Other NFL News

[I-10east]

This dumb unconferenced "Team Irving vs Team Carter" garbage made the already insignificant Pro Bowl even more meaningless. I actually had a slight interest with the NFC-AFC rivalry, now for the second year the NFL chose to rip off the UFC's 'The Ultimate Fighter' with this team crap; Does 'Team Couture vs Team Liddell' ring a bell? Then they added more narrow goal posts, sigh... They should just make it a skills comp, and be done with the game already.

[I-10east]

Green Bay DT Letroy Guion had nearly $200,000 in cash on him, plus weed and a gun. He was driving reckless in Starke of all places....AND HE"S FROM THERE, you'll think that he would've known better SMH...

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/04/letroy-guion-had-nearly-200000-in-cash-on-him-plus-weed-gun/

[spuwho]

Boy, it's a major family feud in New Orleans. Saints owner Tom Benson will give control of the Saints and Pelicans to his wife after he passes instead of an original succession plan with his daughter and grandchildren. Burn!!! 

http://www.wdsu.com/news/local-news/new-orleans/major-shakeup-for-saints-and-pelicans-ownership/30854110

Which means the Saints will probably end up like the Rams did after Carroll Rosenbloom died. Run by his wife until she died and pushed into the ground by her estate trustees until Krohnke bought them out.

[spuwho]

Chargers threaten city leaders. Say 25% of their ticket revenue comes from LA/Orange County. If 1 or 2 teams land in LA, and they don't have a tax payer funded stadium, they will leave. The Chargers say they will call out any politician who attempts to make "political cover" by announcing some stadium that is undo-able.  San Diego requires two-thirds vote to raise taxes for a new stadium venture and polls show it won't pass. The courts threw out a hotel tax/convention center arrangement as illegal.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12335606/san-diego-chargers-issue-stern-threat-city-hall-panel

It's gonna get ugly in the next couple of years as teams start moving.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Chargers threaten city leaders. Say 25% of their ticket revenue comes from LA/Orange County. If 1 or 2 teams land in LA, and they don't have a tax payer funded stadium, they will leave. The Chargers say they will call out any politician who attempts to make "political cover" by announcing some stadium that is undo-able.  San Diego requires two-thirds vote to raise taxes for a new stadium venture and polls show it won't pass. The courts threw out a hotel tax/convention center arrangement as illegal.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12335606/san-diego-chargers-issue-stern-threat-city-hall-panel

It's gonna get ugly in the next couple of years as teams start moving.

To follow that up is a summary from special council hired by the Chargers to the Task Force:

ecial counsel to the President of the San Diego Chargers, Mark Fabiani, has issued detailed remarks and suggestions for the Mayor's newly appointed Stadium Task Force. Below is a summarized version, to read the extended version click here.

We appreciate the enormous difficulty of the challenge before you.

We are now in the midst of our 14th year of work on this issue – an effort that has cost the Spanos family more than $15 million, has explored sites all over San Diego County, and has resulted in nine different proposals – all unsuccessful so far.

So the Chargers understand firsthand how difficult your job will be over the coming months. And at the outset of your work, we would like to thank you all for volunteering your time to trying to find a solution to this long-running San Diego stadium dilemma.

Based on this 14 years worth of experience, we would like to suggest four principles we hope will help guide your work:

• First, you should resist the political pressure you will feel to make a proposal simply for the sake of making a proposal.


• The second guiding principle is this: The Chargers have no intention of quietly participating in any effort to provide political cover for elected officials.


• The third principle: Any proposal that emerges from the work of your Task Force should be subjected to serious, real world stress tests. In particular, any Task Force proposal should pass each of the following three real world tests:
  
  
  • First, is the proposal one that has a strong chance of being approved by two-thirds of the voters?
  
  
  • The second real world stress test should be this: Are the Mayor and a strong majority of the City Council prepared to support the recommendations of your Task Force?
  
  
  • The third real world stress test for any proposal should be this: Does the proposal recognize the economic realities of our local marketplace and of the NFL




• The fourth and final guiding principle is this: It should not be enough to suggest a plan that might succeed under perfectly controlled laboratory conditions – but that is unlikely to succeed in the real world of San Diego politics.

These, then, are the four basic principles, and three real world tests, that we believe should be applied by the Task Force.
In addition, we would like to take a moment to describe the situation now facing the Chargers franchise.

The Los Angeles and Orange County market has been without an NFL team for 20 years.

Over those two decades the Chargers have worked diligently to win fans and business partners in the LA/Orange County market.

And the Chargers have succeeded. Now, fully 25 percent of the Chargers' season ticket base comes from the LA/Orange County market (along with the Inland Empire).

If another team – or two other teams – enters the LA/Orange County markets, most of that Chargers' business there will disappear.
This will put the Chargers at a significant competitive economic disadvantage.

Simply put, it would not be fair to the Chargers – a team that has worked for 14 years to find a stadium solution in San Diego County – to allow other teams that themselves abandoned the LA market to now return and gut the Chargers' local revenue stream.
The Chargers are continuing to work hard to find a solution in San Diego.

But we also want to be clear with this Task Force right at the outset: We are keeping a close eye on developments in LA. We do not have a choice but to also monitor and evaluate our options there. Simply put, it would be irresponsible for the Chargers not to be taking every possible step to protect the future of the franchise.

http://www.chargers.com/news/2015/02/16/chargers-remarks-mayors-stadium-task-force

[spuwho]

The drama grows....Raiders and Chargers announce joint stadium deal in Carson California.  This is not the same deal that Stan Krohnke of the St Louis Rams is working on in Inglewood.

Per ESPN.com:

Chargers, Raiders reveal joint plan

The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders announced Thursday that they have collaborated on a proposal to build a privately financed, $1.7 billion stadium in Carson, California, that the two teams would share if they relocate to the Los Angeles market.

The agreement was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

In a joint statement, the Chargers and Raiders said they have been working for many years in their home markets to find stadium solutions, and that they remain committed throughout 2015 to try to seek publicly acceptable solutions to the stadium issues in their current cities.

However, according to the statement, the two teams also will continue to work in Carson to preserve their options, in the event that efforts in their local markets fail.

Both teams have kept the NFL committee handling the possible relocation of teams to Los Angeles informed of their efforts.

"We are pursuing this stadium option in Carson for one straightforward reason: If we cannot find a permanent solution in our home markets, we have no alternative but to preserve other options to guarantee the future economic viability of our franchises," the two teams said in the joint statement.

The Chargers and Raiders are partnering with a local development group, and will announce the project Friday at a news conference near the site of the project, a 168-acre parcel of land near the 405 freeway in Carson.

The group intends to start a petition drive for a ballot initiative to get voter approval to build the stadium.

This latest development comes on the heels of a January announcement in which a developer and company operated by St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke unveiled plans to build an 80,000-seat stadium in Inglewood, California, on land he owns near Hollywood Park.

Los Angeles has not had an NFL team since the Rams and Raiders departed for St. Louis and Oakland, respectively, in 1995.

The Chargers, the Raiders and the Rams are teams that could potentially relocate to the lucrative Los Angeles market in the near future. All three teams can terminate their leases at the end of the 2015 season.

In January, the Chargers denied speculation emanating from St. Louis that the team had an agreement in place for a new stadium in Los Angeles.

The Chargers have tried unsuccessfully for 14 years to build enough momentum to get a new stadium in their home city. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer appointed a nine-member stadium advisory group to come up with a recommendation for a stadium site and a financing plan last month, but the team has viewed that effort as a futile, last-ditch attempt to keep the team in San Diego.

"It's now abundantly clear that while we have been working here in San Diego to create a plan for a new stadium, the Chargers have for some time been making their own plans for moving to Los Angeles," Faulconer said in a statement Thursday night. "This would amount to abandoning generations of loyal Chargers fans. Despite this news, we are going to continue our efforts to develop a viable stadium solution."

Adam Day, chairman of the volunteer stadium task force, said Thursday's announcement came as "a complete surprise."

"While it's disappointing to hear the Chargers are moving forward with plans in Los Angeles, we remain committed to finding a solution in San Diego," he said.

[I-10east]

That's bananas!!! Hard to picture LA with THREE teams; I'll be SHOCKED if that's the case.

[spuwho]

That's bananas!!! Hard to picture LA with THREE teams; I'll be SHOCKED if that's the case.

Doubt it.

Of all of them, Krohnke of the Rams has the better position. He has a wealthier partner and they don't need a proposition.

Raiders and Chargers need a joint deal and a proposition to make it work.  This is strictly staking out a negotiation position with the NFL and their current home towns.

I love to say it, but I really do think that the 2 small market teams have forced the hands of these other owners with their current home markets.

Green Bay just finished a major upgrade to Lambeau Field and the Jaguars got a major upgrade with more coming to EverBank Field.  Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego hasn't had any work done on it since 1996.  The last refresh in Oakland was back in 2002 and that was mostly for baseball.

So you can see where the Chargers can get a bit perturbed when a town like Jacksonville comes up with $40+ Million in upgrades and San Diego can't even get past the courtroom with anything with no consensus in sight.

Knowing the Raiders, any decision that doesn't go their way will end up in court.  I think San Diego will finally get their stadium funding after a vote and if the NFL lets them, the Raiders will probably end up in LA sharing with the Rams.

[KenFSU]

The Chargers and Raiders announced that both teams will be moving to a shared $1.7 billion, privately funded stadium in Los Angeles... if their respective cities don't come through with new stadiums.

[Tacachale]

So they have $900 million a piece and they can't just use part of that to build a stadium in their own markets? That's even lamer than Kroenke's deal.

[Keith-N-Jax]

I was thinking the same, why not just build in your own city? Sounds like more scare tactics. Just glad were not apart of this conversation.

[I-10east]

These owners would justify spending private dollars on a stadium in LA getting ROI (VIA upgraded team revenue) that's nonexistent in the cities of San Diego, St Louis, and Oakland. IMO at this stage, it's more than 'empty scare tactics'. The actual scare tactics was months ago, when these three cities were tagged to LA.

Lets look at the stadium plan (or lack of) in the three cities.

St Louis- At the last minute, STL scrambled for a stadium plan (unimpressive plan IMO) and this clearly looks like a case of 'too little too late' with Kronke already moving dirt in Inglewood. The whole Ferguson issue just put more lighter fuel on the fire.

San Diego- No plan in place to replace the 48 year old Qualcomm Stadium. The mayor has basically conceded with a 'whatever happens happens' attitude. San Diego politics are notorious for red tape, and the government have dug their heels in the ground, rejecting any money from the city going to a new Chargers stadium. Yet the Padres received city money to build Petco Park, and they also built a very controversial mega-library (about 100,000 square feet larger than Jax's Main Library).

Oakland- No stadium plan to be spoken of, simple as that. The Warriors are gonna leave Oakland soon for San Francisco.

[spuwho]

Alameda County has discussed options for a stadium, but they cant afford two, one for the A's and one for the Raiders. That is their issue. Raiders want a dedicated football only facility to maximize skybox revenue.

Most of St Louis stadium plans have focused on upgrades to the Dome.  But after a study showed that investments to enhace it for football weren't going to payback and would actually take money away from the convention space, things stalled. They have discussed a new stadoum across I-44 from Busch, but they admit they cant afford it.

Problem in San Diego is they cant find a revenue source to build it. The attempt to use an existing convention center bed tax ended up in court and they lost.

[Tacachale]

If these teams have $900 million to spend on a stadium in LA, they have $450 million to spend on a new or renovated stadium in their own market. And $450 million is an insane amount to spend on a stadium anyway. If their claim is that they'll make their money back in LA but wouldn't in their own market, it's, well, a lie. Even the least valuable NFL teams are among the most valuable things in the history of ever. The Chargers had a revenue of $262 million last season and the Raiders were at $244 million. Both would make all their money back on a $450 million stadium in two years[/url]. This is just a power play by a monopoly.

[Steve]

It might be, but here's the deal - they can likely get the money back in LA. Most teams these days (the Jags were the exception for not) charge Permanent Seat Licenses. For those who don't know, it's a fee for the right to buy season tickets. On a check of the New York Jets (the Giants were sold out for these seats), for 50 yard line tickets on the home side, they charge $30,000 per seat just for the right to buy the ticket, then the season ticket price is $7,000 per seat. The Giants were more, but they aren't the disaster of a franchise that the Jets are (which is why the Jets have tickets available). They aren't refundable, so if you choose not to renew, then you lose the $30k.

San Diego can't charge anywhere near what LA could charge. That's the idea of the LA threat, and while it's a little overblown, there is a significant increase in money that LA can bring over nearly any other market which will entice an owner to throw in a LOT more of their money on an LA stadium.