A proposed US$1.7 billion stadium in Los Angeles that could re-establish NFL in the US’ second-biggest city moved closer to reality after a favorable vote by a local city council on Tuesday.
The 3-0 vote by the Carson City Council marks a significant step forward for plans to lure the NFL back to the Los Angeles area after two decades without a team.
The next moves now belong to the proposed tenant teams — the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders — and to the NFL.
Council members could have opted to put the issue before Carson voters, but instead chose to approve it outright themselves as state law allows.
The Carson project is one of two stadium proposals to surface in the Los Angeles area this year: St Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke is part of a group planning to build an 80,000-seat stadium in Inglewood, close to downtown Los Angeles.
The sudden rush to Los Angeles is tempered by a 20-year history of disappointment for fans. A string of stadium proposals have come and gone since the Rams and the Raiders relocated after the 1994 season.
Last month, the Anschutz Entertainment Group spiked plans for a field in downtown Los Angeles, although Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has suggested that it could be revived.
The Kroenke blueprint envisions a US$1.86 billion stadium rising on the site of a former horse-racing track, as part of a nearly 121.4 hectare development of homes, parks and office space.
The 168 hectare Carson site, edged by a freeway, is a former landfill.
Under current rules, the next opportunity for a team to file to relocate would be in January next year. Any decision to move would have to clear a tangle of league hurdles, including winning the support of at least 24 of the 32 teams.
The Chargers’ talks with San Diego City Hall to replace the nearly 50-year-old Qualcomm Stadium have grown increasingly strained. The Raiders’ even older Oakland Coliseum has had sewage and electrical problems and is now the only stadium in the US that is home to an NFL team and a Major League Baseball team — the Oakland Athletics.
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