Carson Stadium

The Carson Stadium (in renderings referred to as Los Angeles Stadium) is an American football stadium planned to be built in Carson, California, United States, 13 miles (21 km) south of downtown Los Angeles. It is proposed to become the home of the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders of the National Football League.^[1] The Chargers and Raiders are planning a shared, $1.7 billion stadium in the city of Carson, if both teams fail to get new stadiums in their current hometowns.^[2]

Background

Since 2007, the Chargers have had an option every February 1 to terminate their lease at Qualcomm Stadium, their home since 1967. They would owe the city an exit fee if they were to relocate – they would have had to pay the city $17.6 million if they had left in 2015. The team had been working to build a publicly funded stadium since 2002 and proposed a new stadium as part of a convention center annex. However, the plan faced opposition from local politicians and hotel owners who have voiced a preference for an expansion of the existing San Diego Convention Center. In December 2014, the Chargers announced they would stay for the 2015 season.^[3]

The Raiders had been working with Oakland politicians to build a commercial development project dubbed the Coliseum City project that would include new stadiums for the Raiders and the Oakland Athletics, who currently share O.co Coliseum, which opened in 1966. The team has offered to contribute $300 million with an additional $200 million coming from the NFL, but that would leave $500 million of funding to be determined and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf expressed opposition to using public funds. In March 2015, the Raiders agreed to a lease extension that would keep the team in Oakland through the 2015 season.^[4]

Proposal development

On February 19, 2015, the Raiders and Chargers announced plans for a privately-financed $1.7 billion stadium that the two teams would build in Carson if they were to move to the Los Angeles market.^[5] Both teams stated that they would continue to attempt to get stadiums built in their respective cities.^[6]

On April 22, 2015, the Carson City Council bypassed the option to put the stadium to public vote and approved the plan 3-0.^[7] The council voted without having clarified several issues, including who would finance the stadium, how the required three-way land swap would be performed, and how it would raise enough revenue if only one team moved in as tenant.^[8]

Design

In April 2015, the Chargers and Raiders presented the stadium design renderings to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league's Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities. The proposed stadium is open-air with natural turf, has a perityle design inspired by the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and a 115- to 120-foot tower that rises above the main concourse and depending on which team is playing, displays a simulated lightning bolts for the Chargers or a flame in honor of the late Raiders owner Al Davis.^[9]

Rival sites

In April 2015, the St. Louis Rams also presented their own Los Angeles stadium plan for a site in Inglewood, California, where construction is planned to begin December 2015 with or without an NFL tenant. Any team relocation would require a three-quarters majority vote of the league's owners.^[9]

References