... is a few steps closer to happening.
The AP is reporting that the City of Walnut, a neighbor of the possible new stadium site in Industry, has chosen to settle with billionaire Ed Roski and his development arm Majestic Realty instead of pursuing further legal action against the stadium. Terms were not disclosed.
Walnut City Council's 3-1 decision comes two weeks after legislation written to help the Chargers move to the LA Basin was shelved. With the latest legal hurdles cleared, the path is much clearer for some team to move. I won't rehash the candidates again, as last year's post is still relevant.
The Bolts have a head start on all other teams (including the Raiders). They've been actively expanding marketing throughout SoCal, even hiring Wasserman Media Group to help. WMG head Casey Wasserman (himself a former Arena League team owner) believes that LA should have a team, though it may be best situated in Downtown LA, not Industry.
Wasserman even said on a recent Bill Simmons podcast (thanks MP) that there's a fairly straightforward way for NFL to work in LA again, though it would presumably preclude a move by another team. In essence, the league would rally the owners together to build a new LA stadium under the guise of it being one of the rotating Super Bowl venues. Then the NFL would grant an expansion franchise and some piece of the stadium to the highest bidder, allowing the owners to recoup the development costs. If this sounds familiar, it is - it's the Cleveland Browns plan.
Of course, having an Ed Roski-led stadium effort goes against such a plan and falls in line with a much more traditional, and as of this moment more concrete, "lure-em" model. Whatever happens over the next year, it promises to be good theater. For now, vote on which franchise (if any) you think is most likely to move to LA given the opportunity.
11 comments:
Couldn't the NFL do the Super Bowl site plan, and then sell it to the highest bidding current franchise which intends to move there (be it SD, Jacksonville, Buffalo, the Raiders, or whoever)?
It could do that, but it would be harder for the league to make money off the deal. A stadium is a depreciating asset, whereas a team is almost always appreciating.
I use to live in that area when I first moved to Los Angeles. It's one big suburb after another, walnut, diamond bar, chino hills etc...
It'll be nice to see pro football in Los Angeles again, I have my money on the Charger moving to LA.
The Raiders are not going to LA simple, the Chargers and Jaguars are far more likley canidates. The Jaguars may have all 8 of their games blacked out. The Raiders seem more likely to pull a Soldier Field type remodel when the A's move out, or share a stadium with SF. As said it will at least be interesting.
Has to be the Jaguars. They're drawing Stanford football type numbers.
Don't the Jag's have a fairly new venue? It seems nice on TV. Wasn't a Super Bowl held there?
I guess the moral to this story is don't matter how nice a venue you have; if the market isn't there...forget about it! But I guess it also helps to have a good team.
If it were the team's poor performance however then Detroit and Cincy should be having major attendance woes, which they're not.
Maybe Jacksonville wasn't meant to have the NFL.
What were the other potential cities when Jacksonville was chosen? I sort of remember Jacksonville being a dark horse... in hindsight, the NFL probably made a bad choice with that market.
Does anyone put it past Al Davis to make a play for LA? Seriously?
I've been to the Jags stadium. It's a remodel job, not a new State-of-the-Art stadium.
Bottom line: It's better than the Coli or Stick, but doesn't measure up to other modern NFL stadia.
Jeffrey,
Not trying to be cold-hearted, just realistic. Mr. Davis has done some good things over the years for the Raiders and NFL; he's also been viewed as "evil" by many. But I don't think Mr. Davis, healthwise, has it in him to make another run at LA. I also think his days are numbered (again, not trying to be cold-hearted). I couldn't believe how he looked at his last press conference!
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