NFL Back In Los Angeles?
There is no team, final plans for a new stadium are still off in the distance and opponents are lining up to block the whole deal. But it seems as if the NFL is closer than it has been in 15 years to saying, “We love L.A.”
The Los Angeles City Council on Aug. 9 approved by a 12-0 vote a “non-binding agreement” giving global sports and entertainment company AEG significant support to build a a privately funded $1.2 billion NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles.
AEG is one of two groups seeking to build a stadium and bring an NFL team back to the area for the first time since the Raiders and Rams moved to Oakland and St. Louis, respectively, in 1995.
Even though AEG has already signed a $500 million naming rights deal with Farmers Insurance for Farmers Field, the process still has a long way to go, first and foremost of which is getting an existing franchise to relocate.
Jacksonville, St. Louis, Minnesota, Buffalo, San Diego and Oakland have each been mentioned as franchises that could potentially be the team to move. Business and sports analysts who have looked at the current contracts of those teams and the timetable needed for either AEG or competing firm Majestic Realty Co. to make it happen have put San Diego at the top of the list. The Chargers have actively been seeking a new stadium to replace their current Qualcomm Stadium venue.
The NFL already has said that an expansion team would not be in the equation. After the City Council vote, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement that the league was aware of the situation and would “continue to monitor all stadium developments in the Los Angeles area.”
AEG already has a sports stronghold in Los Angeles via ownership of the NHL’s Kings, MLS’s Galaxy, The Home Depot Center in Carson, Staples Center
and an investment in the Lakers.
Farmers Field is slated to be built on the site of the current Los Angeles Convention Center, adjacent to Staples Center, as part of a larger complex to include offices and housing.
Majestic Realty Co., under the direction of Ed Roski, has permits in place to build a 75,000-seat stadium in the City of Industry, located about 15 miles east of Los Angeles.
Both groups also need additional local and state approval and sign-offs from environmental and other groups that might seek to stop the projects.
The NFL has indicated that it might consider Los Angeles as the site for historic Super Bowl L in February 2016, the city that hosted the AFL-NFL World Championship in 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (now known as Super Bowl I).
However, given the current timetable, finances and political logistics, a new stadium would not be ready until September 2016. According to AEG, even if a team approved a relocation move after the 2011 season, it would have to spend several seasons either at the Memorial Coliseum or the Rose Bowl (currently undergoing a $152 million renovation) in Pasadena until the 2016 season.
The Raiders played at the Memorial Coliseum from 1982-1994, the Rams played there from 1946-1979 and then in Anaheim Stadium from 1980-1994. The Chargers played their first season (in the AFL) in Los Angeles before moving to San Diego after the 1960 campaign.
