Rams Owner Stan Kroenke's proposed venue in Inglewood "won over NFL owners" yesterday, as the "ambitious project ... encompasses far more than a football stadium," according to Tom Pelissero of USA TODAY. Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones called Kroenke’s vision "absolutely the greatest plan ever conceived in sports, as far as how to put the show on." NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell: "It’s more than just a stadium. It’s a project, an entertainment complex, that we believe will be responsive to the kind of things that we need to be successful with our fans in the Los Angeles market." Pelissero notes the enclosed, glass-roofed facility -- "is just part of the plan." Jones said there could be as much as $15B in developing what amounts to "a city that has the NFL as a featured aspect of it." Texans Owner Bob McNair noted that there "will be space for the league-owned NFL Network on the premises and the ability for the stadium to be home to two teams" (USA TODAY, 1/13). USA TODAY's Martin Rogers notes Inglewood Mayor James Butts' determination to, "first of all, back a multi-faceted entertainment complex in Inglewood, then lobby extensively for NFL approval to fill it, played a crucial role" (USA TODAY, 1/13).
STADIUM ARCADIUM: In L.A., Farmer & Fenno in a front-page piece note the Rams' privately funded new home "will be the league's biggest stadium by square feet, a low-slung, glass-roofed football palace with a projected opening" in '19 and a price tag that could approach $3B. The stadium "will have identical locker rooms, offices and owner's suites for two teams." There will be 70,240 seats and the capacity "can be expanded to add 30,000 people in standing-room-only areas for large events." The venue will be set 100 feet into the ground with a 175-foot above-ground profile, and developers "hope to host such indoor events" as the Final Four, Pro Bowl and NFL combine, as well as conventions and award shows. The stadium "would be open on the sides, allowing breezes to flow through and enhance the outdoor feel" (L.A. TIMES, 1/13). L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said, "It won't just be for football games. There will be soccer games in there, there’s an entertainment complex they’re envisioning. And housing as well, which is badly needed in the area" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 1/13). In California, Jim Carlisle notes it will be "much more than a stadium." Carlisle: "The grounds will also have a performing arts venue, along with homes and shopping" (VENTURA COUNTY STAR, 1/13).
I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND? The L.A. Daily News' Vincent Bonsignore said team owners were "enamored with the vision that Stan Kroenke had for the entrance back" to L.A. The Inglewood project will be a "mega-market entertainment hub that’s a lot like L.A. Live or Staples Center is, but even bigger." Bonsignore: "They just liked that idea of an NFL Disneyland in Southern California, and it’s going to be the model not just of L.A., but for other stadiums across the country as they move on into the future.” ESPN L.A.'s Ramona Shelburne: "This is not just a stadium, this is going to be a whole retail complex. ... This is now a new epicenter for culture in Los Angeles." She said the NFL has "always liked the idea of having retail and movies and everything else that’s going to be around in this stadium” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 1/13).
NAME YOUR PRICE: BLOOMBERG NEWS' Novy-Williams, Soshnick & Weber cite an Apex Marketing Group study as showing that the Inglewood stadium "could command" about $25M annually in naming rights, "more than triple what the Rams would get had they stayed in St. Louis." That is money Kroenke "won’t split with other owners." The same is true of the "revenue created by the new facility’s 274 luxury boxes and 16,300 premium seats, local sponsorships, radio and pre-season television broadcast money or game day sales, concessions and parking." Apex estimated the Rams "could generate" more than $192M a year from "sponsors and premium seats if they’re the sole team in the stadium" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 1/12).
TEMPORARY HOUSING: In L.A., Baxter & Klein note the Rams' "most likely landing place" while they wait for the Inglewood stadium to be built is the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, which "is ready to offer refuge to one team and may be interested in trying to find room for the other." The NFL last July "issued a request for proposals from Southern California stadium operators that could temporarily host a team." In response, USC, which manages the Coliseum, said that it "hoped to welcome a team" for the '16 season. The return of two professional teams to the stadium "would be a financial windfall for USC, which needs to fund" a proposed $270M upgrade to the stadium it presented in a preliminary plan to the Coliseum Commission last October. USC's lease agreement "limits the number of major events at the Coliseum to 25 in a calendar year, although there is an exception." If one NFL team uses the stadium on a temporary basis, its games "won't count toward the major-event limitation so long as the total number of major events does not exceed 30 in a calendar year" (L.A. TIMES, 1/13). But CNBC's Becky Quick pointed out the Rams are "going back to the stadium that they hated. That they left back in the 1980s" ("Squawk Box," CNBC, 1/13).
