayton writes that NFL teams would be wise to not reach for a spread quarterback in early rounds.
ESPN's Adam Rittenberg profiles Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon and Michigan State cornerback Trae Waynes, best friends from high school projected to be drafted in the first round.
In this ESPN Insider piece
, Jon Gruden identifies his favorite players in this year's draft. Gordon makes the cut.
Peter King of Sports Illustrated still believes the Chargers trading Philip Rivers is unlikely.
Ricky Henne of Chargers.com offers five things he learned from the 2015 regular-season schedule.
Michael Mountford of Pro Football Focus profiles University of Texas defensive lineman Malcom Brown, a possible target of the Chargers in the first round.
