Venue News: From Carson to Inglewood, Los Angeles Stadium Battle Rages On

For two decades, Los Angeles has been trying to win back the love of the National Football League. Now, this football-deprived city has an abundance of suitors—though how serious they are is unclear, writes the Wall Street Journal. The San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders recently announced a proposal to build a shared football stadium near Los Angeles, making it the fourth recent plan to bring the NFL back to the area. The $1.7 billion stadium would be privately funded, according to its backers. The latest proposal, earlier reported in the Los Angeles Times, calls for a stadium in Carson, a small city less than 20 miles south of L.A…

…A Hollywood Park stadium proposed by a group that includes Rams owner Stan Kroenke would cost $1.86 billion to build, making it the most expensive stadium ever constructed, according to a study commissioned by the Inglewood city council. With design, engineering, financing and other indirect costs, the stadium’s final price tag likely will exceed $2 billion. The stadium is projected to generate $325 million in annual revenue, based on figures in a fiscal analysis of the project by Keyser Martson Associates, a real estate development advisory firm hired by the city council…

…In a bold move to undercut an NFL stadium at Hollywood Park, writes the Los Angeles Times, the sports and entertainment firm AEG commissioned a study by former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge that found the Inglewood project would be a tempting target for terrorists and should not be built. AEG has been pursuing its own NFL stadium next to Staples Center for several years and is in direct competition with Inglewood, whose plan was approved Tuesday by that city’s government. In a 14-page report, Ridge suggests that because the Inglewood stadium proposed by St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke would lie within three to four miles of Los Angeles International Airport and beneath the flight path of airliners, terrorists might try to shoot down a plane or crash one into the stadium, scenarios Ridge described as “a terrorist event ‘twofer’ “…

…The New York Times attempts to make sense of the Los Angeles stadium madness…

…With the Chargers and Raiders planning to share a privately-financed stadium in Carson, CA, ProFootball Talk asks, Why not share a stadium in San Diego?  Appearing on Monday’s edition of PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio, Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani said that he’s been asked that question a lot in recent days, but that the Chargers and Raiders don’t regard that as a viable option.  The problem, as Fabiani explained it, is that the market isn’t big enough to support the kind of revenue streams (via luxury suites and Personal Seat Licenses) for a pair of franchises…

…Owner Arte Moreno said the Los Angeles Angels have made no progress with the city of Anaheim on a new stadium lease since the sides broke off talks in September and that the Angels continue to explore potential stadium sites in Southern California. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Angels have a three-year window from 2016-19 in which they can opt out of their stadium lease. If they don’t opt out, the lease extends through 2029…

…The San Jose Earthquakes finally have a place to call home, writes the Associated Press. After spending nearly two decades playing in college stadiums in the Bay Area, the Earthquakes are set to open the 18,000-seat, soccer-specific Avaya Stadium on Saturday for an exhibition game against the Los Angeles Galaxy. With the technologically advanced stadium, team offices, training facilities and practice field all on one site near San Jose’s airport, the organization feels it is finally in position to capitalize on the growing interest in soccer in the Bay Area…

…Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has completed installation of three Diamond Vision screens, one large unit each above the right- and left-field stands and one infield scoreboard, at the Sapporo Dome baseball and soccer stadium in Sapporo, Japan, according to a company press release. Thanks to Mitsubishi Electric’s exclusive black plastic-molded LEDs, the screens are 2.9 times larger, boast five times the resolution and offer 1.5 times the contrast of the replaced screens. They will be unveiled during the pre-season opening game between the Hokkaido Nihon Ham Fighters and Yomiuri Giants on March 3.