The NFL is not dying any time soon and it’s most certainly the biggest and baddest of all the major sports leagues then, now, forever and 100 years. But the NFL is not a monster monolith that runs peoples lives. The good city of San Diego proved that the NFL is indeed run by mortals who are simply greedy old men who can be told no.
With the San Diego Chargers moving to Los Angeles, sure we will find out that the Chargers are going to make way more money as an organization and their value will increase, but we also found out that not every American city is beholden to the power of the mighty shield. The San Diego Chargers moved to L.A., not for the profits and not because the league wanted them to; the Chargers moved to L.A. because they and the NFL were told “no way Jose!” No way is another city going to pay for a half empty stadium like they did in Santa Clara. No way is another city going to burden tax payers who may not even watch sports or care that their metropolis has a big stadium to house Rolling Stones concerts. San Diego was not going to make a one sided deal.
The NFL now has two teams in a city where nobody cares about anything. Los Angeles is too cool for people to fill the stands unless their team is undefeated and guaranteed to win like the Lakers used to be. The Chargers and Rams suck. They will not be good for awhile and when they are, this is the NFL, it won’t last. The NFL doesn’t care about that though; so long as they can sell personal seat licenses and put corporate fecal matter all over the city and new stadium that gets built. The NFL will move on from being told no, but the fact that they were was monumental.
The NFL is worshiped by millions. It runs the lives of millions by dictating their weekends and travel plans. It takes millions from the pockets of tax payers and gamblers. The NFL is a church, but even as the church has more money than God, millions and millions are starting to lose faith.