NFL Merry-Go-Round: Relocation Roundelay

[FiddySicks]

It's also like the 8th largest economy in the world, or something like that. California can't be looked at in the same terms most states are, because it's a whole different bear (no pun intended), both population and especially size wise.

To put it into perspective, its nearly a 550 mile drive just from Qualcomm to the Oakland Coliseum. It's almost 500 miles further to get to the California Oregon boarder from there. The state is absolutely massive.

[Josh.0]

Nice try AEG:

http://fw.to/6diP6HY

Sure there might be a threat, but the Mets play next JFK and that would seem like just as big of a threat considering the location. It's all a game now. How many stadiums are still at play in LA? 3-4?

[Mac the Knife]

Any stadium is a target if you have the initiative.

[Gothamite]

Nice try AEG:

http://fw.to/6diP6HY

Sure there might be a threat, but the Mets play next JFK and that would seem like just as big of a threat considering the location. It's all a game now. How many stadiums are still at play in LA? 3-4?

LaGuardia, actually, but the point is well made.

[STL FANATIC]

Been busy this morning, so I'm still sorting through it all, but some new developments in St. Louis.

More detailed and revised renderings (which appear to save SOME of the buildings I was frustrated with losing) that apparently came with the input of key stakeholders including the Rams. Also, new consultants were named to the stadium task force.

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2015/03/02/new-images-of-st-louis-nfl-stadium-released/

Supposedly there will be another announcement/more information shared on Wednesday.

[STL FANATIC]

An interesting note from the above renderings that I haven't seen any official comment on:

There appears to be a practice field and an adjoining facility (big enough for plenty of team things, but clearly no indoor field). Curious what that is. The Rams actually have a pretty nice practice facility and office building, but it's out in Earth City, MO in the suburbs.

Definitely interested to hear the thinking there. Supposedly many of these changes came with feedback from the Rams, so it's interesting.

[rams80]

Sticking a practice field on the Mississippi River would sit clearly at the intersection of "insane", "wasteful", and "stupid" in the post-Korey Stringer world of player safety.

[STL FANATIC]

^ I don't follow.

[BBTV]

i imagine he means some combination of 1) that's valuable real estate that could be used for something that serves the public better than a practice field, and/or 2) it gets real real real hot there and players will die at practice.

What happens to the dome if this gets built? Could that be the indoor practice facility until someone comes up with a better use for it?

[rams80]

i imagine he means some combination of 1) that's valuable real estate that could be used for something that serves the public better than a practice field, and/or 2) it gets real real real hot there and players will die at practice.

What happens to the dome if this gets built? Could that be the indoor practice facility until someone comes up with a better use for it?

Bingo, although it's mostly 2.

The NFL's practice restrictions for training camp in Earth City are a pain in the neck and are (IMO) a major contributing factor to the Rams' propensity for 4th quarter collapses. And Earth City's inland. Practices are going to be even shorter in that sauna on the Mississippi floodplain. So it's insane because it will lessen practice time and hinder conditioning, stupid because the Rams of all teams should ing know this is a problem, and wasteful because this is running up the price of the project for something that will objectively harm the team's on field performance.

[dfwabel]

What happens to the dome if this gets built? Could that be the indoor practice facility until someone comes up with a better use for it?

It is attached to the convention center.

[STL FANATIC]

Gotcha. Interesting point about the heat.

I certainly agree about the real estate part, but there's a few notes on that side of things. For one thing, I'm pretty sure it just replaces parking in the original plans. Secondly, St. Louis city has a 1% earnings tax. (The rest of the state sans KC thinks we're stupid for this and hates it despite many other major cities having higher ones.) Moving the Rams headquarters, and thus their daily work, from the county into the city would bring a somewhat significant amount of tax revenue into the city. So from that stand point the land would actually being bringing about some decent value.

But lets find out for sure what it is first. There's no official explanation yet.

Part of me wonders if it's soccer—not football—based. But that'd be an absurdly speculative thing to built unless they know something we don't.

[Gothamite]

They're not getting an MLS team, if that's what you're thinking. Not for the better part of the next decade. All the expansion will have been settled before this plan is approved, and nobody's relocating.

[STL FANATIC]

What happens to the dome if this gets built? Could that be the indoor practice facility until someone comes up with a better use for it?

It is attached to the convention center.

Right. Supposedly the Dome itself still has a decent amount of convention use possibilities. I'm not sure what they are. But they say they expect it to be used.

They're not getting an MLS team, if that's what you're thinking. Not for the better part of the next decade. All the expansion will have been settled before this plan is approved, and nobody's relocating.

Will they? I thought there was one more still floating out there? MLS has been a talk ever since this stadium plan came about, including from the MLS themselves. (Though they have nothing to lose by commenting on it and perhaps spurring a closer group to getting their deck in order.)

I've been wishful but dubious for the reasons you mentioned, but I did think one franchise was still undecided.

[LAWeaver]

I keep seeing those renderings of the proposed St.Louis stadium and can only think "good luck when the river floods"

[STL FANATIC]

I keep seeing those renderings of the proposed St.Louis stadium and can only think "good luck when the river foods"

That's a fair reaction, but the Army Core of Engineers has been involved.

[STL FANATIC]

Goldman Sachs is backing the Chargers stadium effort in Carson to the point of covering operating losses. The viability of the Carson plan seems real.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/03/02/goldman-sachs-to-finance-possible-chargers-move/

[rams80]

Eh, the Federal government would bail out any losses Goldman Sachs took, so it's not like they're assuming any risk.

[colortv]

If they do pan out, however, the Raiders should jump on it. Because if they really cared about this area and its beloved fans, the last thing they would want to do is again pillage the city and county resources.

New Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and local government officials might be tempted to put up taxpayer money, disguised in jargon. Who wants to lose the Raiders on their watch? But everyone involved needs to come to grips with this new reality of big sports business.

Not once have you heard Warriors CEO Joe Lacob waiting on local government to get something done. That's how it should be. Want a new facility in a superb market to bolster your business? You fund it.

Prices have gotten way too high for municipalities to kick in. These games now can be played only by members of the billionaires club, those who have access to ridiculous dough and lose millions in their couch cushions. This is not a game for politicians beholden to constituents and school systems and firefighters.

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Especially not for financially strapped cities such as Oakland, laden with core problems that take precedence over the Raiders' need for a new porch.

And to his credit, Davis has taken the onus on himself. Would it be best if Davis and the NFL found the means to keep the team here? Absolutely. But he hasn't, and maybe he can't.

The Raiders and the Chargers, though rivals on the field, are the perfect match because neither can fund a stadium on their own. And if they go in on one together, neither has to be left out in the cold while the other joins the Rams in Hollywood Park.

It's doubtful, after all these years, that locals leaders can come up with a better plan for the Raiders. The city is already paying $20 million a year for the Coliseum renovation when the Raiders came back in 1995. And Schaaf is on the record saying the public will pay for the infrastructural improvements to make the area fit for a new stadium. That's a price tag that could be upward of $300 million. Already too much.

On top of that, local officials have to find $600 million, to combine with Davis' share, to fund the actual stadium.

Perhaps the funding would be possible if not for the inept politicians in the way. That wouldn't be the least bit surprising. But that is only further proof this process is too big for these local officials and that Davis needs to make this happen on his own.

If that means the Raiders need to go, so be it.

http://www.mercurynews.com/marcus-thompson/ci_27580221/thompson-take-emotion-out-raiders-stadium-issue

How do you argue against that logic?

[Gothamite]

They're not getting an MLS team, if that's what you're thinking. Not for the better part of the next decade. All the expansion will have been settled before this plan is approved, and nobody's relocating.

Will they? I thought there was one more still floating out there? MLS has been a talk ever since this stadium plan came about, including from the MLS themselves. (Though they have nothing to lose by commenting on it and perhaps spurring a closer group to getting their deck in order.)

I've been wishful but dubious for the reasons you mentioned, but I did think one franchise was still undecided.

Sure, MLS did say that in the abstract they'd be interested in a downtown Soccer-Specific Stadium if one were to be offered, but that's it. They absolutely won't put a team in the NFL stadium unless you get a new football club owned by somebody who also wouldn't mind owning an MLS team to the tune of $70M+ in expansion fees.

There is indeed one more expansion franchise to be awarded in the next round, but there's already stiff competition for it. You've got Sacramento and two groups from Minneapolis. Sacramento already has the stadium funding in place, and one of the Minnesota groups is Zygi Wilf, so his stadium is a done deal.

St. Louis is far too late to get in on that game.