San Diego still matters to the Chargers.
It matters in the way that matters the most — financially.
Dean and John Spanos this month will allow their family-owned NFL club to dip a toe back into San Diego waters — cleared beforehand of stingrays, no doubt — by practicing at the University of San Diego on July 22 and 23.
While it’s true Chargers second-year coach Jim Harbaugh began his head-coaching career at Torero Stadium and that the hassle of relocating an NFL training camp 120 miles will lose a few bucks over the two days, it’s smart business practice to maintain even a threadbare connection to San Diego, the franchise’s home city for 56 years.
Though many San Diegans swore the team off following its NFL-sponsored relocation in 2017, a fair number of San Diegans have supported the Los Angeles Chargers.
They pay serious money for the gameday experience at the Kroenke Dome in Inglewood.
They buy Justin Herbert jerseys and gather at residences or local sports bars to watch the games.
The first of the two practices in San Diego will be open exclusively to active-duty service members, veterans and their families. The second session ls one of six practices that will be limited to season ticket holders.
If this is a rapprochement between the Spanoses and San Diego, it’s mild stuff.
But Dean and John, passing on a job for which they may not be well fit, surely see that Harbaugh makes for an ideal Bolts ambassador to San Diego.
Harbaugh quarterbacked the Chargers in 1999 and 2000 under coach Mike Riley. A company man, the QB once refused to answer questions from a Union-Tribune reporter — not me — at Charger Park because he was wearing another NFL team’s gear. Compared to many of the Spanos-hired head coaches dating to 1986, when Alex Spanos canned Don Coryell and replaced him with Al Saunders, Harbaugh’s football leadership skill is parts Don Shula, Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick and Andy Reid.
Creating a San Diego bond he still waxes on about, Harbaugh left his quarterbacks coach job with the Oakland Raiders to become head coach of USD, a non-scholarship program, in 2004.
The Toreros went 26-9 over his three seasons.
Smooth, square-jawed Jimbo will charm the San Diegans he encounters in his two-day visit. He’ll figure out how to show respect for the franchise’s 56-year legacy here.
“We want to go where our fans are,” Harbaugh told Los Angeles sportscaster Jim Hill. “They come to see us, they come to (the Kroenke Dome), they come to training camp. That means a lot to us. It means everything, really, to have that support on gameday and practice days. For us to go and visit them, if we have that opportunity, we sure as heck want to take it.”
For Harbaugh, this sales job will be one of his easiest.
San Diegans who care about the Chargers know that Harbaugh’s first season yielded an 11-6 record. It was the franchise’s best mark since coach Anthony Lynn’s second team went 12-4 in 2018. It was a big turnaround from the 5-12 performance under overmatched Brandon Staley.
Replanting a Chargers flag, however small, in San Diego will be a snap compared with some of the enterprising coach’s other out-of-town sales pitches.
While coaching at Michigan, Harbaugh staged spring practices and summer camps in Southeastern Conference territory.
This was as smart as it was unconventional. It brought the Michigan program to high school prospects in the South while also drumming up publicity for the Wolverines in media outlets throughout SEC country.
Harbaugh and his coaches would see their recruiting efforts improve. The 2023 team that Harbaugh built in Ann Arbor, loaded with future NFL draftees and others who would sign with NFL teams as free agents, defeated Alabama in the national semifinals. Harbaugh’s team then won the final, giving 15-0 Michigan its first undisputed national title since 1948.
For Team Spanos in its L.A. venture, notable progress will not require a Super Bowl victory.
Proving you can take the Chargers out of San Diego but you can’t take the Chargering out of the Chargers, the franchise has earned zero AFC West titles or home playoff games in its eight seasons since the relocation to Greater Los Angeles.
Expect that to change under Harbaugh.
Originally Published: July 12, 2025 at 5:00 PM PDT