Dean Spanos’ sister asks court to force sale of Chargers

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Mar 19, 2019
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Dea Spanos Berberian, a co-owner of the Los Angeles Chargers, is going to court in an attempt to force the team to be sold.

Berberian is the sister of Dean Spanos, who is often described as the Chargers’ owner but only owns 15 percent of the franchise. Berberian also owns 15 percent, as do their other two siblings, and 36 percent is owned by the Spanos family trust. Berberian says the trust is deeply in debt and can’t afford the charitable contributions it has pledged, and the only way to pay off that debt is to sell the team.

“Dean refuses to consider a sale of the Trust’s Interest of the Chargers, insisting that the Co-Trustees continue to borrow more and more, and to force the charities and beneficiaries to wait for years and to ‘hope’ while Dean speculates further on a football team,” Berberian’s court filing said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Dean has failed to present any plan to address the Trust’s bleak financial picture, because there is no other plan than the one urged by [Berberian]. Dean simply refuses to discuss it. . . . His plan is hope.”

Berberian says the trust’s debts and expenses exceed $353 million. Although Berberian says her brother has agreed to retain an investment bank at the end of the 2024 season to find a new owner, she says the debt is piling up and the trust can’t wait that long.

The court filing suggests that the Chargers may be particularly attractive to a new owner right now, after the NFL announced lucrative new 10-year TV deals, and mentions Jeff Bezos as someone who might be interested in buying the team.
 
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