NFL could approve an L.A. team before end of season

[oochymp 2,393]

Report: Chargers believe new downtown stadium in San Diego could open by '22

 

Chargers officials believe they can build a new football stadium in downtown San Diego to replace aging Qualcomm Stadium by 2022, according to a report by ABC 10 News in San Diego.

The stadium would be municipally owned by a new Joint Powers Authority, which would be created to run the stadium and all non-football entertainment events, including concerts, the report said.

ABC 10 News, citing a source with knowledge of the team's plans, said the proposed 65,000-seat downtown stadium would call for the Chargers to apply $650 million in private funding toward the new venue, which would include a $300 million contribution from the NFL.

The team's proposal to build a football stadium downtown with an expanded bayfront convention center would clash with mayor Kevin Faulconer and San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts, who back a stadium in Mission Valley, site of the Chargers' current home.

The Chargers previously said the downtown venue would "create an unparalleled entertainment and sports district" to host Super Bowls and provide a home for Comic-Con, the annual entertainment and comic extravaganza that has outgrown the convention center.

The Chargers said they plan to seek voter approval in November for the downtown stadium and convention center expansion, which would be financed partly by an increase in hotel room taxes to 16.5 percent -- among the highest on the West Coast.

The team needs 66,447 signatures from registered voters by mid-June to place the initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Faulconer and Roberts said their competing plan to build a new stadium on the city-owned Mission Valley site could be done faster and without raising taxes.

Backers of the downtown plan say the hotel tax increase would require approval of a majority of voters, but Faulconer and Roberts said it was "abundantly clear" it would need two-thirds' approval.

If the ballot measure for a new stadium fails, the Chargers could join the Los Angeles Rams in a stadium in Inglewood scheduled to open in 2019.

In January, NFL owners rejected the Chargers' proposal to move with division rival Oakland Raiders to a new stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson but gave the Chargers a one-year option to join the Rams in Inglewood.

Although the Chargers agreed in principle to join the Rams, Chargers chairman Dean Spanos said after the setback that the team would remain in San Diego at least through 2016 in an attempt to get a new stadium. The NFL will give the Chargers and Raiders each an extra $100 million to go toward new stadiums in their home markets. That's on top of a $200 million loan available to each team.

 

[SteVo+ 3,702]

2022? Fuck, how long does it take to build a goddamn stadium these days?

[Bangy 19]

2022? Fuck, how long does it take to build a goddamn stadium these days?

 

I think in the Chargers case it would be longer than expect due to the fact there is pretty strong opposition by the Mayor? not wanting the new stadium in down town San Diego.

[Cherry 1,302]

We're going to build a stadium, and San Diego is gonna pay for it.

 

What was that? You say no?

 

The stadium just got ten feet taller.

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman considers the Chargers a viable backup plan if the Raiders opt not to move to Nevada.

"To me, yes," Goodman said when asked if the Chargers were a possibility. "I know they're absolutely looking to move." It's not exactly a concrete declaration. Goodman seems to be reading the tea leaves more than relaying information based on actual talks. Aside from Goodman, there's been nothing connecting the Bolts to Sin City.

Source: CBS Sports

 

 

 

 

An anonymous NFL owner told Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman the percentage chance the Raiders move to Las Vegas "is now 50 percent -- and maybe as high as 75."

As recently as a few years ago, that same owner said there would have been "no effing way" the NFL would have allowed a team to go to Vegas. "Las Vegas," he said, "was considered poison. That's not the case any longer. One of the things owners see is there's a lot of money to be made there. A lot of money will ease those gambling concerns." Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has already came out and supported the move, which is very notable after Jones greatly influenced the Rams' move to L.A. He has a lot of pull among the league's owners. One caveat, however, is Jones has insisted Mark Davis relinquish control of the Raiders.

Source: Bleacher Report