-- Ann LA stadium game intensifies for Chargers By Kevin Acee Stan Kroenke is all in. The Chargers and San Diego are sitting at the table. They see the pile of chips in the center. They have about a year to make their move. The St. Louis Rams owner saying he will build a stadium in Inglewood without the aid of taxpayer money is bad news for the Chargers. Very bad. If it can be done there without public financing, the good folks of America’s Finest City will ask why the Spanos family needs $600 million of our money to build a stadium here. But there is a caveat for the team that turns up the heat on San Diego. The building of a stadium in Los Angeles – and there remain many “ifs” to address even after the Los Angeles Times report Monday that Kroenke and his development partners are moving forward with plans for a stadium and massive retail complex – makes an easy out for the Chargers more of a reality. It would give them a place to play if they can’t get a stadium built in the city they’ve called home for the past 54 years. We’ve long known 2015 was crucial to the future of the Chargers in San Diego. Team president Dean Spanos has increasingly been eyeing L.A., as the NFL wants a team (or two) back in the nation’s second-largest market sooner than later. The Chargers say it would be financially detrimental to have competition in Southern California while they are stuck in antiquated Qualcomm Stadium. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has been meeting with stakeholders – the team, its architects and others in the business and political community – and promised to begin unveiling this month a plan to work toward a solution. The Chargers want to build a stadium in conjunction with JMI Realty’s proposed convention center annex next to Petco Park. The team is eyeing a November 2016 ballot measure that would likely ask for approximately $600 million via land and hotel taxes toward the estimated $1 billion cost of the stadium. The two-thirds vote required for passage of a measure that requests public funds is considered a longshot, and Kroenke building a stadium entirely via private financing would not help the Chargers’ plea in San Diego. Kroenke, whose estimated net worth of $5.6 billion is slightly higher than the $4.8 billion estimated net worth of his wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, has proposed an 80,000 seat stadium, a 6,000-seat performance venue and retail, office and residential complexes on more than 300 acres on and around the site of the former Hollywood Park racetrack. Still to come are actual details of the financing and also the inevitable legal and environmental battles, as well as a ballot measure to approve the development. Developers said the stadium could be ready for the 2018 season. That an NFL owner is willing to step up and take this on is commendable. But given the Kroenke’s wealth and the size and affluence of the L.A. market, the risk is relatively minimal. By comparison, the Spanos family’s combined net worth is estimated to be approximately $1.1 billion (including the $995 million estimated value of the Chargers), and the San Diego market does not present nearly as much revenue possibility as Los Angeles. Being a tenant in a state-of-the-art stadium they didn’t pay for in a market that has successfully supported two professional teams in multiple sports would likely become an attractive alternative for the Chargers if their ballot measure fails or if the issue never makes it to a vote. Now, all this being said, it remains to be seen not only whether Kroenke can get a stadium built in Los Angeles but whether he can move the Rams from St. Louis. The NFL requires in its bylaws that a team demonstrate it has exhausted all avenues of remaining in its current location. Kroenke, by all accounts, has not made any real effort to work with St. Louis. It is believed the city and state of Missouri are working on a proposal to Kroenke that would outline plans for public financing of a new stadium in St. Louis, which would seem to make it difficult for the team and league to justify Kroenke moving. However, that proposal has not been made, and Kroenke’s announcement Monday only bolsters the perception he has no intention of keeping the Rams in St. Louis. If Kroenke is intent on moving to L.A., even without league permission, as people close to the situation have indicated, that would open the door for a legal battle the NFL will likely make every effort to preempt. At the very least, this latest development is Kroenke signaling his intention to force the issue. So while Monday’s revelation didn’t tangibly shift the landscape, it added some urgency to an already-pressing situation in San Diego.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 00:06:18 +0000
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