Both Inglewood and Carson have approved billion dollar stadium projects in a relatively fast manner that could see construction commence in the next year. Inglewood would possibly bring the St. Louis Rams to Los Angeles whereas the Carson initiative has both the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders moving into the proposed 80,000 seat behemoth located right off of the 405.
For the NFL, relocating 2 California teams to LA that are in the bottom rung in terms of facilities seems to be the logical move rather than relocating a team from Missouri and thus giving the Golden State its 4th NFL franchise. However, St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke has been apart of a development group that also proposes an 80,000 seat stadium located in the old Hollywood Park Race Track plot of land. If Inglewood becomes the new home of a Los Angeles football team, Kroenke plans to add restaurants, homes, parks and office space; much like Staples Center and LA Live in Downtown.
St. Louis has put in the most effort of the potential cities in order to keep its beloved football team, and have also revealed plans of building a billion dollar facility along the Mississippi River as an incentive to keep the Rams in St. Louis. That can not be said for the Raiders or Chargers as both teams have made it clear they are interested and supportive of the Carson initiative.
On Tuesday the San Diego City Council released plans of a 1.1 billion dollar stadium in order to try and keep the Chargers in San Diego, however shortly after the release of the plans, Chargers and Raiders executives hired former San Francisco 49ers president Carmen Policy in order to take charge of the next steps needed in order to move both franchises to the nation’s second largest media market.
Tuesday also saw the Chargers and Raiders finalize a land deal with the city of Carson for a 157 acre plot that was formerly a landfill in what seems to be a huge step towards Los Angeles obtaining both the Raiders and Chargers.
At the conclusion of the owner’s meetings yesterday in San Francisco, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay stated that a team in Los Angeles was “not a matter of ‘if’ now, but ‘when,’" as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. It is clear which way the pendulum has begun to swing.
Los Angeles is closer than ever before to re-claiming a stake in professional football and as a native Angeleno I can not be more excited to see how everything plays out. Whether it be the Rams playing in Inglewood or the Chargers and Raiders sharing a stadium in Carson football should be returning to the City of Angels very, very soon.
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-DR
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