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It was widely reported on Wednesday that Edward Roski, a part owner of the L.A. Kings and L.A. Lakers, will make a “major announcement” on Thursday regarding the possible future of the NFL in Los Angeles.
He’ll unveil on Thursday morning his concept for a new stadium in L.A. PFT Planet gets an advance peek at the venue, thanks to Roski’s group, which sent to us a link to the proposed venue’s brand-new web site.
The site included a computerized flyover of the stadium. Though the graphics are a bit on the N64 level, the video reveals a stunning structure that creates the appearance that it is surrounded by a bowl of earth and grass.
And if you look closely, you’ll notice the obvious ambition of the project. One of the nearby buildings is adorned with a huge sign that proclaims “SUPER BOWL.”
The stadium would be built in the City of Industry, roughly 20 miles east of Los Angeles. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello tells the AP that the NFL will not be involved in Thursday’s press conference. (The computerized mock-up of the stadium, however, sports the NFL logo on one of the background signs.)
If there’s going to be a stadium, there also needs to be, you know, a team (unless the league acts on our idea to play eight neutral-site games each year in L.A., once the regular-season schedule expands to 17 games). Roski plans to announce that the stadium will be ready for play by 2011 (just in time for a work stoppage!).
Some readers already have speculated that the Minnesota Vikings could be sold to Roski and moved into the new venue, but the Vikes are tied to the Metrodome through the 2011 season.
Other possible candidates include the Chargers, the Bills, and the Jaguars.
April 17th, 2008 at 8:21 am
I hope it’s not the Jags - I don’t think I could bring myself to root for an LA team
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April 17th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Is it me or do the seats look purple? as in purple people eaters?
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
April 17th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Los Angeles doesn’t need, nor does it really want, an NFL team.
But it can do is host a once a year, star-studded, gala affair better than any other city on the planet.
Annual Los Angeles Super Bowl?
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
April 17th, 2008 at 8:54 am
I hope it’s the Chargers. I’d like to see the AFC have more bigger market teams.
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April 17th, 2008 at 8:57 am
It says Super Bowl 46!!! So, minus a team, they are advertising that they will get the Super Bowl in the stadium’s very first year (when there will be a lockout or strike). Looks like a great place for Southern Californians to either NOT go to see a football game or to go twenty minutes late and leave in the third quarter. Why try to force what LA has shown time and time again they have no real interest in? Any team that moves will regret it in five years when the novelty has worn off and the stands are empty. Again.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
April 17th, 2008 at 9:05 am
I hope it is not the Chargers. I don’t think I could route for them if they moved to LA. That being said, just about every other team I used to route for in every other sport has moved.
I am a bit surprised that the Saints weren’t mentioned as a possible moving team.
I would rather have one of the more recent teams added to the league move, as opposed to any team that has an extensive history in the city in which it is currently located in.
It would be interesting to compile a list of all of the teams and see what the attendance for home games was last season.
It is unfortunate that it does seem that expansion isn’t an option. Adding one team to Canada and one team to LA would be nice, but I don’t think the league would be willing to do it.
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April 17th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Has Al Davis scheduled his lawsuit yet?
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April 17th, 2008 at 9:39 am
I used to live out there and I can tell you that aside from a select group, that those people really don’t care if the NFL comes back or not. They still go to the sports bars to cheer for the Raiders and the Rams. You do realize they left you L.A. right??? Freaks.
This isn’t the first, nor will it be the last, stadium proposal in the Los Angeles area that will be ignored by the city leaders b/c nobody wants to pay for it.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
April 17th, 2008 at 9:50 am
32 teams is such an nice number, for scheduling and such. I would be surprised if they go above that. The Vikings are certainly an option since the city decided to build the University of Minnesota and the Twins new stadiums, while the Vikings got left out in the cold… again. I’ve never heard a fanbase bitch so long about pitching in for a stadium all the while complaining about being considered as an option for relocation every single year. Follow the money trail. Either you want the team or not, and Minneapolis / St. Paul (as a whole) has been giving the “Get the hell out” vibe for years. Unfortunately, owning an NFL team is a business first and foremost (except for maybe the Packers, where it is more of a culture), and there are opportunities for many owners out there to increase their worth by considering these moves. LA has proven to be a risky venture, but business men see the dollar potential of the community and the popularity of a sports team like the Lakers (who also moved from Minnesota) and think… Maybe.
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April 17th, 2008 at 9:52 am
I would bet either Vikings or Jags. San Diego is on the verge of a new stadium in north San Diego County and Buffalo will eventually play most games in Toronto, Canada which is what the NFL wants.
The Vikings are trying to get a new stadium and this might speed it up but the Jags are the most likely.
Of course what no one brings up is expansion and eventhough most think it won’t happen, it could be a possiblity. It would be probably adding 4 teams though to either the NFC or to the AFC but not split.
Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Alburquee, Birmingham, Orlando, and Oklahoma City could all be possibles.
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April 17th, 2008 at 9:52 am
PackAttack maybe it is purple because both the Lakers and Kings have purple as a team color and Roski loves the color….
I like the idea of 17 games and 8 neutral site games in LA…
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
April 17th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Built into the ground, eh? First time a quake hits, that sucker’s done. Well thought-out…
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April 17th, 2008 at 10:16 am
jmikeh, lets leave that to the engineers.
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April 17th, 2008 at 11:01 am
LA has proven twice that they cannot sustain an NFL team. Screw the Nielsen Reports and the ridiculous market share LA has. They don’t deserve a team.
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April 17th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I have several issues with the design (as an architect, that’s my first thought). First, the earthquake impact can be minimalized using structural techniques. All new buildings in earthquake prone areas are tested for seismic activity. That won’t be a problem. What’s interesting, is that their website promotes it as being a “sustainable development” and yet it’s a long drive from everywhere. I’m sure the images they show of it being in a green field aren’t accurate, but building sustainably would be building in an urban area with public transportation, not in a highway mess. Secondly, there is little substance to the design, just advertisements adorning every surface a la Times Square. The only cool feature is the fact that it is buried in a hillside…very college-like. I like that. The noise would be deafening. But only 70,000 seats? Won’t get a Super Bowl that way…
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April 17th, 2008 at 11:32 am
one problem - nobody in west la or the wealthy part of orange county will drive to City of Industry.
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April 17th, 2008 at 11:35 am
See, this is why I know I would never be good at land development. I would have never had the foresight to build a mega bajillion dollar stadium in an area like LA where there’s currently no purpose whatsoever for it and the people there care only about USC and UCLA.
Visionaries, man. Visionaries.
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April 17th, 2008 at 11:40 am
I doubt the NFL will consider expanding the current amount of teams since the 4 team division system is perfect for fair, rotating scheduling (something that the MLB and NHL continue to struggle with). That said, expansion brings a huge windfall on the laps of the NFL owners and it might be too tempting to pass up the tens of millions each would enjoy if one or two more teams enter the National Football League.
Personally, I would rather see a re-location, if the powers that be decide The City of Fake Tits and Personalities needs deserves another team. Minneapolis is a great sports town (and a beautiful city to boot) and the Vikings have intense rivalries with the Packers and Bears, so cross them off the list. In addition, I doubt the NFL could be bereft (thanks, Tiki) of conscience to help Tom Benson move the Saints out of Louisiana. (For those who respond “but the NFL asked the Saints to lose a home game to play in London this season” consider that Tom Benson is making equal, if not more money than he would had the game been played at the SuperDome. )
Further, if the Bills did ever leave Niagara Falls, the logical move would be Toronto, where the team is trying to develop a fan base.
Therefore, the Jaguars are the most logical candidates. Despite being one of the most constistent teams in the NFL since their inception, the team does not sell out and the local games are blacked out. Sure, that might happen in sunny L.A., but the Jags owner and the NFL would make more mullah in the City of Demons.
Now, suppose the Jags did move to LA. What happens to the geographically designed (for the most part, anyway) divisions? I suggest moving the Saint Louis Rams to the AFC South and moving the new LA Jags to the NFC West. I could be wrong, but I doubt that Rams-Niners has been much of a rivalry since the days of Chris Everett and Flipper Anderson. Giants fans (like myself), please proceed to swallow a Chinese-made toy at the mention of those names.
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April 17th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Kotite, you’re right.
Besides, it’s off the 57. Who in their right mind will want to travel *hours* from either downtown LA or the OC to go see a football game only to travel *hours* to get back (when you can sit back and watch the game on TV). The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Anaheim Stadium is also off the 57 so if they have a home game on Sunday with an LA home game, you might as well leave before dawn to get to the stadium on time. Yeah most of the OC is within 25 miles…the way a bird would fly.
It is me or doesn’t their location page actually look like an earthquake damage assessment chart, showing the stadium as an epicenter? But it is only a few miles north of the Whittier fault.
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April 17th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
There appears to be a fair amount of corporate sponsorship behind this. If you watch closely, Bank of America, Sony, Loews Theatres and Cabelas are branded in the flyover.
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April 17th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
The Jags aren’t going anywhere. Jacksonville is growing faster than any city in the league. Wayne Weaver knows what he’s doing. He got a diamond in the rough in Jacksonville. Anybody who is successful knows that timing is everything. Jacksonville is becoming a diamond. Plus, the Weavers have more control of the city than the mayor. Why would he want to deal with the headaches of Los Angeles? I mean, the state of California is one of the biggest reasons this country is going into recession. It’s a freakin’ circus. You have got the Weavers’s all wrong. Florio called them cheap owners?! Quite the contrary. This team went through salary cap hell after the ‘99 season because of overspending.
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April 17th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I think the Packers will move there in a couple of years.
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April 17th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
as someone from southern california i can say that games would be sold out for at least 5 years simply based on the stadium itself. the population is enormous and everyone would get out to at least one game to check it out.
that said, the team would need to be successful or have a superstar to be PACKED every game after that. the lakers are a prime example. they have the most expensive ticket by a huge margin in the NBA and still sell out every game….but if the team isnt good, those seats arent filled come game time. Ditto the clippers.
Strangely enough though, both the angels and dodgers are top 5 attended teams every year…so if a team could be marketed to orange county as well as it is LA, this stadium and team could develop a healthy fanbase. lets not forget part of the reason the rams and raiders failed was because the stadiums were god awful
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April 17th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Football fans in Los Angeles aren’t going to care.
They might check it out the first year to see what’s all about, but it really is all about the Raiders, Rams, USC, UCLA, and the Chargers, in that order.
Considering that a large percentage of the Raiders’ season ticket holders live in the L.A. area and they fly or drive up there every home game, I just don’t see another team gaining traction.
After the Rams and the Raiders left, Los Angeles became a college town, because it’s pretty obvious those schools are here for the long haul.
The worst part is a new L.A. team will likely piss off all the Raiders and Chargers fans here, because CBS will show the new team’s games every Sunday whenever the games are scheduled for the same time.
It’s a horrible, horrible idea.
And the City of Industry sucks.
What, walk out of the game and tour dilapidated manufacturing centers?
Get knifed in the parking lot of the one Denny’s in the area?
No thanks.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
April 17th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
The Jaguars are not going to leave Jacksonville. Ever.
An earlier commenter made the completely ignorant statement that we suffer from no ticket sales and blackouts. Like many other NFL cities, Jacksonville does experience the occasional blackout (we had one in 2007), but the city also has a lot of last-minute and walk-up ticket sales, which means the building is nearly always full on Sunday. Take a look at the home crowds for prime time games…tickets are nearly impossible to get for Monday and Sunday night events.
In fact, we do pretty well considering Jacksonville is the second or third-smallest NFL market. The stadium was also too big for the market when it was rebuilt. They can pull 80,000 in for the Florida-Georgia game each year, because it’s a one-day event that’s been held here for about a hundred years. Things improved dramatically for the Jaguars when Wayne Weaver cover about 10,000 seats a few years ago. 62,000 was far more realistic for this market than 72,000.
Another thing to consider is recent team records and last year’s playoff run. The Jags were 12-4 in 2005 against weak opponents, and 8-8 in 2006. Yet, ticket sales were better in 2006. Jack Del Rio’s decision to make David Garrard the starting quarterback made a big difference last season, and season ticket sales are running well ahead of projections this year, due in a large part to the appearance in two playoff games. We want one at home this year.
Fortunately, Wayne Weaver is an owner committed to the team and the city. The city’s small market makes turning a profit difficult, especially combined with the big salary caps and the current revenue-sharing issues that favor the players.
Does that mean the team would never, ever move? One can’t say “never” about anything, but the financial situation would have to totally collapse here for Weaver to sell (since I doubt he’d move the team himself).
The loss of this team would be devastating on Jacksonville. There’s a lot more support for this team than those outside the city are aware; most people commenting about how poorly the Jaguars are supported or how soon the team will move are simply ignorant of what’s going on down here. We’re not in the national spotlight, we don’t have a 20-year waiting list of people who want season tickets, we don’t attract superstar players, the city doesn’t have the cultural excitement of a New York, a Boston or even a Miami. But we have a damn good football team, great coaching and a owner who gives a crap about his fans.
The key thing, of course, is winning. Many teams play to empty seats when they suck. If you don’t suck, if you at least make a run at the playoffs, people will come.
The Jaguars are not leaving Jacksonville. Especially for L.A.
Get over it.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)