How did Dean Spanos make his money? Exploring the growth of Chargers owner’s family business

Although some NFL fans believe Los Angeles Chargers owner Dean Spanos is one of the worst owners in the league, he is still one of the richest.

There's no way we discuss Dean Spanos' financial success without mentioning his father, Alex Spanos. The San Diego Chargers are currently valued at almost fifty times their original 1984 acquisition price.

In 1984, Alex Spanos entered the NFL when he paid $70 million to take majority ownership from Eugene Klein. He eventually acquired 96% of the team by buying out the shares of multiple minority owners. This ownership has now been inherited by his children.

In 1994, Alex handed over control of the day-to-day management of the organization to his son Dean.

Born in 1923 in California, Alex Spanos was the son of Greek immigrants. He began working at his parent's bakery when he was just eight years old. Subsequently, he left college to enlist in the Army Air Force, serving in the Second World War. He played amateur golf for a while after the war.

Alex's wealth was primarily generated by real estate and construction. At the advice of his tax experts, he put his riches in real estate and began building houses, which he sold for large profits. He established A.G. Spanos Companies in 1960, and it grew to be the biggest apartment building company in the country 17 years later.

After a protracted fight with dementia, 95-year-old Alex Spanos passed away in October 2018. Celebrity Net Worth estimates that he was worth $2.4 billion before his passing. He did, however, only watch the Chargers make it to one Super Bowl, which they lost to the 49ers of San Francisco in 1995.

In 2018, Dean Spanos assumed complete control of the Chargers following the passing of his father.

Dean went to Lincoln High School. After that, he enrolled at the University of the Pacific, where he eventually graduated in 1972.

Being the first of his father's children, the majority of Dean Spanos’ fortune came from inheritance.

Why did Dean Spanos move the Chargers from San Diego to Los Angeles?

The Chargers announced in 2017 that they were leaving San Diego after 55 years and relocating to Los Angeles.

The Chargers' dramatic transfer to Los Angeles was caused by a number of factors. The primary one is believed to be the inability of the team and government representatives to come to an agreement on a stadium proposal.

The Chargers' inability to financially compete with the rest of the league at their former stadium in San Diego, according to Dean Spanos, was the team's original justification for moving to Los Angeles.