(AP) — It was quite a day for Los Angeles football fans. It began with the return of the Chargers before the Rams made Sean McVay the youngest head coach in NFL history.
The Chargers announced that they are leaving San Diego after 56 years and coming back to the LA market, where they began as an AFL franchise. The Chargers plan to play their home games at a 27,000-seat stadium in suburban Carson before joining the Rams at a new facility in Inglewood.
The Chargers’ departure comes less than three months after San Diego voters resoundingly rejected a team-sponsored measure that would have financed a new stadium in the area through an increase in hotel occupancy taxes. Chargers owner Dean Spanos had spent 2015 trying to get approval for a stadium in Carson that the Chargers would share with the rival Oakland Raiders. That plan was voted down by fellow owners who eventually granted the Chargers the option to move to L.A.
Hours after the Chargers made their big splash, the Rams butted in by naming McVay their head coach, 12 days before his 31st birthday. McVay spent the past six seasons as an assistant with the Washington Redskins, the last three as offensive coordinator under Jay Gruden.
McVay replaces John Fassel, who became interim head coach when Jeff Fisher was fired 13 games into the Rams’ return season in Los Angeles.
The Rams reportedly hired a defensive coordinator as well. ESPN.com says Wade Phillips has accepted the job.
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