INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- If you're going by the motto of all publicity is good publicity, the Chargers fared well in their first week in Los Angeles.
Word leaked of the team's pending move before Chargers chairman Dean Spanos could tell his employees last week. The team's eventual announcement last Thursday was greeted by one noted Los Angeles columnist with four words: We don't want you.
The Chargers also received criticism both in Los Angeles and in their former home of San Diego for changing the team's new logo three times, calling those miscalculations.
And new head coach Anthony Lynn began his news conference Tuesday by referring to the team as the San Diego Chargers before sheepishly correcting himself.
Regardless of the previous missteps and anger of fans spurned in San Diego, the Chargers appear to be in Los Angeles to stay.
Spanos further cemented that fact by hosting a kickoff ceremony for the team at the Forum, adjacent to the site of the new stadium the Chargers will share with the Rams.
"Our ultimate goal is to bring L.A. and all Chargers fans a Super Bowl championship," Spanos said, talking over a group of heckling fans.
It's the same venue in which Rams owner Stan Kroenke emotionally announced his team's return to Los Angeles a year ago.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell joined Inglewood mayor James T. Butts, Rams CEO Kevin Demoff and quarterback Philip Rivers on the stage in welcoming the Chargers to Los Angeles.
"A year ago we were handed the awesome responsibility of helping Los Angeles become a terrific NFL market once again, and we're thrilled to have the Chargers join us in the quest," Demoff said.
Despite the Rams' struggles in their first season back in Los Angeles, including a 4-12 record, the firing of head coach Jeff Fisher and sagging NFL television ratings in the market, Goodell said he still believes two NFL teams can make it in the city long term.
"It's a great market," said Goodell, who congratulated Spanos on stage during the ceremony. "It's the second largest market in the country and the entertainment capital of the world. We have millions of fans here, and we've had two teams in the market before, and we're building an extraordinary stadium."
As for the sagging television ratings in the Los Angeles market, Goodell said the league is taking a long-term view and believes that things will change as the Rams and Chargers immerse themselves in the market.
"Everyone wants their home team to win; that's shown throughout the country," Goodell said. "These teams will transition into this market. You see the great athletes and great players that they have. They're going to be great off the field as well in this community, and that's going to take some time.
"We'll have a new stadium coming on in 2019, so we truly believe and are confident in this market. And we understand the challenges that we have to meet here. We have to set a high bar here in Los Angeles, and we're committed to doing that."
Rivers drew the loudest ovation of any of the speakers. For a veteran quarterback who has played all 13 of his NFL seasons in San Diego, Rivers understandably seemed reluctant to embrace the moment of his team being in a new market in respect to the fans left behind in San Diego.
However, after seeing the response from the couple hundred fans on hand, many of whom drove up from San Diego, Rivers said that things may be OK in his new home.
"All I heard the last few days was how nobody wanted us up here," Rivers said, looking at the crowd. "But shoot, it looks like we're going to be all right."