The Sports Xchange

The San Diego Chargers’ top stadium counsel has confirmed that the team plans to file a request in January for relocation to Los Angeles.

Mark Fabiani, the point person on the Chargers’ stadium issue, told The Mighty 1090 AM radio show in San Diego on Friday night of the team’s intentions.

The Oakland Raiders and St. Louis Rams also are expected to file relocation papers in January. All three franchises are seeking stadium solutions in their current home market.

“At this point yes, because there’s no sign that the other team or teams are not going to file,” Fabiani said. “Everyone assumes all three teams will file, and in that case we can’t afford to lose our market in Los Angeles and Orange County.

“As you know, 25 percent of our season-ticket business comes from those markets. So we have to be able to protect those markets. That’s why as a last resort we went out and created the certain option we now have in Los Angeles. And if everything is moving ahead, we’re not going to be standing on the sidelines and watching everything go by. We’ve got to stay in the game to protect the future of the franchise.”

Teams are required to receive a three-fourths vote from NFL owners — or 24 of 32 owners — in order to be approved for relocation. NFL owners are scheduled to meet in Dallas in December.

The league, which has not had an NFL team in Los Angeles since the Rams and Raiders departed for St. Louis and Oakland, respectively, in 1995, has two stadium proposals on the table.

Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s proposed $1.86 billion, 80,000-seat stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on land he owns near Hollywood Park, could be completed by 2018. No other project is expected to be done before that, meaning the 2016 and 2017 seasons would be played by a potential relocated franchise in another venue.

The Chargers and Raiders have joined forces and proposed in February building a $1.7 billion NFL stadium in Carson.

The NFL announced it would host public hearings in all three cities next week as part of the relocation process. NFL vice president Eric Grubman will lead hearings in St. Louis (Oct. 27), San Diego (Oct. 28) and Oakland (Oct. 29), all focused on the potential for those teams to be relocated to the Los Angeles area as soon as the 2016 season.