LA Stadium Situation
Somebody is going to pay for this…it’s always this way in the NFL.
It’s the 20th Anniversary of the last time the NFL played in Los Angeles. You remember the Rams and the Raiders-the LA Coliseum and the Big A were their homes.
The struggle has continued for over a decade. Build a stadium. Where. How much. Who plays in it. And at what cost.
Is it at Farmers Field next to Staples Center? Is it in the rock pit-east of LA? Is it at the Hollywood Park locale? There are always new ideas, new schemes, some scams, rumors here-there-everywhere.
There is now pressure being brought to bear from the Networks and the Union, who both want in the number two market in the nation, for the amount of money it would generate. All about growing the pie.
The NFL, always looking for the best deal, doesn’t seem to have many bidders, or at least people who want to pay a king’s ransom to do this. They never got a deal done with the Anschutz or Roskie groups, and those people are “doers”.
Now the NFL has the novel idea. They the league would build the stadium, rent it out to a team, and turn the Los Angeles experience into something special.
4-Super Bowls with PSL ticket prices over the next decade. Move the NFL combine there from Indianapolis. Transfer the Pro Bowl from Hawaii permanently. Erect a West Coast version of the Hall of Fame. Bid on the BCS championship games.
Thinking outside the box for sure. Of course you need to read the fine print.
If the NFL funds the stadium, whomever the tenant going in, won’t get all the profits. Those will go to the 32-owners who are financing this majestic stadium. The crumbs left beneath the table will go to the city of LA, who will reap tax benefits on sales of food and gear.
And whoever goes in there, attention Chargers-Rams-Bills-Jaguars, be prepared to pay a 400M-territorial fee, to be split amongst your fellow owners too.
The NFL is a 10B-a year business model.. This makes great sense. Maybe this is the only way to get back into LA, with the NFL paying the initial freight, and reaping the lions share of profits.
The Tagliabue-Goodell reign has seen the NFL-G3 fund loan money for construction in the past.. But this is not some 200M-load that Pittsburgh or Minnesota got. This is probably a 1.1-billion as an investment.
Schematics, blueprints, fancy brochures and artist renderings are all glitzy. Using the NFL money is the guts of the deal.
Time for the NFL rich to do something for a city, and make the investment. Time to foot the bill for football back in LA. It won’t get done any other way.
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