Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Chargers
Current season
Established August 14, 1959 (1959-08-14)[1]
First season: 1960
Play in SoFi Stadium
Inglewood, California
Headquartered at Hoag Performance Center
Costa Mesa, California[2]
Los Angeles Chargers logo
Los Angeles Chargers logo
Los Angeles Chargers wordmark
Los Angeles Chargers wordmark
LogoWordmark
League/conference affiliations

American Football League (1960–1969)

  • Western Division (1960–1969)

National Football League (1970–present)

Current uniform
Team colorsPowder blue, sunshine gold, white[3][4][5]
     
Personnel
Owner(s)Dean Spanos[6]
General managerJoe Hortiz
Head coachJim Harbaugh
Team history
Team nicknames
  • The Bolts
Championships
League championships (1)
Conference championships (1)
Division championships (15)
Playoff appearances (20)
Home fields

The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team plays its home games at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, which it shares with the Los Angeles Rams.

The Chargers were founded in Los Angeles in 1959, and began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). They spent their first season in Los Angeles before relocating to San Diego in 1961 to become the San Diego Chargers.[1][7] The team joined the NFL as a result of the AFL–NFL merger in 1970. In 2017, the Chargers moved back to Los Angeles after 56 seasons in San Diego, a year after the Rams had moved back to the city after spending 21 seasons (1995–2015) in St. Louis.[8][9][10] The team previously played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during their first stint in Los Angeles, Balboa Stadium and San Diego Stadium (also known as Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium) while in San Diego, and Dignity Health Sports Park (formerly named StubHub Center) from 2017 to 2019, while SoFi Stadium was under construction.

The Chargers won the AFL championship in 1963, and reached the AFL playoffs five times and the AFL Championship game four times before joining the NFL.[7][11] Since then, the Chargers have made 15 trips to the playoffs and made four appearances in the AFC Championship game.[7] In 1994, the Chargers won their first and only AFC championship, and faced the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX, losing 49–26.[7] The Chargers have eight players and one coach enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: wide receiver Lance Alworth (1962–1970), defensive end Fred Dean (1975–1981), quarterback Dan Fouts (1973–1987), head coach and general manager Sid Gillman (1960–1969, 1971), wide receiver Charlie Joiner (1976–1986), offensive lineman Ron Mix (1960–1969), tight end Kellen Winslow (1979–1987), linebacker Junior Seau (1990–2002), and running back LaDainian Tomlinson (2001–2009).[12]

According to an article listed by Forbes, the Los Angeles Chargers are worth 3.875 billion dollars in August 2022 putting them at number 20 on the list of richest NFL teams.[13]

  1. ^ a b "Los Angeles Chargers Team Facts". ProFootballHOF.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  2. ^ "Contact Us". Chargers.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Archived from the original on April 29, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  3. ^ Chargers Communications (March 24, 2020). "Los Angeles Chargers Introduce Updated Bolt Mark and New Logotype; Uniform Unveil Less Than a Month Away". Chargers.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Archived from the original on March 24, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  4. ^ Shook, Nick (March 24, 2020). "Chargers update look with shift to powder blue". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Archived from the original on March 24, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  5. ^ "Los Angeles Chargers Team Capsule" (PDF). 2021 Official National Football League Record and Fact Book (PDF). NFL Enterprises, LLC. August 11, 2021. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  6. ^ "Ownership & Executive Management". Chargers.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d "History". Chargers.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  8. ^ "Letter From Dean Spanos". Chargers.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. January 11, 2017. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  9. ^ Knoblauch, Austin (January 12, 2017). "Chargers announce decision to relocate to Los Angeles". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Archived from the original on January 14, 2017. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  10. ^ Schrotenboer, Brent (January 12, 2017). "What we know about Chargers' move to Los Angeles". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 13, 2017. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  11. ^ "Los Angeles Chargers Team History". ProFootballHOF.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Archived from the original on January 1, 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  12. ^ "Hall of Famers by Franchise". ProFootballHOF.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Archived from the original on October 27, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  13. ^ "Los Angeles Chargers on the Forbes NFL Team Valuations List". Forbes. Retrieved August 22, 2023.