Report: Chargers & Raiders Moving Forward With Plan To Build New Stadium

Update

The Chargers and Raiders have released a full, joint statement about their possible plans to build a new stadium in Carson.

We have both been working in our home markets to find a stadium solution for many years, so far unsuccessfully.

We remain committed to continuing to work in our home markets throughout 2015 to try to find publicly acceptable solutions to the long-term stadium issue.

We also both understand and respect the NFL’s relocation process, and we intend to adhere strictly to the relocation procedures that the League has set forth for Los Angeles.

In particular, we respect the right of the NFL’s owners to decide on all Los Angeles-related relocation issues and understand that any relocation application that is filed for Los Angeles must obtain the approval of three-fourths of the NFL’s owners.

Both teams have kept the NFL owners’ committee on Los Angeles, and the Commissioner, fully informed about our joint 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.

In short, for the remainder of 2015, we intend to move down two tracks simultaneously:

On track one, we will continue to work in our home markets to find permanent stadium solutions that are publicly acceptable.

On track two, we will work in Carson to preserve our options, and the future economic viability of our franchises, in the event that our efforts in our local markets fail.

Throughout this process we will respect the rules and procedures set forth by the League and defer completely to the ultimate decision of the NFL’s owners.

———-

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times reports that the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders are moving forward and plan to build a $1.7-billion NFL stadium in Carson that would be shared by both teams.

According to Farmer, the Chargers and Raiders will continue to work on finding subsidies for new stadiums in their current markets, but they are also developing a proposal for a privately funded Los Angeles stadium.

Both teams are reportedly looking to gets deals in place with their current cities by the end of this year.

The two teams released a statement to the L.A. Times regarding the plan:

“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.”

Farmer writes that this move was precipitated by Rams owner Stan Kroenke, and his announcement that he plans to build an 80,000-seat stadium on the land he purchased in Hollywood Park.

Los Angeles apparently accounts for 25 percent of the Chargers market, so having the Rams relocate to Southern California would obviously have an impact on them moving forward.

Meanwhile, the Raiders don’t have the money to relocate on their own, which means they’ll need to partner with either Chargers or the Rams to pull off a move to L.A.

All three teams — Rams, the Chargers and Raiders — are on year-to-year leases and are capable of moving if the right deal were to fall into place for them.

According to Farmer, speculation in NFL circles has said that a franchise moving from a smaller market to L.A. could end up being worth 150 percent of its current value.

That says it all right there.

Farmer’s article is very details and included proposed stadium images and maps of where the venues could be located. It’s certainly worth your time to give it a look.

We’ll have more updates regarding teams relocating to Los Angeles as the news is available.