After going without an NFL franchise for 20 years, Los Angeles is now the tentative landing spot for as many as three teams. On the heels of the news that Rams owner Stan Kroenke plans to build a new stadium in Inglewood, the Chargers and Raiders will reportedly join forces to build a joint stadium in Carson, CA — while still working to obtain public subsidies for new stadiums in their home markets.
The L.A. Times reports that this new $1.7 billion stadium would be privately financed. Why are these teams seeking public money in San Diego and Oakland, but not in Los Angeles?
Like the Rams, the Chargers and Raiders are on year-to-year leases in older stadiums. Prospects for new venues in San Diego and Oakland are bleak and, as is in L.A., there is no appetite to commit public money to build a stadium. The Carson proposal calls for the teams to be equal, as opposed to one’s acting as landlord to the other…
The reason the franchises would be able to privately finance a stadium in Carson, as opposed to their own cities, is that the L.A. market could better support the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars of preferred seat licenses, one-time payments for the right to buy a season ticket. The teams would also get revenues from naming rights; sponsorship and advertising would be far more lucrative than in smaller markets.
It’s widely speculated in NFL circles that a franchise that moves from a smaller market to L.A. could end up being worth 150% of its current value. Franchises would probably have to pay a hefty relocation fee, although the league has never specified an amount.
It’s the ultimate game of chicken. The Chargers and Raiders can put pressure on their local governments to cough up money to fund their new digs — or, they can vastly increase the value of their franchises and make money selling seat licenses by building a new spot in L.A. As always, regardless of what happens, it’s the fans who get screwed.
Relocation to L.A. could happen as early as 2016, though since the NFL insists that they have final say over franchises moving to another city (note: not true, but they can probably be annoying enough to convince at least one team to stay), it’s doubtful that we’ll actually see three L.A. teams kick off in September 2016. But now the race is on to get there, so expect either the Rams or the Chargers/Raiders plan to move relatively quickly.
Personally, I’m still a big fan of the Portland Raiders idea.
Photo via kcal9.com