The past week included a few developments in the chase to place an NFL team back in Los Angeles. But with plenty of other things going on, including two key games to be played on Sunday and the question of whether any games will be played on Sundays in the fall come September, we opted to wait until the weekend to sort it all out.
The biggest highlight? As the folks from AEG continue the process of laying the foundation to eventually lay the foundation for a new stadium in downtown L.A., point man Tim Leiweke has made it known that, if the plan moves forward, up to two teams are ready to move toward Los Angeles.
“We have spent time with teams looking for a new stadium,” Leiweke said, per the Los Angeles Times. “There are one or two teams ready to move. Mr. Anschutz believes a team will come if we build it.”
One of those teams very well could be the Chargers. Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune explains that new/old Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal to scrap redevelopment agencies as a tool for securing public financing would destroy the plan to build a downtown San Diego venue for the Chargers, setting the stage for them to move to the $1 billion L.A. stadium that supposedly will be privately financed, with the use of $350 billion in bonds.
“We’re done, finished,” Chargers stadium finagling guru Mark Fabiani said Friday, per Sullivan. “Redevelopment money is an essential part of the downtown concept and without it, the project is dead.”
Though some say the AEG plan has holes, the alternative in the City of Industry could be a viable option. Either way, it’s looking more and more like there will be a new NFL stadium in L.A., and the only questions are when it will open and which name will appear on the scoreboard as the home team.