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In Assessing Chargers Options, Do Cost Comparisons
Thanks.— June 2, 2011 8:20 p.m.
In Assessing Chargers Options, Do Cost Comparisons
Here is an excerpt from an ESPN aticle on this matter: "But to understand just how valuable Los Angeles has been to Tha League as an open market, you have to be willing to survey the imposing number of implied or overt threats that involved L.A. as a likely destination these past 16 years. (That is, ever since the Rams and Raiders high-tailed it to their current states of dissatisfaction, St. Louis and Oakland, respectively.) Minnesota? Check and double-check. San Diego? Don't get me started. Jacksonville and Buffalo, one supposes, are almost always feeling a Pacific breeze (although you'd have to pry the Bills out of the frozen hands of their ardent fans). The Rams are lately said to be potential candidates for a moving party, which has to strike somebody somewhere as the sort of turnabout an L.A. fan could at least appreciate. And way back in 2004, it was good old Indianapolis that was put through the wringer, as Colts bigwig Jim Irsay publicly fretted over the city's corporate base and wondered whether even a new stadium -- shiny, preferably, and with lots and lots of bells and whistles -- would be enough to make it work in the American heartland. Said Irsay, "How much can you keep putting your own money into your franchise with no hope of seeing things change?" Irsay spoke, at the time, as a man with ties to the L.A. entertainment industry and a membership at the Riviera Country Club. Four years later, the Colts were moving into brand-new Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy. Did they ever seriously ponder relocation? It doesn't matter in the slightest. This is the value of having a huge open market like Los Angeles in the mix. Other NFL cities can feel their throats getting chalky every time a stadium situation starts to go south, because in the backs of their minds they can also see things going west. Could the Jaguars be leaving on a jet plane? Unhappy franchises have used Los Angeles as a constant threat to their current cities. Paul Tagliabue, the former commissioner, never seemed in a terrible hurry to fill the L.A. market. His successor, Roger Goodell, has other things on his plate at the moment, so you can excuse him for not moving the L.A. issue to the top of the heap. Without a collective bargaining agreement, rating the prospects for a new stadium in a city that doesn't even have a team seems faintly ludicrous (and then, as you get closer, totally ludicrous)."— June 2, 2011 1:44 a.m.
In Assessing Chargers Options, Do Cost Comparisons
Don: Since you are the practioner of the "pen is mightier than the sword" craft and by all accounts a very bright and witty reporter, why don't you research the topic of the LA NFL market. I think it would be extremely valuable to the citizens of San Diego. You don't even have to bring the Chargers into it, simply try to reason out - based on (yours and other people's)research - the following points: 1. Is the LA NFL market more valuable to the NFL without the presence of an NFL team there? 2. What are the private workings of the 32 owner-NFL Vatican in deciding market share? 3. Are underperforming NFL teams favored in a potential new market entry? 4. Is the present make-up of 32 teams the ideal NFL set-up in terms of divisional balance? 5. If both proposals for new NFL stadia in LA (on paper of course) have no public financing component, how does one secure financing for building a new NFL stadium venue?— May 31, 2011 8:40 a.m.
In Assessing Chargers Options, Do Cost Comparisons
We are on the same page. The only slight difference is "the LA move" option. I think such option does not exist.— May 30, 2011 1:17 p.m.
In Assessing Chargers Options, Do Cost Comparisons
All cities, counties and states are on the same boat. In fact, if we don't find ways to finance state and local government debt we will have Chapter 2 of this financial crisis. I am not saying that it would produce a de facto crisis. I am saying that it is staring us in the face and we got to deal with it. And that is why new stadium public financing is way off the mark. It's the equivalent of going into the operating room for life threatening surgery and worring how your make up looks on your face. It's way off.— May 30, 2011 6:40 a.m.
In Assessing Chargers Options, Do Cost Comparisons
Agreed!— May 30, 2011 6:37 a.m.
In Assessing Chargers Options, Do Cost Comparisons
BTW, Don. The reason I don't even want to go into the topic of the City's finances is because this is how the new stadium crowd is going to frame it. After it is clear that they are not gonna get the public money, they will come out and say "oh, the city is broke" or "the city was weak and could not get its act together" or "it was the City's fault". That is why I would like to keep the focus away from the city and look at the bigger picture and the national trends. Not to say that we are obligated to follow national trends - because after all we are Califonia and therefore the trend setter state - but if one sees the writing on the wall elsewhere one already can deduce that such proposals would be dead in California (a non starter). NFL national trends say that there is zero public money for the owner. So, what we have here in SD is an owner that is behind times and he is waging an old fashioned, antiquated campaign for something that does not even exist. The owner wants us to believe that a behavior associated with the bubble economy of the last decade is now the "norm" and therefore he has the "right to claim it". Not so, say the facts. This was an abnormal trend that as soon as stadia escalated beyond $1 Bil. it has vanished in thin air.— May 29, 2011 3:36 p.m.
In Assessing Chargers Options, Do Cost Comparisons
Don: The operative word is "it used to be" above 60%. And in the 60s we had mini-skirts. However, this is not fashion we are talking about. New stadia now days cost upwards of $1 Bil. This is a clear DOA signal, not to mention that the owner is playing an old-fashioned game here that is long dead. Depending on how the NFL labor lockout gets resolved, we may never see public financing again. And I mean NEVER (like in never, ever never again). Believe you me that of all the issues the NFL has in its plate right at the moment, building new stadia is not a priority.— May 29, 2011 3:16 p.m.
In Assessing Chargers Options, Do Cost Comparisons
Details!— May 29, 2011 2:56 p.m.
In Assessing Chargers Options, Do Cost Comparisons
Johnston: I fully understand your frustration with me. Part of it is deliberate on my part. Since you called me a troll, I have decided to teach you a lesson. Don't expect from me any gentle conduct when I am waging war. The only message that I have for you is that you should never engage someone you don't know because there might very well be a Champion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FF22cBZJsU I know how to pick a winning team.— May 28, 2011 6:09 p.m.