Carson Mayor Albert Robles "isn’t happy" with the Chargers and Raiders "after their failed attempt" to build a $1.7B stadium in the city, according to Miller & Fenno of the L.A. TIMES. Robles: "During the last six months or so, I bit my tongue. I didn’t say anything negative publicly about our partners. But now that it’s over, I want the story to be told that they never really considered us a partner in the sense of what the term ‘partner’ means." He added, "This isn’t about Carson not getting it. This is about how the Chargers, Raiders … treated their partner. And maybe this is the way things are done in the NFL." He said that Chargers Chair Dean Spanos "should reflect on how he treated his Carson partners." Robles: "He treated us poorly. I hope Kroenke treats him poorly is my point." Robles "doesn’t believe Carson had enough input in the process." A spokesperson for the Carson project responded to Robles' comments, saying the Chargers and Raiders "value our relationship" with Carson's city government. Robles also "expressed disappointment" with Disney Chair & CEO Bob Iger. Robles said that he "expected to have a substantive dialogue with Iger but said he spoke to him only once" (L.A. TIMES, 1/23).
BLACK HOLE STUN: In Oakland, Matthew Artz wrote despite some major disagreements, Raiders and Oakland officials "have the same game plan for financing a new football stadium: entice a developer to help pay for it in return for cheap land and a piece of the team." But real estate professionals "doubt whether that strategy can close" the estimated $300M funding gap for a stadium the Raiders say will cost $900M, "leaving the team's long-term fate further in question after the NFL rejected its bid to move" to L.A. Any developer "would face pressure to build less profitable affordable housing and to use union construction workers while operating in a section of town that has seen the economic boom mostly pass it by." The professionals also said that even more important is the Raiders' "insistence on preserving most of the 120-acre Coliseum site for tailgating-friendly surface parking spaces limits any developer's ability to turn a profit" (OAKLAND TRIBUNE, 1/24). ESPN.com's Adam Schefter cited a source as saying that if the Chargers do move to L.A., the Raiders "could move to San Diego" for the '17 or '18 season. One source called a Raiders move to San Diego "very viable" (ESPN.com, 1/24).
TICK...TICK...TICK...: In L.A., Vincent Bonsignore wrote it has been several days since Chargers and Rams reps met to discuss the possibility of the Chargers joining the Rams as Inglewood stadium partners, and the “silence since then has been deafening.” It has left those “wondering just how badly” Spanos wants to be in L.A. As each second “ticks away without a decision, it sends a horrible message to the city the Chargers might soon call home.” Bonsignore: “We kind of sort of think we want to move to L.A., but we aren’t quite sure we really do or not, so we need more time to think about it. Word of advice to the Chargers: L.A. doesn’t do passive aggressive very well. Every day the Chargers take to decide is another day they lose ground to the Rams” (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 1/23).
STAYING PUT? Stanford Univ. professor of economics emeritus Roger Noll in an op-ed wrote under the header, "What Rams Football Will And Won't Bring To L.A." If the Chargers "come to town, the prices the Rams can charge for tickets, luxury boxes and personal seat licenses will have to drop a bit." The Rams "probably will then seek compensation from the Chargers in high rent or control of some revenue sources from Chargers games." Add that to the $500M the Chargers "would have to pay the NFL to relocate in Los Angeles, and that deal has very long odds." Noll: "Expect the Chargers to stay in San Diego. If they move, it's more plausible that they'll end up in San Antonio or Las Vegas. Or even St. Louis." Meanwhile, L.A. "shouldn't anticipate a boom in job creation or real estate development" from the Rams. Noll: "Turn your hopes instead to getting tickets -- and a winning season" (L.A. TIMES, 1/22). In Boston, Ben Volin wrote, "Hopefully Spanos treads carefully with any decision to move to Los Angeles. There seems to be growing sentiment that Los Angeles doesn’t need, or want, the Chargers. What exactly would the Chargers bring to the table for Los Angeles? The Rams have all the juice right now." It would be "a real shame if Spanos doesn’t take that time to exhaust all efforts with San Diego to keep the Chargers where they belong" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/24). In San Diego, Peter Rowe wrote L.A. has "shunned the embraces" of the Chargers (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/24). Also in San Diego, Tom Krasovic wrote under the header, "L.A. Pundit Overpraises Dean Spanos" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/23).
