Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Chris Hayrey with you on the Chargers Training
Speaker 1: Camp Podcast. Today. I'm joined by the preseason television voice
Speaker 1: of the Chargers, Spirodidas Spirow, and I look ahead to
Speaker 1: Sunday's first preseason game at StubHub Center and discuss his
Speaker 1: return to calling games in Los Angeles. But first, I
Speaker 1: had the opportunity to speak with the owner and chairman
Speaker 1: of the Los Angeles Chargers, Dean Spanos. All right, it's
Speaker 1: a new chapter in Chargers football, and today we have
Speaker 1: the unique opportunity to speak directly with the owner and
Speaker 1: chairman of the Los Angeles Chargers, Dean Spanos. Dean, how
Speaker 1: are you, sir? I'm doing great, Thank you, Dean. I
Speaker 1: want to begin with these last two weeks here at
Speaker 1: Coast to Masa. Crowd numbers have been great and the
Speaker 1: excitement has certainly been palpable. What have the last two
Speaker 1: weeks meant to you? Well, I just the fan support alone.
Speaker 1: The people that have come out have been so gracious,
Speaker 1: so welcoming to the entire organization. I can see it
Speaker 1: in the player's eyes. They're excited when they get out there.
Speaker 1: It's a new level of excitement for the organization and
Speaker 1: you know, it just keeps getting better and better every day.
Speaker 1: So it's something that really helps get us started for
Speaker 1: the season on a positive note. Those five thousand fans
Speaker 1: there on the first day, it had to be. It
Speaker 1: had to be a nice welcoming for this franchise. It
Speaker 1: really was, and they were so friendly and the players
Speaker 1: engaged with them after practice, and they have been every
Speaker 1: day signing on autographs, talking to them and they're really excited.
Speaker 1: I have to tell you now we're working on parallel
Speaker 1: pass here with training camp going on at the Jackhammet
Speaker 1: Sports Complex, the Chargers are opening a new practice facility
Speaker 1: and Coasta Mesa get everybody under one roof. What is
Speaker 1: the latest with that, Well, we're just finishing up the
Speaker 1: final touches on it. I mean there's going to be
Speaker 1: some things throughout the season we're going to have to
Speaker 1: work on, but nothing major. But it's been quite an
Speaker 1: undertaking since last January. In less than six months, we
Speaker 1: really have renovated one hundred and eight thousand square foot
Speaker 1: building and built two practice fields on a raw piece
Speaker 1: of land right adjacent to it. So my hat goes
Speaker 1: off to all the construction people that worked on this
Speaker 1: and our staff that work very hard to get this done. Indeed,
Speaker 1: we got our first taste of what stub Hub Center
Speaker 1: can be last Saturday with the joint practice with the Rams,
Speaker 1: and I have to tell you, it's probably one of
Speaker 1: the most unique NFL experiences I've ever been a part of.
Speaker 1: How much are you looking forward to getting this thing
Speaker 1: going knowing that you have a pretty unique ambiance there
Speaker 1: for the fans, Well, we are excited about it. It's
Speaker 1: something that there is nothing like it in the NFL
Speaker 1: right now. Obviously it's a much smaller stadium than all
Speaker 1: the other stadiums, but you know, we want to create
Speaker 1: a unique experience for the fans. We want every fan
Speaker 1: in every seat to have a as best a possible
Speaker 1: view of the stadium and the action being close to
Speaker 1: the field is exciting. We're hoping the ingress and egress
Speaker 1: into the stadium is going to be a lot better
Speaker 1: than a lot of other stadiums in the National Football League,
Speaker 1: which is big, but the fan experience is the most
Speaker 1: important thing for us. Yeah. I spoke with Philip earlier
Speaker 1: today and we talked about how it's such a unique experience,
Speaker 1: almost like like a Lakers game. On a Friday night
Speaker 1: where you have that those lights in the floor seats,
Speaker 1: no one has what you guys have, and I think
Speaker 1: that's a nice catalysts going into twenty seventeen. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you know, I mean you're going to be sitting in
Speaker 1: the stands and everybody's going to be able to hear
Speaker 1: what's going on in the field, and that's something you
Speaker 1: can't get around the league right now. So we're hoping
Speaker 1: that's something that creates a lot of excitement for the fans.
Speaker 1: But overall, we the fans would be comfortable and enjoy
Speaker 1: themselves last weekend with such a monuments monumental weekend, it
Speaker 1: rather for the organization. LT goes into the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: You were there, he thanked the Spano's family. What were
Speaker 1: the highlights for you and how did you take LT's
Speaker 1: all time speech? Well, I mean, first of all, LT
Speaker 1: was the heart and soul of our franchise for all
Speaker 1: the years that he was here, and we had some
Speaker 1: of our best years obviously six Z seven back to back,
Speaker 1: and I mean it was extremely exciting. But he is
Speaker 1: he is a leader on the field and off the field.
Speaker 1: He's now kind of as I say, come into his own.
Speaker 1: This is the second part of his life. He's embracing it,
Speaker 1: he's enjoying it. You know, he's just an incredible individual.
Speaker 1: His speech was very moving, very touching if you listen
Speaker 1: to it. It was a story about his family is great,
Speaker 1: great I think great grandfather, and where he came from
Speaker 1: and what he endured and what they did with where
Speaker 1: he was right now, with the property that he was on.
Speaker 1: His pretty incredible story. So, you know, very moving, very touching.
Speaker 1: It was very compelling. Obviously. I think Jim Schrotter tweeted
Speaker 1: out that a Hall official told him it was the
Speaker 1: best speech he's heard in forty one years. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: would say, I mean, of course everybody will think I'm biased,
Speaker 1: but I have to tell you it was an incredible speech.
Speaker 1: Getting back to Los Angeles, you have a proven track
Speaker 1: record and a long history of community outreach and philanthropic engagement.
Speaker 1: How do you plan to initiate those efforts in Los Angeles? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, that's one of the things that lt is
Speaker 1: going to be doing for us. He's come on board
Speaker 1: and he's working with the organization right now, and he's
Speaker 1: going to be part of an important part of our
Speaker 1: outreach into the different communities in Los Angeles. Los Angeles
Speaker 1: is a big area. It is. It's a huge area,
Speaker 1: Orange County, Los Angeles County. That's what he's going to
Speaker 1: be doing, and we're gonna kind of try to figure
Speaker 1: out in the next year or so, where do we
Speaker 1: want to spend most of our time. Our efforts are resources,
Speaker 1: and he's going to help organize all that for us.
Speaker 1: A new stadium model was recently unveiled and it's unlike
Speaker 1: anything I've ever seen. What can you tell Chargers fans
Speaker 1: about this new stadium that's going to open up in
Speaker 1: three years. Well, it's, first of all, it's going to
Speaker 1: house two NFL teams, an AFC team in an NFC team, Yep.
Speaker 1: It's going to host the Super Bowl, It's gonna host
Speaker 1: the Olympics. It's a state of the art facility that
Speaker 1: I don't think Los Angeles has ever seen before, especially
Speaker 1: obviously for the NFL in NFL games. It's going to
Speaker 1: be an incredible experience in a great location. It's going
Speaker 1: to be part of a major campus that's going to
Speaker 1: be built out over five years or ten years, and
Speaker 1: it's going to be very exciting multifaceted, so it's not
Speaker 1: just a stadium. Being that you guys at the new
Speaker 1: team in town, have you had a chance to talk
Speaker 1: to other owners in Los Angeles, like a Genie Bus,
Speaker 1: to get their advice on how this city is and
Speaker 1: how this city embraces its teams. Sure. In fact, Genie
Speaker 1: was the first person that reached out to us as
Speaker 1: a team owner and hosted a wonderful dinner for myself
Speaker 1: and our family, and she spent some time with me,
Speaker 1: and I asked her outright, so which that I expect.
Speaker 1: She said, Well, it's a tough town. It's a competitive town.
Speaker 1: And the fans here, you know, they all embrace a winner.
Speaker 1: You know, don't get discouraged by the media sometimes because
Speaker 1: they can be pretty tough. Embrace them, deal with it
Speaker 1: and move on. But you know, to be successful here,
Speaker 1: the number one thing is you've got to put a
Speaker 1: winning product on the field, and that's where our efforts
Speaker 1: are going to be. Well, let's get to the field.
Speaker 1: Anthony Lynn, your new football coach. What are your first
Speaker 1: impressions of him now that he is the headman of
Speaker 1: charge here. I love him, no nonsense, holds everybody accountable. Definitely,
Speaker 1: a winner, and I think he's gained a tremendous amount
Speaker 1: of respect from the players an organization, and I mean yet,
Speaker 1: it obviously remains to be seen how we do. But
Speaker 1: I feel very confident with him and the staff that
Speaker 1: he's put together, and this football team led by Philip Rivers.
Speaker 1: You got a lot of great players. We're just talking
Speaker 1: about how explosive this offense can be, the new defense
Speaker 1: of Gus Bradley. You have to be excited about this roster.
Speaker 1: I am, I am. You know it's a young roster too,
Speaker 1: so we have a lot to look forward to for
Speaker 1: the future. But you know, the one thing that you
Speaker 1: have to have to be successful in this league as
Speaker 1: a quarterback, and you know, we're very fortunate to have
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers here. He's more at the end of his career,
Speaker 1: but like he said, he said he'll play as long
Speaker 1: as he can stand and be competitive. So with him
Speaker 1: that could be another five or six years. You know.
Speaker 1: Get you out of here on this The mantra this
Speaker 1: offseason has been fight for LA And like you said,
Speaker 1: La is a big town, a lot of surrounding areas.
Speaker 1: How do you intend to fight for LA and what
Speaker 1: do you want Chargers fans and football fans in LA
Speaker 1: to know that they may not know about the Chargers. Well,
Speaker 1: I think when we came up here, we knew that
Speaker 1: this is something that we're going to have to earn
Speaker 1: the respect of the fans and the people of Los
Speaker 1: Angeles by being here. It's not going to be handed
Speaker 1: to us. We didn't expect to come up here and
Speaker 1: get a red carpet treatment. It's a very competitive team.
Speaker 1: As you know, there's two of everything in every sport.
Speaker 1: Plus you know the college is not even counting the
Speaker 1: colleges universities. So you know, we want to fight for
Speaker 1: LA's respect on the field and off the field. We
Speaker 1: want to ingratiate ourselves into you know, the community outreach
Speaker 1: programs and show people we care. We want to be
Speaker 1: a part of the fabric of their communities. Uh And
Speaker 1: and also, you know, obviously without saying, we got to
Speaker 1: put a winning product on the field. If we can
Speaker 1: do those two things, I know we're going to be successful.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a lot of fun. I can't thank
Speaker 1: you enough for your time today. Sure, great, thank you.
Speaker 1: All right, all right, my next guest, we'll be calling
Speaker 1: this Sunday's preseason opener against the Seattle Seahawks on ABC
Speaker 1: seven Los Angeles, alongside the Hall of famer Dan Fouts.
Speaker 1: Spirodidas joins me on the Chargers Training Camp podcast. Spiro,
Speaker 1: how you doing, Chris good to being your third straight
Speaker 1: year calling Chargers preseason games, but this year the backdrop
Speaker 1: is certainly different. How does it feel to be back
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles calling games and especially getting to do
Speaker 1: it at StubHub Center. Yeah, it's it's it's exciting, Chris
Speaker 1: and unique. And first that had such a you know,
Speaker 1: great number of years in such a oil fan base
Speaker 1: in San Diego. To be making this transition down to
Speaker 1: LA and this market that has been bereft of professional
Speaker 1: football for so many years, I think it's exciting for
Speaker 1: the fans year who aren't even you know, maybe Chargers
Speaker 1: fans yet, but just fans of pro football and to
Speaker 1: be a part of that is really special. And then
Speaker 1: for me personally to be back, you know, calling quote
Speaker 1: unquote local games in LA after you know, those six
Speaker 1: incredible years I had with the Lakers on the radio
Speaker 1: is surreal. It's exciting, and I'm really looking forward to Sunday,
Speaker 1: you know, not to mention the whole stub Hub Center
Speaker 1: and this unique kind of in stadium experience that the
Speaker 1: Chargers will have this year. I think unlike anything we've
Speaker 1: seen in the modern history of the NFL. It's very
Speaker 1: You get to do it with the Hall of Famer.
Speaker 1: Dan Fouts and you guys have worked together in the past.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you both have talked about the anticipation for
Speaker 1: not only this Sunday, but the rest of the preseason
Speaker 1: s late. Yeah, working with Dan in a dream. You know,
Speaker 1: I remember watching him as a player as a kid
Speaker 1: and colleagues with him at CBS has really been something
Speaker 1: that has been excited for me the last couple of
Speaker 1: years to work with someone like that, and you know,
Speaker 1: you get to kind of hang with them outside of
Speaker 1: the booth, and we've we've had a chance to spend
Speaker 1: the time together. You know, he's got everything. He's the
Speaker 1: dream partner when you're calling playbot player. You know, he
Speaker 1: not only knows the game inside and out, certainly no
Speaker 1: stranger to the Chargers, the history argument the greatest player
Speaker 1: that that's never been purcased by this franchise. And he's
Speaker 1: just fun to be around. You know. You see his
Speaker 1: sense of humor. When I at Eagle every Sunday during
Speaker 1: the season, you know, he he's fun to be around,
Speaker 1: but he also kind of challenges you as a partner
Speaker 1: because he's so good and his sense of humor is
Speaker 1: so good, so kind of keeps you on your toes.
Speaker 1: And I'm just looking forward to year through with them.
Speaker 1: It's been it's been a fun ride so far. Spirit
Speaker 1: getting to the team. You're very familiar with the majority
Speaker 1: of this roster, having caught a lot of these Chargers
Speaker 1: games on CBS during the regular seasons, but there's been
Speaker 1: a few changes this year with Anthony Lynn coming in,
Speaker 1: Gus Bradley in charge of that defense. Now what are
Speaker 1: you most looking forward to seeing on Sunday? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I have the preseason as a process, without a doubt.
Speaker 1: Week one in the preseason, you know, maybe not quite
Speaker 1: a great clear sign of like what the team was
Speaker 1: going to look like come to regular season, but you do,
Speaker 1: I think, like most everyone, just Anthony Lynn's impact on
Speaker 1: this group. You know, he's a no nonsense, kind of
Speaker 1: old school throwback who you know learned and cut his
Speaker 1: teeth under Bill Parcels and you know even has a
Speaker 1: connection to Bill Walsh and some of the great coaches
Speaker 1: that we've seen in the modern era up in sport.
Speaker 1: And you know, one area where I think maybe the
Speaker 1: Chargers lacked under Mike McCoy, who is a very respected
Speaker 1: offensive coach in this league, was maybe the discipline, high
Speaker 1: number of penalties. You know, Motivating guys, it's to be
Speaker 1: something that Anthony Lynn is very adept at and one
Speaker 1: of his strings and just listening to guys talk about
Speaker 1: his coaching style and motivating them and get ready, getting
Speaker 1: them ready to play the season. I think that's something
Speaker 1: that that will be there that will have to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on as the season gets going here, the
Speaker 1: preseason gets going. And secondly, this defense. So many injuries
Speaker 1: last year really on both sides, but the defense I
Speaker 1: think really hard hit. You've got two great young bookend
Speaker 1: pass rushers now in Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa. You know,
Speaker 1: two top flight cornerbacks maybe the best one two quarterback
Speaker 1: to hid them in league at Jason Barrett when he
Speaker 1: comes back from his injury, and Casey Hainward on the
Speaker 1: other side, I just think there's a potential for his
Speaker 1: defense to be really special. And we know about gust
Speaker 1: Bradley he's bringing to the table as a defensive coach,
Speaker 1: and so he added that with the offense and the
Speaker 1: weapons are on Philip Rivers, you know, in this time
Speaker 1: of the year, Chris, every team seems like, you know,
Speaker 1: they're they're talking about being a playoff team, and the
Speaker 1: cults are high. But I think, really, when you look
Speaker 1: at this team on paper, and there really is potential
Speaker 1: for the Chargers to be a team that can get
Speaker 1: to a level. I know there are long ways from that.
Speaker 1: They've got a lot of answers that they from usher answer,
Speaker 1: but at least on paper, they looked like they could
Speaker 1: be something. I spoke with Philip Rivers earlier this week
Speaker 1: and he said, in addition to having some real authentic
Speaker 1: guys on the team, you have a lot of recognizable names.
Speaker 1: How much do you think that helps with the transition
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles? As we know, LA is star driven.
Speaker 1: It likes its stars, and this team I think is
Speaker 1: chock full of stars. It's so important, you know, it's
Speaker 1: this is a star driven town without a doubt. You know,
Speaker 1: they've been so spoiled here when you look at the
Speaker 1: Lakers history and you know the Dodgers over the years.
Speaker 1: It's a town that's driven by the headline names. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's a celebrity town, Hollywood, it's all those things.
Speaker 1: And you know, one thing we know, you know, when
Speaker 1: a team in terms of sports, when a team is struggling,
Speaker 1: people tend to lose interest in this town quickly, maybe
Speaker 1: quicker than most other cities. And you know, I think
Speaker 1: when you when you have a guy like Philip, a
Speaker 1: guy like Antonio Gates and some of these young, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of rising stars that we're seeing in Joey Bosa
Speaker 1: and Melbourn Ingram who's been doing it for the last
Speaker 1: five plus years, I think it can only help. But
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, you know, this team
Speaker 1: is only really going to go as far as the
Speaker 1: number of wins that they're able to put together, you know,
Speaker 1: because you know, the NFL is a brutal sport, and
Speaker 1: you know, teams can kind of drift when injuries start
Speaker 1: to senate and when those losses pile up, and if
Speaker 1: that happens in this market, in the town, people will
Speaker 1: lose interest quickly. And so I just think that kind
Speaker 1: of adds to the stake, to adds to the pressure,
Speaker 1: and we'll see how this team performs given those those circumstances.
Speaker 1: Spirit last thing for you, you you spent six seasons calling
Speaker 1: games for the Lakers, as you mentioned, and in those
Speaker 1: six years, three straight trips to the finals, back to
Speaker 1: back titles. So you know firsthand how this city embraces
Speaker 1: its teams and especially it's winners. What can the Chargers
Speaker 1: team expect from fans in Los Angeles? Well, I think
Speaker 1: the Chargers Chris Ken, can expect an exciting atmosphere early on.
Speaker 1: You know, we mentioned, you know how they can kind
Speaker 1: of lose interest in this town when they're their local
Speaker 1: sports team, Uh, kind of goes adrift. But early on,
Speaker 1: you know that there's a novel team with this thing,
Speaker 1: because of the stadium, because of them the North that
Speaker 1: really has has generated a lot of interest. I think
Speaker 1: more interested people anticipated going in. I think we saw
Speaker 1: that with some of the fan turnouts at the early
Speaker 1: days of training camp, and I think that's going to
Speaker 1: carry in certainly the preseason and we get closer to
Speaker 1: to opening day next month. But again, there there will
Speaker 1: be pressure for the Chargers to get off to a
Speaker 1: good start. You know, it's just so critical in this town.
Speaker 1: LA is such a unique market and I saw that
Speaker 1: firsthand with the Lakers. You know, even with Kobe Bryant
Speaker 1: my first couple of years, they were a team that
Speaker 1: was you know, in and out quick, kind of Postseedson exits,
Speaker 1: and you know, it really took the team getting back
Speaker 1: to a championship level to get people talking about the
Speaker 1: Lakers again the way that they usually do in this town.
Speaker 1: So you know, the Chargers have a lot to prove
Speaker 1: to people here. But I do think early on the
Speaker 1: anticipation and the interest is going to be very very high.
Speaker 1: And you throw that into to the unique stadium situation
Speaker 1: that will have its StubHub, and I think it will
Speaker 1: be very very fun. You an interesting first year to
Speaker 1: stay the least here in LA. The Spirodidas will be
Speaker 1: on the call along with Dan Fouts this Sunday at
Speaker 1: five pm Pacific on ABC seven Los Angeles. Spirit. I
Speaker 1: appreciate the time, man, I look forward to seeing you
Speaker 1: this Sunday. All right, Chris my Platner. Okay, that'll do
Speaker 1: it for today's Chargers training Camp podcast. My thanks to
Speaker 1: Dean Spanos and Spirodidas for joining me, And a quick
Speaker 1: reminder to download the Los Angeles Chargers apt for iOS
Speaker 1: and Android. To be sure to follow all the Chargers
Speaker 1: social media platforms as well as chargers dot com to
Speaker 1: stay up to date on all things related to Chargers
Speaker 1: Training Camp. The entire digital team will have you covered
Speaker 1: and until next time, We'll see us soon. M