[SoCalRam78]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-me-sta ... story.html

The site for a stadium that could bring professional football back to the Los Angeles area is 157 acres of moldering garbage and toxic waste, a fenced-off field of weeds that leaks methane, spooks investors and attracts legal trouble.

The parcel is the old Cal Compact Inc. landfill in Carson. Its story is a tangled, four-decade tale of polluted air and poisoned groundwater and failed plans for shopping malls and mobile home parks. And bankruptcies, lawsuits and criminal cases that include the current fraud prosecution of a former labor union pension administrator.

Among the chief promoters of the landfill's gridiron potential are a fallen Hollywood deal-maker, Michael Ovitz, and Carson Mayor Daryl Sweeney, who is awaiting trial on unrelated bribery charges.

But the property is no dump to the National Football League. For the second time in five years, the league is sizing up the wedge of real estate as the would-be address of an NFL franchise, a competitor in the stadium sweepstakes with the Rose Bowl and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

"A number of extraordinary and unusual things have occurred with this property over the years," said Mitchel Whitehead, an attorney for the glaziers union pension fund, which owns the landfill and has been trying to unload it for years. "I cannot overstate the complexity.... It takes 10 to 50 pages of briefings just to describe the background."

Stadium site faces environmental concerns
A view of the old Carson landfill from the corner of Del Amo and Main in where the National Football League is considering constructing a stadium. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Even so, it is one of the roomiest vacant lots in the Los Angeles Basin, and its location near the junction of the San Diego and Harbor freeways is prized.

Last week, the NFL authorized Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to take a $10-million option on the land. Its value is thought to be about $25 million, according to participants in the stadium talks. Over the years, appraisals have fallen as low as zero at the height of the property's pollution troubles.

The NFL has yet to hand off the option dollars, and the league still could turn up its nose at the waste yard -- just as it did in 1999, when Houston eventually won the bidding for a stadium. "We're quite a ways from having any deal in place," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.

Proposed stadium site in Carson
Proposed stadium site in Carson
Much Has Changed

And much has changed since the NFL's previous pass at Carson.

A web of legal disputes over the property -- involving soured investments, ownership stakes and cleanup liabilities -- has been cleared away. A civil case that gave the union pension fund sole title to the landfill, however, might be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On the contamination front, industrial solvents, heavy metals, arsenic and pesticides are being contained or removed under state supervision, although slowly.

Methane leaks are regularly plugged with earth, and extraction wells soon will be installed to vacuum out the gas, said Thomas Cota, who heads the local branch of the state Toxic Substances Control Department.

But the major work remains to be done -- at a cost of $26 million to $35 million, according to state officials and others.

Some cleanup money has come from BKK Corp. -- a successor to Cal Compact -- from the pension fund and from the oil companies that trucked drilling mud and fluids to the landfill, which closed in the 1960s. Any buyer would assume the remaining tab, officials said.

Until then, L.A. MetroMall, the pension-owned firm that holds title, is responsible for the detox job, according to a 1997 federal consent decree. That agreement resulted from a state lawsuit against the firm to require the cleanup.

The pension fund, for its part, sued the oil companies. In a settlement, the firms agreed to payments totaling $10 million. And they, in turn, have sued more than two dozen cities that dumped trash in the landfill, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, in hopes of recouping the money.

Deputy state Atty. Gen. Dennis Ragen said a settlement in that case is expected soon.

Once the cleanup is done, millions more would have to be spent to shore up the spongy terrain for construction. A clay or synthetic "cap" would be placed over the soil to trap pollutants, and pylons would be driven 50 or 60 feet into the ground to support a stadium.

Retail Center Proposed

Last year, GMS Realty of Carlsbad made an offer on the landfill, with designs for a 1.3-million-square-foot retail center. GMS executives are now huddled with the pension fund's trustees to acquire the property for resale to the NFL.

The GMS venture follows a series of aborted efforts to anchor stores, restaurants and movie theaters atop the landfill, whenever a football stadium wasn't on the table. Carson officials touted the site as a base for the Los Angeles Rams in 1978 and the Los Angeles Raiders in 1987.

Other dead-on-arrival proposals called for mobile homes, condominiums and a hotel tower. Many were thwarted by the environmental and legal problems.

The lumpy, wildflower-dusted plot runs along East Del Amo Boulevard, across from the Dominguez Golf Course and hard by the San Diego Freeway. Mobile home parks crowd its boundaries off Main Street and Avalon Boulevard.

A few empty roads cross the landfill. The city also has erected a bridge on Del Amo that vaults the freeway and the Dominguez Channel, connecting the property to the South Bay Pavilion shopping mall.

Just north of the mall is Cal State Dominguez Hills. On Sunday, a 27,000-seat stadium for the Galaxy soccer team will open at the campus, along with a tennis arena and an Olympic training academy.

The privately built stadium, called the Home Depot Center, also will be the summer camp of the San Diego Chargers, one of several NFL franchises said to be considering a move to the area.

In Redevelopment Zone

Backers of a Carson football stadium see it as the perfect complement to the Home Depot Center. They also note that the landfill is within a city redevelopment zone, which could qualify a stadium builder for millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies.

In 1999, the Carson City Council appeared ready to funnel $180 million in redevelopment funds to a stadium. It viewed an NFL venue as the capstone of a decades-long labor to lift Carson, population 90,000, above its roots as a sooty industrial town.

This time around, however, the council might not be so generous. The feeling at City Hall is that football needs Carson as much as Carson needs a stadium. "It has to work for us," said City Manager Jerry Groomes.

But he did not hide his enthusiasm. The stadium "is a real opportunity," Groomes said. "People from all over L.A. and Southern California will know Carson."

Lately, Carson has been known for a blitz by federal investigators, inside City Hall and out.

A former administrator for the Glaziers, Architectural Metal & Glass Workers' pension fund, which began investing in the landfill in 1989, has been indicted on charges of defrauding the union's retirees.

William Seay is accused of overstating the value of the parcel and concealing his ownership interest in an adjoining 14 acres.

From 1995 to 1997, he allegedly sought to enrich himself by persuading the pension fund to increase its investment -- to $33 million -- despite the looming cleanup and engineering expenses.

Seay has pleaded not guilty and faces a September trial. His case has no direct bearing on the NFL negotiations.

Two would-be developers of the landfill also have spent a lot of time in court. In July, Robert Ferrante will be sentenced for his role in a kickback scheme that defrauded the pension fund in a case that involved a San Diego-area housing project.

Ferrante was poised to become a partner in a mall at the flashy stadium-and-retail plaza that Ovitz pitched to the NFL in 1998 and '99. An Irvine savings and loan company that Ferrante owned went bankrupt in the 1980s, in part because of bad loans linked to the Cal Compact property. He and an associate, Peter Sardagna, were acquitted of federal criminal charges in the savings and loan collapse.

Sardagna claimed a 1% stake in the landfill. The pension fund successfully sued to have him scratched from the title. Last week, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that verdict, but Sardagna's lawyer said the battle is not over. "We'll probably file a petition with the Supreme Court," Hillel Chodos said.

Meanwhile, Ovitz's long run of setbacks has continued since his earlier dalliance with the NFL.

The co-founder of Hollywood's powerful Creative Artists Agency, he launched another talent firm, which crashed last year. He had left Creative Artists Agency to become president of Walt Disney Co. in 1995, but was ousted 14 months later.

His precise role in the Carson deal is unclear. Ovitz, who did not respond to requests for comment, has no ownership in the property or formal relationship with the NFL. Offering himself as a sort of go-between, he contacted GMS, the real estate firm, to urge it to listen to the NFL before committing to a mall at the landfill, said company President William Gerrity, the top player in the negotiations between the league and the pension fund.

"He's been a great guy to work with," said Gerrity, who suggested that Ovitz could become a partner in the development.

Scandals Downplayed

Gerrity and NFL spokesman Aiello said the scandals plaguing Carson -- particularly Mayor Sweeney's indictment -- should not be a factor. "All we can do is take it one step at a time," Gerrity said.

Sweeney sits on the five-member City Council that must approve a stadium plan. He is to go on trial in July on charges that he solicited bribes from trash haulers who were seeking city contracts. He has pleaded not guilty.

Several other former elected officials have pleaded guilty to corruption and tax offenses.

Assistant U.S. Atty. John Hueston said federal agents are not through poking through City Hall transactions. He did not elaborate.

Sweeney still reports for work, and appears to be the point man for the stadium. But the indictment has weakened his position on the council, which seems split on the stadium.

"I'm skeptical," said Councilman Jim Dear, who suspects the NFL could be using the landfill as a bargaining chip for the Rose Bowl or Coliseum. "Are they just using Carson as leverage for someplace else?"

Dear said Sweeney's pending trial complicates things. But the mayor emphasized that his indictment has "nothing to do with football."

He hopes to quarterback the campaign to put Carson on the NFL map. In 1999, he was the city's lead cheerleader to convert the landfill into a stadium.

"I've been down this road before," Sweeney said. "It's been a tough property."

[BuiltRamTough]

Nice find, good read.

[Stranger]

Hey, let's build the future of the NFL around this...

The parcel is the old Cal Compact Inc. landfill in Carson. Its story is a tangled, four-decade tale of polluted air and poisoned groundwater and failed plans for shopping malls and mobile home parks. And bankruptcies, lawsuits and criminal cases that include the current fraud prosecution of a former labor union pension administrator.

[dieterbrock]

Boy if i didnt know what the article was about, I'd swear they were talking about Bora Bora. Place sounds downright nirvana-ish

[Hacksaw]

From the more things that make you wonder' file:

The NFL has yet to hand off the option dollars, and the league still could turn up its nose at the waste yard -- just as it did in 1999, when Houston eventually won the bidding for a stadium. "We're quite a ways from having any deal in place," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.

So does anyone think that McNair might have been dissing the Carson site back then? What ever fit's his fiddle I guess.

[Hacksaw]

This write takes us through the last day of football in LA. A bit of a primer for what is about to happen (or just did Thurs) in St Loo..

http://mmqb.si.com/2014/06/04/nfl-histo ... os-angeles

[Hacksaw]

Lease ends ticket guarantee, Chargers' lawsuit
Jul 13, 2004

ESPN.com news services

San Diego Chargers: By a one-sided vote, the San Diego City Council has approved a new lease that ends a costly ticket guarantee and a lawsuit filed against the city by the Chargers, but which also permits the team to relocate following the 2008 NFL season.

The lease agreement, which passed by a 7-1 vote, had been strongly endorsed by Mayor Dick Murphy and also by Chargers ownership. Said team spokesman Mark Fabiani: "The Chargers are agreeing to this lease amendment for one simple reason. We want to be in San Diego permanently."

That said, the team, which is seeking a new facility near the site of Qualcomm Stadium, can begin shopping for a new home on Jan. 1, 2007, if it desires. The Chargers could leave the city after the '08 season if they pay off $57.7 million in outstanding bonds that the city used to expand and renovate Qualcomm Stadium in 1997.

In exchange for the potential franchise free agency, the city will no longer guarantee the Chargers the equivalent of guaranteed sellouts. Since 1997, the city has been obligated to ensure the Chargers revenue equivalent to the price of 60,000 general admission tickets. So on those home dates for which games were not sold out, the city had to make up the difference, an amount totaling $36.4 million since '97.

Over that period, the Chargers paid about $43 million in rent, meaning the city netted only about $1 million a year. "The city will never again be obligated to buy another football ticket," Murphy said. San Diego is also out from under a suit by the Chargers which contended the team had met predetermined financial "triggers" which allowed the franchise to renegotiate its lease.

The new lease runs through 2020, with the Chargers agreeing to pay $2.5 million in annual rent through 2013, then $3 million per year through 2016, and $4 million per year through 2020. Even though the deal provides the team as escape, few observers feel the Chargers will move, even though there have been rumors for years that the franchise might eventually relocate to the currently vacant Los Angeles market.

-- Information from ESPN.com senior writer Len Pasquarelli and The Associated Press was used in this report.


This is a deal they can't live with? The Q is pretty run down though.
So basically Spanos has been a free agent since 2008. ESK has been a free agent since 2014. Spanos can argue he's tried longer. Kroenke can argue the "Snoose Ya Lose" rule of law.

[bubbaramfan]

Great find. Daryll Swenney spent five years in prison and was released to a halfway house in 2009. Haven't heard from him since.

This article mentions al the lawsuits concering the cleanup. A lot of that is still unresolved and pending in court.

NFL owners best be aware of what they are getting

The Carson site is a tangled web of lawsuits, toxic waste cleanup, and corrupt politicians and union bosses.

Pandora's Box.

[Hacksaw]

It would serve them right is they went that far astray.

[Hacksaw]

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/16/sport ... louis.html

PRO FOOTBALL
PRO FOOTBALL; N.F.L. Owners Reject Rams' Bid to Move To St. Louis

¶PHOENIX, March 15— In a fragmented scene that was the order of the day and possibly a hint of the future, the National Football League owners today overwhelmingly rejected the Los Angeles Rams' bid to move to St. Louis. Paul Tagliabue, the N.F.L. commissioner, announced the vote as 21 against, 3 for and 6 abstaining.

¶ Moments later, in a separate news conference at the other end of the sprawling resort complex where the owners are conducting their annual meeting, the Rams' owner, Georgia Frontiere, defiantly announced that she was disappointed and said that the league's conditions for approval of the move were "arbitrary, capricious and not based on precedent." She hinted that the Rams would sue the league in an attempt to force a move to St. Louis.

¶ The battle lines were clearly drawn.

¶ "We had long and very thorough discussions," Tagliabue said. "This was one of the most complex issues we have had to approach in years. We had to balance the interest of fans in Los Angeles and in St. Louis that we appreciate very much. In my judgment, they did not meet the guidelines we have in place for such a move. We are still hoping to avoid litigation. We are trying to be sensible and fair."

¶ Tagliabue said the Rams did not meet several league criteria for a move, including showing large financial losses over several years.

¶ He said that the league had tried to negotiate conditions with the Rams that would have allowed the move and that those conditions included:

¶ *Some revenue sharing from the Rams from their new agreement with St. Louis.

¶ *A solution on how to deal with the Fox network on TV rights since Fox would be losing the only National Football Conference team in the nation's No. 2 market.

¶ *The Rams' financial involvement in building a stadium in Los Angeles for a new N.F.C. team that would have eventually been placed there, likely through expansion.

¶ The Rams could not meet the conditions, Tagilabue said.

¶ Frontiere countered that the Rams had offered the league "a substantial" amount of money but that the league balked.

¶ "We made a good-faith effort to settle," Frontiere said, obviously unhappy that the league made such sweeping demands at all. "We will meet with the people of St. Louis to decide our options. As I told the owners, the last chapter has yet to be written and I look forward to a happy ending. You know, the last play of the game is when the quarterback kneels to run out the clock. I am not going to be the quarterback kneeling. The clock is still ticking."

¶ Thus, it looks as if a court battle is inevitable and that more suits may be on the way. The Missouri Attorney General earlier this week threatened to sue the N.F.L. if it rejected the deal the Rams and St. Louis had already made. There is also the possibility that both sides could negotiate a settlement.

¶ Only the Cincinnati Bengals and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers voted in favor of the Rams' move to St. Louis. The Rams, who moved from Cleveland to Los Angeles in 1946, joined the vote to make the total three in favor.

¶ Al Davis, the Raiders' owner, whose team is also in a state of confusion over where it will play its games this season because of problems with the Los Angeles Coliseum, abstained in today's vote. Davis, of course, sued the league and won the right to move his team from Oakland to Los Angeles in 1982.

¶ The Saints, Falcons, Seahawks, Colts and Chargers also abstained.

¶ As far as the Rams' returning to the Los Angeles area in general and to Anaheim Stadium in particular, where fan interest had waned, as had Rams victories, Tagliabue said:

¶ "Once the bridges have been burned and people get turned off on a sports franchise, years of loyalty is not respected and it is difficult to get it back. By the same token, there are millions of fans in that area who have supported the Rams in an extraordinary way. The Rams have 50 years of history and the last 5 or so years of difficult times can be corrected."