San Diego Chargers apologize for targeting Chiefs fans
Behold the power of the internet.
Last week, a Chiefs fan running a blog out of Brooklyn, New York was sent a generic email from the Chargers trying to sell tickets to a Chargers-Chiefs game in San Diego. The fan posted it on his Arrowhead Addicts website as a way to poke fun at the Chargers desperation, and it worked.
The post was picked up at Deadspin and now the Chargers are apologizing to their upset fans who thought the team looked "pathetic."
"I totally understand that reaction,” Chargers CEO A.G. Spanos told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “It’s disappointing because we’ve been so aggressive this year with trying to sell to new Chargers fans. ... We’re trying our best to pack the stadium with Chargers fans. This article, it hurt."
The article hit such a nerve because the Chargers are clearly struggling to sell tickets. They've had six blackouts in the last two seasons and they have to sell Norv Turner to an impatient fan base again.
“This was an overeager sales rep, I would say, who was selling groups,” Spanos said. “He acted on his own without checking with his manager. We have sold to visiting fan groups in the past. We don’t proactively solicit them for new business. That’s not a standard practice of the Chargers. ... I was disappointed the story made headlines. It paints the organization in a poor light, and that’s not how we operate."
The stakes are high this year in San Diego. The only way Spanos and the Chargers can change the narrative in San Diego is by winning playoff games again and finding a stadium solution. Both are easier said than done.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d...gn=Twitter_atl