Report: Chargers, Raiders joining forces on shared stadium bid in L.A.
AFC West rivals, the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders, both frustrated with their home-city stadium situations, have decided to join forces on a Los Angeles stadium bid in case things don’t work out in their current digs, according to an incredible report from the Los Angeles Times’ Sam Farmer.
The Chargers and Raiders are working together to develop a proposal for a privately financed Los Angeles-area venue and plan to immediately seek a ballot initiative to get the voter support needed for it to be built.
The two teams issued a joint statement to The Times:
“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 $1.7 billion NFL stadium in Carson, Calif. would break ground on a 168-acre site near the intersection of the 405 Freeway and Del Amo Boulevard. The tandem-team effort is joining forces with “Carson2gether,” a group of local business and labor leaders.
What prompted the move? In December, when St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke announced plans to build an 80,000-seat stadium near the old Hollywood Park — land Kroenke owns — the Chargers and Raiders knew they had to act fast. The Chargers have a strong fan base in Los Angeles, and the cash-strapped Raiders would not have the funding to build their own stadium.
The New York Jets and New York Giants are the only two NFL teams that currently share a stadium — MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
All three teams — the Chargers, Raiders and Rams — are facing dire stadium situations in their local markets, with year-to-year leases for their current stadiums and facing the strong likelihood that no new stadiums will be built for them using public funding.
The NFL has stringent relocation rules in place, and green-lighting such a move would require voting support from 24 of the 32 teams’ owners. The Chargers and Raiders say they have informed the league’s relocation committee of all of their movements throughout the process and will continue doing so. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced at the Super Bowl that no team would relocate this year.
If approved, the valuation of an NFL franchise could increase significantly, although the relocation fees also would be steep.
Los Angeles hasn’t had an NFL team since 1994, when both the Raiders and Rams left town. Now there exists the possibility that the city could land two franchises — and rivals that would share the same stadium to boot.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
