SAN DIEGO -- In an article posted on the Yahoo! Sports website, an unnamed NFL team owner claims San Diego Chargers leadership, most notably Dean Spanos, wants to move the team to Los Angeles.

The unnamed owner quoted in the article said this of Spanos: "His dream is to go to L.A. … and it may happen."

The Yahoo! article goes on to suggest that years of negotiations to keep the Chargers in town have been insincere and there was a strategy to make it seem like the team did what it could to stay in San Diego.

"When you hear rumor in the NFL, you have to chalk them up to that -- they're just rumors," said San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio.

DeMaio told 10News he has no reason to believe negotiations between the city and the team have been merely for show.

10News took the claims to the Chargers spokesman Mark Fabiani, who said, "Our efforts are ongoing in San Diego, and we have proven by our actions over the last eight years, such as spending more then $10 million evaluating every possible site, that we are trying to keep the Chargers in San Diego."

However, a blog post on the San Diego Reader website called proposals to build a downtown stadium near Petco Park "half-baked," "financially-unworkable" and referred to the $700 million plan as an "insult" to a city in major financial crisis.

While the fate of a new stadium still hangs in the balance, the city stands firm that negotiations with the Chargers are the real deal.

"In the meantime, we need to stay focused on having good faith discussions with the teams on ways that we could accomplish a win-win for taxpayers and the local economy," said DeMaio.

10News contacted Spanos about the article's claims, but no calls have been returned.