The Chargers will seek approval to sell an 8% stake in the franchise to private investment firm Arctos at next week’s NFL team owners meetings.
The approval request was sent in a memo to NFL team owners, according to a person with knowledge of the memo not authorized to speak publicly about it.
If approved, Chargers owner Dean Spanos and siblings Michael Spanos and Alexis Spanos Ruhl would still own approximately 61% of the franchise.
The NFL spring meeting will be held Tuesday and Wednesday in Eagan, Minn.
It is the second major change for the Chargers ownership group in the last year after Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores bought a 27% stake in the team in September. That transaction resolved a long-running dispute between Dea Spanos Berberian and her siblings as Gores and his wife bought Spanos Berberian’s share of the franchise.
Players recently ranked Spanos and the ownership’s contribution to the Chargers’ success fifth-best out of 32 teams, according to an annual survey conducted by the NFL Players Assn. It was a stark improvement from the previous year’s rankings that placed ownership 24th in the league.
The jump can be attributed to the team’s new $250-million facility in El Segundo, which opened last July. Spanos also brought in coach Jim Harbaugh, who led the team to an 11-6 regular-season record in his first season.
The team entered free agency with the second-highest salary-cap space in the NFL, according to Overthecap.com, but did not make many splashy signings. The biggest contract of the offseason went to free agent offensive lineman Mekhi Becton, who signed a two-year deal worth $20 million after winning the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles.
