EL SEGUNDO — As expected, NFL owners at their league meeting Tuesday approved the Chargers’ sale of an 8% stake in the franchise to Arctos, a private investment firm. Arctos joins the Spanos family and Tom Gores, owner of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, in an expanded ownership group.
Last year, the Spanos family sold a 27% stake in the Chargers to Gores, settling a financial dispute with Dea Spanos Berberian, sister of the franchise owner Dean Spanos. Spanos Berberian had sued her siblings in 2021 in order to force a sale of a family trust established in 1998.
She contended in a second suit filed in 2022 that the trust would become insolvent within three years, accusing Dean Spanos of “breaches of fiduciary duty” and “self-dealing.” Neither the 2021 suit nor the one filed one year later in San Joaquin County Superior Court proceeded to trial, however.
The transactions with Gores and Arctos left Dean Spanos and siblings Michael and Alexis with a 61% share of the franchise. Another 4% of the team is owned by non-family members. The Chargers have been in the Spanos family since Alex and Faye Spanos bought the team in 1984.
Dean Spanos, the eldest son of Alex and Faye, has run the Chargers since 1993.
“We’re extremely pleased to welcome Arctos to the Chargers family as a limited partner,” Dean Spanos said in a statement. “Arctos’ track record in major professional sports speaks for itself, and we are grateful for their alignment going forward during this time of tremendous growth for our organization.”
Arctos also owns minority shares of several professional sports franchises, including the Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs in Major League Baseball, the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings and the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils of the NHL.
“We’re honored to join the Los Angeles Chargers ownership group and are grateful to Dean and the rest of the management team for their partnership,” Doc O’Connor, co-founder and co-managing partner of Arctos, said in a statement. “We’re excited to get to work and help the team achieve their vision however we can.”
TEACHABLE MOMENT
NaVorro Bowman’s first season as the Chargers’ linebackers coach went as well as could be expected. Probably better, in fact. After all, the Chargers limited opponents to a league-low 17.7 points per game en route to an 11-6 record and a second-place finish in the AFC West.
Asked what he learned from his first year as an NFL position coach after spending one season as a defensive analyst at the University of Maryland and after a stellar career as a linebacker with the San Francisco 49ers and the then-Oakland Raiders, Bowman said the obvious part out loud.
“I learned that I can do it,” he said. “I learned that coaches really have to process things on what the guys actually need. I think that comes to me a lot easier. Just seeing a weakness and being able to create a drill to get that guy to understand what we need that guy to do. I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been great.”
EXTRA POINTS
The Chargers decided against re-signing cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. after he suffered a season-ending neck injury that required surgery. But the Miami Dolphins have an interest in signing him, according to a report in the Miami Herald. Samuel, the Chargers’ second-round pick in 2021, played only four games last season. …
The Chargers’ signing of first-round pick Omarion Hampton, a running back from North Carolina, leaves only second-round selection Tre’ Harris, a wide receiver from Mississippi, unsigned among their nine picks in the draft last month.