9 posts
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 by Elvis
8 years 3 months ago
 Total posts:   38377  
 Joined:  Mar 28 2015
United States of America   Los Angeles
Administrator

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow ... story.html

As NFL nears Los Angeles decision, stadium rhetoric heats up

Sam Farmer

Two members of the NFL’s Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities appear to be doing what they can to pry the Chargers loose from San Diego in hopes of paving their path to the Los Angeles market.

The Chargers have teamed with the Oakland Raiders to propose a stadium in Carson. The St. Louis Rams are backing a competing stadium plan in Inglewood.

A meeting planned for Thursday between Houston Texans owner Bob McNair and San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer was canceled. That news came hours after the Houston Chronicle published comments by McNair that were sharply critical of San Diego’s efforts to keep the Chargers.

“In San Diego, they’ve been trying for about 15 years,” McNair told the newspaper. “They’ve had all kinds of political problems there. At one time, half the council went to jail or something. It’s been pretty bad. It’s hard to negotiate when you’ve got to go to the jail to negotiate.

“So they haven’t accomplished anything. They’re saying they’re going to do something now. But in order to do it, they’d have to have a referendum and the referendum isn’t until next June. Well, we can’t have these teams in limbo. You need to have certainty, and you don’t know if the referendum would pass or fail. We can’t take what they’re saying very seriously.”

McNair’s comments come a week after Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger disclosed that he joined the Chargers-Raiders effort at the urging of Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, who approached him in August with a specific request to help those two teams win the L.A. derby. Richardson asked for confidentiality at the time, and Iger said the NFL wasn’t informed until much later.

NFL owners backing either the Inglewood or Carson plans have been aggressively working the phones, lobbying other owners on behalf of their projects. Though several owners are entrenched in their support of one plan or the other, many more are on the fence. According to several individuals with knowledge of the situation, Richardson has campaigned particularly hard for the Carson project, even in the midst of his team’s undefeated season.

Simultaneously this week, McNair praised the efforts of St. Louis in trying to keep the Rams. The St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted Tuesday and moved the city’s financial contribution forward for a final vote Friday.

“St. Louis, they have come up with a proposal that is getting pretty close, in my opinion, to being an attractive proposal,” McNair told the Chronicle. “And if they do come up with an attractive proposal, then in my view, my personal opinion, I don’t think the Rams will receive the approval to relocate. So that would mean then you’d have two teams, San Diego and Oakland, that would be going into Carson. They have a partnership to build a stadium.”

It is highly unusual for an NFL owner to speak with such specificity on the L.A. situation, and even more uncommon for one to unmistakably side with one proposal over another. Typically, owners have either been disengaged on the issue or have tried to play it down the middle, at least publicly.

By every indication, Richardson and McNair are doing their best to rally support for the Carson plan in advance of Jan. 12-13 meetings in Houston in which owners hope to resolve an L.A. soap opera that has slogged on for two decades.

The NFL has asked the three home markets to submit their best and final offers by Dec. 30, and the league will begin accepting relocation applications Jan. 4.

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Although the NFL says it hasn’t taken a straw poll of owners, neither the Carson nor the Inglewood plan is believed to have the requisite 24 votes to pass.

The timing of the Carson push is notable because it comes just before the Chargers play their home finale Sunday against Miami, further ratcheting up the tension in San Diego. In a sense, that only helps the Chargers’ argument. The worse that game looks, the more toxic the feeling surrounding it, the more it strengthens the team’s case that it absolutely needs to leave.

sam.farmer@latimes.com

 by ramsfan1977
8 years 3 months ago
 Total posts:   1319  
 Joined:  Nov 02 2015
United States of America   New Jersey
Pro Bowl

Amazes me how no other owner are trying to squash the flames set by Richardson and Mcnair... The owner has not said a peep!

 by RamsFanSince82
8 years 3 months ago
 Total posts:   5851  
 Joined:  Aug 20 2015
United States of America   So. Cal.
Hall of Fame

There's so many many misleading/wrong comments coming from McNair. He believes all of the lies that Fabini and Spanos have been telling him.

“In San Diego, they’ve been trying for about 15 years,” McNair told the newspaper. “They’ve had all kinds of political problems there. At one time, half the council went to jail or something. It’s been pretty bad. It’s hard to negotiate when you’ve got to go to the jail to negotiate". LOL

“So they haven’t accomplished anything. They’re saying they’re going to do something now. But in order to do it, they’d have to have a referendum and the referendum isn’t until next June. Well, we can’t have these teams in limbo. You need to have certainty, and you don’t know if the referendum would pass or fail. We can’t take what they’re saying very seriously.”

There's NO certainty with the Carson plan and the crummy STL plan has a lot of uncertainty.

 by SoCalRam78
8 years 3 months ago
 Total posts:   1086  
 Joined:  May 25 2015
United States of America   SoCal
Pro Bowl

RamsFanSince82 wrote:There's so many many misleading/wrong comments coming from McNair. He believes all of the lies that Fabini and Spanos have been telling him.

“In San Diego, they’ve been trying for about 15 years,” McNair told the newspaper. “They’ve had all kinds of political problems there. At one time, half the council went to jail or something. It’s been pretty bad. It’s hard to negotiate when you’ve got to go to the jail to negotiate". LOL

“So they haven’t accomplished anything. They’re saying they’re going to do something now. But in order to do it, they’d have to have a referendum and the referendum isn’t until next June. Well, we can’t have these teams in limbo. You need to have certainty, and you don’t know if the referendum would pass or fail. We can’t take what they’re saying very seriously.”

There's NO certainty with the Carson plan.


Bias much?

 by Hacksaw
8 years 3 months ago
 Total posts:   24523  
 Joined:  Apr 15 2015
United States of America   AT THE BEACH
Moderator

ramsfan1977 wrote:Amazes me how no other owner are trying to squash the flames set by Richardson and Mcnair... The owner has not said a peep!

I believe tomorrow we may see that change. Unless ESK already has gotten the nod of course.

 by TomSlick
8 years 3 months ago
 Total posts:   2907  
 Joined:  Jun 01 2015
Italy   Many of us know the feeling of the universe conspiring to bring car and driver together.
Superstar

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...some people are just windbags and want to be seen as important pieces on the game board.

Stan is coming to LA. Real estate is his gig and this would be the crowning jewel in his collection. He's got the chips to build it his way, so why would he stick around in poe-dunk town and be forced to build something he doesn't want to build?

Welcome to California, Stan.

 by RedAlice
8 years 3 months ago
 Total posts:   6596  
 Joined:  Aug 07 2015
United States of America   Dallas, Texas
Hall of Fame

RamsFanSince82 wrote:There's so many many misleading/wrong comments coming from McNair. He believes all of the lies that Fabini and Spanos have been telling him.

“In San Diego, they’ve been trying for about 15 years,” McNair told the newspaper. “They’ve had all kinds of political problems there. At one time, half the council went to jail or something. It’s been pretty bad. It’s hard to negotiate when you’ve got to go to the jail to negotiate". LOL

“So they haven’t accomplished anything. They’re saying they’re going to do something now. But in order to do it, they’d have to have a referendum and the referendum isn’t until next June. Well, we can’t have these teams in limbo. You need to have certainty, and you don’t know if the referendum would pass or fail. We can’t take what they’re saying very seriously.”

There's NO certainty with the Carson plan and the crummy STL plan has a lot of uncertainty.


Those jail comments made me realize what a joke he is. You can no longer believe anything he says.

 by SoCalRam78
8 years 3 months ago
 Total posts:   1086  
 Joined:  May 25 2015
United States of America   SoCal
Pro Bowl

TomSlick wrote:I've said it before, and I'll say it again...some people are just windbags and want to be seen as important pieces on the game board.

Stan is coming to LA. Real estate is his gig and this would be the crowning jewel in his collection. He's got the chips to build it his way, so why would he stick around in poe-dunk town and be forced to build something he doesn't want to build?

Welcome to California, Stan.


He's not being forced to build anything. The St. Louis proposal's intent was to block ESK from moving to LA. It's not designed for him to accept an offer. That's why all these politicians getting worked up is hilarious because it's just a sham proposal. They won't have to worry about money leaving the goverment coffers except to pay Bob Blitz and Peadick for their efforts.

Now Bob McNair and the Spanos folk on the committee are trying to make the St. Louis proposal look better at the 11th hour. I mean do these guys even have the authority to grant a larger G4 loan or are they just pulling shit our of their a$$?

That's why even Peadick said the money is conditional. Everything is done strategically. Last week it was the Bob Iger interview, this week McNair goes on the offense. It's all coordinated and timed with the Chargers last home game.

Maybe Stan doesn't have the votes to move, but if people think it's over for him and the Rams are destined to remain in St. Louis and not go to LA, they're f'ing idiots who believe all the PR driven headlines.

 by Hacksaw
8 years 3 months ago
 Total posts:   24523  
 Joined:  Apr 15 2015
United States of America   AT THE BEACH
Moderator

The efforts in StLoo and of Spanos are to achieve a negative outcome. That's no way to go about things.

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9 posts Mar 28 2024