[Elvis]

Which means Vinny no longer has the NFL in L.A. space to himself:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp ... story.html

NFL panel meets with backers of Carson, Inglewood stadium proposals

By SAM FARMER

The NFL's committee on Los Angeles opportunities met at league headquarters in New York on Wednesday and heard updated presentations from backers of stadium proposals in Carson and Inglewood.

In attendance at the meeting were the owners on the committee, headed by Art Rooney II of the Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and several of the league's other top executives.

It was the first time the committee heard from Carmen Policy, who is representing both the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders, serving as one voice for the Carson concept.

"We as a group felt the presentation went extremely well, and we got our entire message across," said Policy, who formerly was president of the San Francisco 49ers and later president and a minority owner of the Cleveland Browns. "We were able, maybe for the first time, to totally organize what we've been doing, what we've accomplished, and what we're going to continue to do, and why Carson is absolutely the site for a new stadium."

Policy said the two-team solution "is the right move for the league" in returning to the nation's No. 2 market, as long as those teams are on an equal footing.

"All the people who have evaluated these scenarios say that if you're going to have two teams in the market, you can't let one have an established base and start over the other," Policy said. "The league doesn't want a situation where you have an owner and a tenant. You don't want it the way it used to be for the Giants and Jets. Both teams have to have equal status in the building."

Meanwhile, St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke is touting his own stadium project on nearly 300 acres in Inglewood, on the site of the former Hollywood Park racetrack. Pending league approval — which could come by year's end — Kroenke intends to begin construction in December on a complex that includes a stadium, a performance-arts theater and a massive area of housing and retail space.

Representatives of Kroenke declined to comment on the meeting, but they presented an update on the Inglewood design and costs, as well as bringing the owners up to speed on what's happening in the St. Louis market.

The NFL is keeping close tabs on the competing proposals and what the three current home markets are doing to keep their teams.

The league has taken the unusual step of scheduling an owners' meeting in August in Chicago so the entire membership can hear the stadium presentations.

[email protected]

[Elvis]

And here's Vinny's piece:

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/2015061 ... -nfl-to-la

Rams, Raiders, Chargers pitch proposals to bring back NFL to L.A.

By Vincent Bonsignore, Los Angeles Daily News
POSTED: 06/10/15, 8:41 PM PDT | UPDATED: 2 HRS AGO 0 COMMENTS

The starting line is a bit blurry and the finish line is still a few months away, but the three-team race to bring the NFL back to Los Angeles is most certainly underway.

And the winding course passed through New York on Wednesday, where the St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers updated the NFL’s six-owner Los Angeles Opportunity Committee on the status of stadium plans in their home markets and, more importantly, where things stand with the Ram’s Inglewood stadium project and the Chargers’ and Raiders’ Carson proposal.

The NFL will reconvene in Chicago on Aug. 11 for a Los Angeles-specific meeting in which all 32 owners will be updated on where things stand at that point.

Although plenty of unresolved issues remain — including what San Diego and Oakland can deliver in terms of local stadium plans to keep the Chargers and Raiders — it’s looking more and more like the NFL will soon decide between the Rams’ Inglewood plan and the Raiders’ and Chargers’ Carson project by early next year, if not sooner.

Which made Wednesday an important part of the process.

And make no mistake, the Los Angeles aspect of the updates most certainly dominated the day, with longtime NFL executive Carmen Policy delivering most of the Carson message on behalf of Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Raiders owner Mark Davis, and Rams owner Stan Kroenke and team president Kevin Demoff updating owners on Inglewood.

The Rams declined comment, but their thinking seems clear: They are selling their site and their long history in Los Angeles as the keys to insure a successful return to Los Angeles, while also being willing participants in helping the Chargers and Raiders secure financially beneficial new stadiums and futures.

With a ready-made fan base in L.A., the financial might of a multi-billionaire owner and an extravagant stadium on a site Los Angeles fans are familiar with, the Rams are pushing their plan as NFL’s best bet for a successful re-entry into the second-biggest market in the country after a 20-year absence.

The message: The NFL has one shot to get it right in L.A. and that’s the Rams in Inglewood.

Meanwhile, by working together with the Chargers and Raiders, and with room to add another team, perhaps one team comes on as a partner and the other gets a helping hand building a new stadium in their current market. In doing so, all teams objectives will be met.

The Carson proposal was spearheaded by Policy, who stressed that the open-air, football-first, fan-first stadium sitting on 168 acres of easily accessible land is a perfect fit for Los Angeles football fans.

Just as importantly, Carson would solve the longtime stadium battles of two California teams while also creating a strong return to Los Angeles.

“I truly believe we got our message across,” Policy said. “What we were able to do today is explain to the committee and staff everything that’s been going on, all the hard work and expenditures of money, time and effort and this is where we are.

“We spent time on the two-team solution solving the two California team dilemma,” Policy added. “The Raiders and Chargers are in the oldest stadiums in the NFL. This is the opportunity to now, with a creative and aggressive step on the part of the NFL, clear up the adversity of two-thirds of their presence in California.”

Among the other aspects of the Carson updates were financing details provided by a representative from Goldman Sachs, the hiring of Legends Marketing firm to market the Raiders and Chargers and how Carson offers the NFL a chance to be involved at ground zero of a stadium site that will include land for the NFL Network, a Hall of Fame and league-specific design concepts with events like the Super Bowl in mind.

“I think they listened,” Policy said. “I think they were impressed with location, I think they were impressed with the financing plan, and we tried to truly impress them with the concept of open-air quintessential Southern California and environment. Don’t put yourself in an enclosed mall. Don’t put yourself in an arena setting. This is the kind of atmosphere and fan experience the fans in Southern California would want.”

Whether the NFL wants Carson — or Inglewood for that matter — remains to be seen. But after Wednesday, the league clearly has more to think about.

[email protected] @DailyNewsVinny on Twitter

[Elvis]

Demoff helped give the Inglewood proposal, that won't sit well with some folks...

[Hacksaw]

Got to admit this Policy can really work it.

[Elvis]

He's paid to to PR and he's the only one who will talk to reporters. So we're only hearing what the Chargers want us (and San Diego) to hear.

[moklerman]

Got to admit this Policy can really work it.

That's pretty much the MO for this whole crazy process. Carson bangs some drums, Stan just gets things done.

[Hacksaw]

He's paid to to PR and he's the only one who will talk to reporters. So we're only hearing what the Chargers want us (and San Diego) to hear.

This is correct sir. So many in the Lou seem to mistake the 'silence of the Rams' to be good news, when all it is is silence. I mentioned before that it has become quite obvious that only the frightened cities are making any noise.

[Hacksaw]

Got to admit this Policy can really work it.

That's pretty much the MO for this whole crazy process. Carson bangs some drums, Stan just gets things done.

Elvis we need a "LIKE" button. lol

[Elvis]

Got to admit this Policy can really work it.

That's pretty much the MO for this whole crazy process. Carson bangs some drums, Stan just gets things done.

It's definitely nerve wracking and in the end none of us knows for sure how it will turn out but as Farmer writes:

Pending league approval — which could come by year's end — Kroenke intends to begin construction in December on a complex that includes a stadium, a performance-arts theater and a massive area of housing and retail space.

Like you said, Stan's just doing the work...

[Elvis]

Got to admit this Policy can really work it.

That's pretty much the MO for this whole crazy process. Carson bangs some drums, Stan just gets things done.

Elvis we need a "LIKE" button. lol

There's a like button available but it's a heart and i'm not putting hearts on our website. So until i come up with a better solution you may have to resort to +1...