The only person who ever can be trusted prior to any election by secret ballot is the person who says, “I’m voting against you.”
For Chargers owner Dean Spanos and the Committee on L.A. Opportunities, the use of a secret ballot ended up allowing those who may have been blowing smoke about their intentions to vote in favor of their own best interests.
That’s the explanation provided by Peter King of TheMMQB.com for the rejection of the 5-1 recommendation of the committee on the Carson.
“The key was changing from public to secret ballots,” an unnamed source told King. “The reversal of support [from Carson to Inglewood] from what Dean expected shocked him.”
The first secret vote of the day resulted in Rams owner Stan Kroenke coming within a handful of votes necessary to move to Inglewood. After it became clear which way the wind was blowing, the league brokered a dissolution of the Chargers-Raiders partnership in Carson and gave the Chargers dibs on joining the Rams in a place where the Chargers and the Committee didn’t really want to be.
But the league wants to be there. Especially because it entails plenty of free stuff for the NFL, including a new campus for the league’s in-house media conglomerate.
And no one likes free stuff more than those who don’t need free stuff.