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New LA Stadium


budlitebrad
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It's good banter to get the stadium project moving. The Vikings were promised by the legislature they would look at a stadium proposal in 2008. However since the bridge collapse and the economy, they will not entertain and Viking stadium proposals. Besides, the Vikings had one stadium proposal in Anoka County and they abandon them for a downtown stadium. They currently do not have a proposal at all to bring to the legislature.

 

I doubt they will move because they learned their lesson with the Twins, Lakers and North Stars. It might take some threats to get a stadium built. There was an article about this in the Strib a few days back. It's a non issue until 2011 and then the Vikings are free to do what ever they want. I think something will get done by then and the NFL will be able to fund some as well...

Edited by Outshined
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The Vikes are going to have a very hard time with getting approval for a new stadium anytime soon... corporate welfare for millionaire owners blackmailing the fans of their team isn't high on the priority list of our legislators right now. And personally, I had been actively campaigning for a new stadium back when the Vikes had a potential agreement for a location up in Blaine (I think it was Blaine)... but there's just no way in hell that I would support a revamping of the Metrodome (which is the current proposal). If the Vikes can't come up with a decent location that would allow them to build a big new facility with wide open parking (for tailgating) then it's going to be a much harder sell than they imagine.

 

As a diehard fan it would seriously break my heart to lose the Vikings to another city/state, but they are just going about this all wrong IMHO.

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The Vikes are going to have a very hard time with getting approval for a new stadium anytime soon... corporate welfare for millionaire owners blackmailing the fans of their team isn't high on the priority list of our legislators right now. And personally, I had been actively campaigning for a new stadium back when the Vikes had a potential agreement for a location up in Blaine (I think it was Blaine)... but there's just no way in hell that I would support a revamping of the Metrodome (which is the current proposal). If the Vikes can't come up with a decent location that would allow them to build a big new facility with wide open parking (for tailgating) then it's going to be a much harder sell than they imagine.

 

As a diehard fan it would seriously break my heart to lose the Vikings to another city/state, but they are just going about this all wrong IMHO.

 

Maybe they should build it near the Cantebury...

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We don't want a team. Half of us are transplants with well established rooting interest in other NFL teams. The other half are USC/UCLA football fans with a few Raider fans sprinkled in. If this costs the tax payer even one dime, it's too much. We have plenty of other problems.

Edited by TDFFFreak
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This is actually te most serious proposal I've ever seen out here, in large part because it doesn't use a dime of taxpayer money. This billionaire did his homework.

 

My biggest reason for thinking it won't happen is that it's too large: no WAY they sell 75k seats 8 sundays a year, unless they move a SB caliber team here and they go on a run. Jax is the only team that fits the bill in that sense. Even then LA fans will be very fickle...for reasons TDFF FReak said. Half the crowd each week would be rooting for the visiting team.

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The Latest From the SD Union-Tribune

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

L.A. might have Bolts magnet

 

UNION-TRIBUNE

April 22, 2008

 

Should San Diego Chargers fans worry about Ed Roski Jr.? I'd say, yes, absolutely. He's not only a billionaire, he's not your everyday, nutty billionaire. Roski has a pedigree that does not include “rash.” He has a reputation of not doing things willy-nilly.

 

Last week, when Roski proposed building an $800 million NFL stadium on 600 acres of pre-zoned land he owns in the lovely City of Industry – about 20 miles east of L.A. – I wondered aloud: “What's in it for him?”

 

There could be something in it for him, even if it doesn't include ownership of the team – or even a smidgen. There could be plenty in it for him, no matter if every pie-in-the-sky stadium proposal that has come up since L.A. lost the NFL in 1994 has gone into the La Brea Tar Pits.

And, of course, the Chargers immediately came to mind, because they're looking for new digs and can take off following the 2008 season. Do not rule that out.

 

The team may be looking at a few sites in Chula Vista and Spanos ownership has spent around $10 million to secure a spot in San Diego County, but while this area may be first on their list, they want a new stadium, and if they don't get one in Chula Vista, there will be suitors.

 

Quite possibly from Roski, who has business ties to the Spanos family, and things can be put together that won't hurt him very much. Football stadiums traditionally aren't making money unless the tenants own the team and the facility, but Roski is different.

 

He already owns those 600 acres, which have been zoned, and an environmental impact report has been done. Think about it. The Qualcomm Stadium property is 166 acres. Granted, its ground has more prime to it than City of Industry, but Southern California is Southern California.

 

It isn't likely Roski would get a piece of the team. The Spanoses aren't selling. I can't believe they'd even sell a piece, because owner Alex has promised he won't. If he sells 1 percent, he has lied.

 

But Roski may not need a percent of anything. And here's why.

 

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is building a new billion-dollar stadium and reportedly will get up to $600 million in personal seat licenses. Now, if Roski can get, as suggested, $450 million from PSLs, and then another $150 million from the NFL for building a new stadium, add it up.

 

That's $600 million, and there are plans to build around that new palace in lovely City of Industry. Some of it could be developed as warehouse space, where Roski has made zillions, and warehouses fit in nicely in the City of Industry. There would be mixed-use development. Malls. An entertainment complex. You know.

 

Roski realizes he can't stick a shovel into the ground – which he hopes to do this fall and finish by 2011 – without a secure tenant. But he could know if the Chargers are available by then. In fact, he will know.

 

So the Chargers, lame ducks, would play in the Coliseum or the Rose Bowl, until it's done. Do not laugh.

 

By summer, we all will know if Chula Vista is going to work. The clock is running. This team could have a place to go.

 

There are obvious problems in California. The three oldest – and worst NFL stadiums – are in this state. But, when billionaires start throwing land and stadiums around as if they're condiments, well, eyebrows should be raised.

 

“I don't want to get into his stadium at this point,” says Mark Fabiani, who has been the Chargers' point man on new stadium issues here for six years. “A football stadium, by itself, doesn't pencil out (as a profit-maker), never has. But property has been known to increase in value from a stadium being there.”

 

Roski is smart enough to know that.

 

As I was told yesterday: “Don't short-change Roski.”

 

I don't know if I'm getting good vibes out of Chula Vista, and that's the last option around here, in that San Diego's City Hall has the spine of an invertebrate.

 

A whole lot of San Diegans don't trust the Spanoses, even though the family has thrown millions into staying here and has done its fiscal best to keep its team among the most talented in football.

 

My guess is that Roski probably trusts the family.

 

But the Chula Vista vibes bother me. We're going to know soon.

 

“I would have hoped this could have been settled long ago,” Fabiani says. “We're down to our last option.”

 

It all depends on what happens with the Gaylord labor project fiasco in Chula Vista, which could be decided soon, and whether the Chargers can be allowed to build on the preferable power plant bay front site there, or far east, where there is Ponderosa land but little infrastructure.

 

When asked, if he were a gambling man, what might happen in Chula Vista, Fabiani says:

 

“There's not enough information to make a smart bet. We're still trying. We're still spending money. We're open to ideas. But, in California, there are no 1lth-hour solutions.”

 

Unless the solution is Ed Roski Jr.

 

This development, I tell you, is not good. San Diego has to wake up and smell exhaust from the Bekins vans.

 

Ed Roski Jr. very well could be our Zola Budd.

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The three oldest – and worst NFL stadiums – are in this state. But, when billionaires start throwing land and stadiums around as if they're condiments, well, eyebrows should be raised.

 

 

Which ones would those be? Including the Coliseum is succh a stretch, given it was built for the 32 Olympics and only had the Raiders disgrace it for 10 years with their presence in its 75+ year existence.

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Which ones would those be? Including the Coliseum is succh a stretch, given it was built for the 32 Olympics and only had the Raiders disgrace it for 10 years with their presence in its 75+ year existence.

The Rams played there until they moved to Anaheim in 1980. (1946-1979)

Edited by Big John
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