NFL Merry-Go-Round: Relocation Roundelay

[STL FANATIC]

...you bought the STLNFL.com domain name?

...really?

I buy A LOT of domain names. Not because I'm a squatter. Because I get a half-baked idea and then never follow through. And they're cheap.

[STL FANATIC]

San Diego's Citizens Stadium Advisory Group has unanimously decided to recommend Mission Valley - where the National Football League's Chargers currently play - as the preferred site for a new stadium for the team. A press conference at which the group will explain the rationale for their decision has been scheduled for tomorrow.

Is this the site the Chargers have found more preferable?

EDIT:

I did a little looking myself, and I see that it's not the site that the Chargers have most recently preferred. They've been pushing for the downtown plan, though they once favored a new stadium at Mission Valley. We'll see how they respond to this choice.

It certainly seems like a reasonable and logical decision, but since it's different than what the Chargers were pushing, the reaction will be interesting.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/mar/11/chargers-stadium-task-force-picks-mission-valley/

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/mar/11/san-diego-stadium-spanos-chargers-mission-valley/

[bosrs1]

San Diego's Citizens Stadium Advisory Group has unanimously decided to recommend Mission Valley - where the National Football League's Chargers currently play - as the preferred site for a new stadium for the team. A press conference at which the group will explain the rationale for their decision has been scheduled for tomorrow.

Is this the site the Chargers have found more preferable?

The Chargers preferred downtown but have said they were open to Mission Valley. But it depends on what day of the week you ask them. Sometimes they seem downright hostile to Mission Valley, other times eager. They favored downtown though because they wanted to mate their stadium with a convention center expansion to make it more palatable to voters. Hoteliers, the convention center and Voters didn't want that apparently and neither did the CSAG.

If I had to guess, the Bolts will come up with excuses why Mission Valley doesn't work for them and use it as an excuse to bail. And if so, good riddance.

[colortv]

"I think this is our best shot. One of the things driving us is that we have such a short time to get this done. Maybe if we had 1 1/2 or 2 years, there would be a lot of things to look at. But we have Carson out there now," said Mayor Faulconer. "We own the land. We will be able to create significant revenue from development around there. There are things that could happen downtown, but it would be more time-consuming. This is a better opportunity — now. We have to move expeditiously. The time for waiting is gone."

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/mar/11/chargers-stadium-mission-valley-raiders-carson/

The mayor of SD sounds quite desperate. Looks like they are actually going all in on this.

Jim Steeg (CSAG) was just on 1090.

Says stadium can be completed on the MV site before a shovel could even be in the ground downtown. He threw out 2019 as a possible completion date.

He said downtown has several issues (on top of extended time to build) such as cost of building a parking structure. He stated it could cost 10k per spot.

He said he expects Fabiani to have a negative response to their decision, but still thinks something can get done.

He said there is more political will in SD to get something done now that in the past.

He said that construction could begin "Next Year" in MV if everything comes together.

They now have two months to come up with a financing plan, and he said they will "Work Their Asses" off to make it happen.

He said a 2/3rds vote will never happen. He said there are "Ways to Get There" but was not specific on how to get around a vote.

He said Fabiani and the Chargers need to be part of this push to get a stadium here, or it's not going to happen.

Some of the highlights...

Edit: CSAG members wrote personal checks to pay for the stadium forum that was held at the Q. Props to them for doing that.

http://forums.chargers.com/showthread.php?t=68569&page=1177

I wonder what those "ways to get there" are?

[Gothamite]

While the Chargers have long been enamored of that downtown location, recent developments seem to have shown them how unlikely it is. They can't really afford to hold out for it.

[The_Admiral]

Having a football stadium downtown is a waste of a downtown. Indoor arenas can be booked solid with the right management, but what the hell does a football stadium do most of the year? Build it in the parking lot next to the current stadium and just make sure it's really nice.

[Josh.0]

Having a football stadium downtown is a waste of a downtown. Indoor arenas can be booked solid with the right management, but what the hell does a football stadium do most of the year? Build it in the parking lot next to the current stadium and just make sure it's really nice.

Agreed. That's why you have to put on it to attract Final Fours and other large indoor events. That's why Cleveland really screwed up not putting a dome on the Browns Stadium.

[The_Admiral]

Roofs aren't free, and some people don't like to watch football at convention centers. One Edward Jones Dome is too many.

[bosrs1]

Having a football stadium downtown is a waste of a downtown. Indoor arenas can be booked solid with the right management, but what the hell does a football stadium do most of the year? Build it in the parking lot next to the current stadium and just make sure it's really nice.

Agreed. That's why you have to put on it to attract Final Fours and other large indoor events. That's why Cleveland really screwed up not putting a dome on the Browns Stadium.

Problem is a roof in San Diego on a stadium is about as oxymoronic as it gets. It's never actually needed unless they get some fanciful Final Four. Otherwise it's useless and a waste of $250 million.

[STL FANATIC]

Any extra events hosted at a football stadium that aren't soccer games are exceedingly rare. Unless you're one of the handful of favored sites by the NCAA, a quarter billion for a roof so you can have a Final Four once a decade is hardly worth it.

I'm also not a believer in "football weather" or anything of the sort. But damn near every stadium with a retractable roof closes it way more than they ought to.

[BBTV]

Any extra events hosted at a football stadium that aren't soccer games are exceedingly rare. Unless you're one of the handful of favored sites by the NCAA, a quarter billion for a roof so you can have a Final Four once a decade is hardly worth it.

I'm also not a believer in "football weather" or anything of the sort. But damn near every stadium with a retractable roof closes it way more than they ought to.

The Linc holds several big concerts, NCAA Lax championships, some monster truck thing, dozens of smaller (albeit private) events in the clubs, and at least one or two other things I'm not thinking of.

Doesn't change the point that football stadiums are generally not heavily used, but you can do more than just football and soccer there.

[leopard88]

Any extra events hosted at a football stadium that aren't soccer games are exceedingly rare. Unless you're one of the handful of favored sites by the NCAA, a quarter billion for a roof so you can have a Final Four once a decade is hardly worth it.

I'm also not a believer in "football weather" or anything of the sort. But damn near every stadium with a retractable roof closes it way more than they ought to.

The Linc holds several big concerts, NCAA Lax championships, some monster truck thing, dozens of smaller (albeit private) events in the clubs, and at least one or two other things I'm not thinking of.

Doesn't change the point that football stadiums are generally not heavily used, but you can do more than just football and soccer there.

M&T Bank Stadium does the same (except I don't remember any monster truck events).

[TheOldRoman]

But damn near every stadium with a retractable roof closes it way more than they ought to.

Not just football stadiums, but I believe baseball stadiums close the roof too much, as well. I know in the 2005 World Series, the Astros wanted to close the roof as they had done for previous playoff games. It kept the noise in and made the facility much louder. MLB ordered them to open it so they could have great overhead shots. I think the roofs should always be open unless it's a steady rain or snow.

As for other events at stadiums, Soldier Field rents out the suites like the rest. They have high school playoff games on the field, as well as normally one college game a year. They also have a handful of large Summer concerts, which of course destroys the field.

[bosrs1]

But damn near every stadium with a retractable roof closes it way more than they ought to.

Not just football stadiums, but I believe baseball stadiums close the roof too much, as well. I know in the 2005 World Series, the Astros wanted to close the roof as they had done for previous playoff games. It kept the noise in and made the facility much louder. MLB ordered them to open it so they could have great overhead shots. I think the roofs should always be open unless it's a steady rain or snow.

As for other events at stadiums, Soldier Field rents out the suites like the rest. They have high school playoff games on the field, as well as normally one college game a year. They also have a handful of large Summer concerts, which of course destroys the field.

Or it's 110 degrees or so humid the air is nearly water. That's why places like Phoenix and Houston have roofs. Not for weather but for the heat/humidity. I didn't understand it myself until going out to Phoenix for a game last year. They'd be stupid NOT to close the roof.

[TheOldRoman]

Yeah. I wasn't thinking about the heat. Obviously, that's really the only reason you need a roof in Phoenix. In Houston, it's the heat along with the horrific humidity. But it seems like the Colts always close the roof and I've seen the freaking Texans and Cardinals play with the roof closed when it was in the low 80s.

[Brian in Boston]

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor has launched a petition drive to force a public vote on the Inglewood-based stadium project unless Stan Kroenke, Stockbridge Capital, and Hollywood Park Land Company guarantee more well-paying, long-term, union jobs during both the construction phase of the development and the ongoing operation of the combined stadium-entertainment-retail complex.

If the labor group is successful in gathering 6,000 verified voter signatures by March 25th, the Inglewood City Council would have to either kill the initiative backing the project that it passed on February 24th, or it could schedule a public vote - likely in August or September - on said initiative.

Both Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor executive secretary Rusty Hicks seem to think that an agreement guaranteeing more union jobs and better wages will be worked out before a decision on a public vote would have to be made.

Nevertheless, the project's developers -through a group that they back dubbed Citizens for Revitalizing the City of Champions - are taking no chances. They've begun circulating an e-mail to project supporters urging them not to sign "the anti-stadium petition".

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-labor-group-inglewood-stadium-20150312-story.html

[STL FANATIC]

I didn't mean to imply football stadiums can't host anything besides football and soccer. But they don't get regular use beyond that. Concerts and events here and there, but it's still relatively little use.

Maybe some cities use their stadium as a primary concert venue, I'm not sure. But I was under the impression those were fairly rare and only for the biggest of acts.

[4_tattoos]

I didn't know the Colts new stadium had a retractable roof. Honestly.

[pcgd]

Really? It feels closed even when it's open.

[STL FANATIC]

Really? It feels closed even when it's open.

That's another critique I have of retractable roofs. The stadium is usually built in a way to minimize the scale of the roof, and as a result the buildings often feel or do have fully built and closed walls. You don't realize it's open unless you look up. And even then sometimes they even have partial permanent roofs.

I have no opposition to indoor football. I don't believe there is a such thing as football weather.

But I think most retractable roof stadiums just end up compromising so much to make it happen.