Caution: LA is coming to steal your NFL team in 2011

[Sportmotor]

I know that this is business and it is about money. 

Correct so how smart is it business wise to admit to moving a team next year, leaving even less fans coming to games and less money coming in for the remaining season.

[NotNow]

I believe that WW is a man of integrity and that he would not stand up and lie.  After all, he is not a politician. 

[jandar]

For the Jags to move, they have to break the stadium lease.
To do that without paying a penalty (that could range from 100-200 million) they need to do the following:

Show that they have lost money for 3 straight years.
Good luck getting them to open the books. Sports writers would have a field day with any inside NFL info.

Someone could buy the team for around 8oo million, pay another 100-200 million in the penalty to the CoJ, and then move them to a new stadium.
So a new owner would be dropping over 1 billion before a stadium.

Not as cut and dry as people think.

[Sportmotor]

The Jag's contract with the stadium is coming up soon.

[tufsu1]

The Jag's contract with the stadium is coming up soon.

like in 20 years?

[mtraininjax]

pay another 100-200 million in the penalty to the CoJ

Does that mean the City might have a surplus? Damn, I forgot the underfunded Police and Fire pension funds.

[vicupstate]

I doubt that allowing a city auditor to view the books would also mean Sports Illustrated would get a look too.   Paper Losses can be created pretty easily too.   

[jandar]

That can be true Vic. However, imagine the backlash, if the NFL (with its revenue sharing and multibillion dollar TV contracts) has a team 3 years in the red.

This wouldn't just be a slap against Jacksonville, but against the NFL as well.
The team revenue from NFL contracts with TV is over 125 million a year. That pays for the players salary with left over to spare.

The ticket revenue is split 60/40 every game. So not only do the Jags get 60% every home game, they also get 40% for each of the 8 road games. (after misc fees, etc. each team gets about 33% total ticket revenue as the visiting team). (this does not include club seats, boxes, etc)

So, the Jags would need to show that they have outspent their share of ticket revenue. The players salary is already covered.

[stjr]

I doubt that allowing a city auditor to view the books would also mean Sports Illustrated would get a look too.   Paper Losses can be created pretty easily too.  

Not so sure, Vicup.  Anything the City touches is covered by the State's public records law as far as I know.  I would actually expect it to be very public.

Just look how the NCAA lost out over their investigation of FSU.  The law is very broad.

[jandar]

Yup, sunshine laws would apply big time to this.

More to the point of LA, I really think that the noise about the Jaguars is more of a smoke screen for another team.

San Diego could stay the same division, and keep most of the same fanbase by moving to LA.
100 miles away. The chargers have a 56 million buyout every year from Feb-May that decreases each year.

So yes, while the big attention is towards Jax and Minnesota and Buffalo, the local news in San Diego sees some things as well.

San Diego also has a marketing arm in the Orange County area.

Go read the San Diego Chargers forums. They are as concerned about losing their team as we are.
Even they faced a blackout yesterday with an 8-3 record and leading their division.

BTW, from a recent article:

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders announced in April that the Chargers should be allowed to look around the county for a stadium deal because city officials need to focus on fixing a $1.43 billion employee pension fund deficit and other financial and legal matters

[deathstar]

I don't believe we'll lose the Jags, but I definitely don't see Del Rio and Garrard sticking around longer than another 2-3 years. If Tebow does get recruited by the Jaguars, God help him not get hurt and get a coach who knows what to do with him.

[Sportmotor]

I think Tevo...Tebow will make a good tight end.

At this rate I belive we will lose the jags eventually. Course if they keep playing like they did it wouldnt be a suprise.

[tufsu1]

Tebow as a tight end...glad someone else said it 

[blizz01]

ESPN INSIDER has an article posted today from Adam Schefter titled "IT WON'T BE THE L.A. JAGS" - Jacksonville unlikely to move to Southern California, but unfortunately, I'm too cheap to pony up $2.50 to read it.............

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/features/rumors?&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnfl%2ffeatures%2frumors

[Tripoli1711]

Haha.  I just saw that on espn.com, and came straight to here hoping that someone had copied and pasted it.  Hey, I'll throw in $0.25 toward the $2.50 we need.  Maybe we can get a metrojacksonville.com espninsider account!