Hail-To-The-Thief
07-12-2008, 04:20 PM
CA will benefit overall as Roski and NFL move toward LA Stadium deal
By Chandra Sharma
Managing Editor of Fox&Hounds and Political Communications Consultant
Tue, June 17th, 2008
As a 49ers fan, I had a good laugh in 1994 when the Los Angeles Rams and
Los Angeles Raiders both fled their home city in the same season as the
likelyhood of new or renovated stadiums for the two teams became
increasingly unlikely, despite several promises to the contrary. Nearly
15 years later, it's no longer a laughing matter.
Los Angeles, the country's largest media market, has been without a
professional football franchise since the 1994 season. The San Diego
Chargers and Oakland Raiders both play in venues that are considered to
be vastly outdated by modern standards, and the San Francisco 49ers
still play at Candlestick Park, which has not undergone a major
renovation since 1971 and is widely considered to be the most
dilapidated in-use venue in American professional sports.
The news last week that the NFL is warming to developer Ed Roski's
recent LA stadium proposal could serve as the catalyst to turn this
situation around.
Several proposals for new football stadiums in the greater Los Angleles
area have come and gone over the past twenty years, but none has
appeared to be quite as refined or thought out as that put forth by
Roski. Aspects of the stadium design, such as the use of hilly terrain
to vastly reduce the cost of construction and the multi-use capabilities
of the planned surrounding development, as well as Roski's surprising
success in gaining support from local elected officials in the City of
Industry, where the proposed stadium site is located, gives the plan a
strong possibility of success.
Los Angeles aside, a lot is at stake for California as a whole. The
successful construction of a Los Angeles stadium would immediately
entice California's three existing football franchises to move to Los
Angeles and take advantage of both a brand new, state-of-the-art venue
as well as a large and vastly profitable media market. As a result, the
cities of San Francisco, San Diego, and Oakland and their surrounding
localities, which thus far have had the luxury of dragging their feet
and stonewalling their sports franchises on the possibility of new
venues, would be forced to change course or risk the possibility of
their teams opting for a lucrative LA deal.
Best case scenario -- a strong possibility exists that California could
see four state-of-the-art sports venues open in the next seven years,
along with a potential investment of eight billion dollars into the
state economy from construction alone. Cities would benefit by owning
and operating versatile facilities that could attract events such as the
World Cup, NCAA tournaments and bowl games, outdoor concerts and more.
And the Super Bowl, for which the NFL has been itching to add a
California venue to regular rotation, would bring hundreds of millions
more in tourism investments; Arizona has estimated that last year's game
brought $500 million to their state economy, and that number would only
grow if the event were to come back to California.
Business and Political leaders from throughout California should see the
obvious benefits to the success of the Los Angeles project, as well as
others across the state seeking to build modern outdoor venues. If Ed
Roski is able to pull his plan off, he will have played a large part in
helping jumpstart a stagnant part of our state's economy - something
California desperately needs.
--------------------
By Chandra Sharma
Managing Editor of Fox&Hounds and Political Communications Consultant
Tue, June 17th, 2008
As a 49ers fan, I had a good laugh in 1994 when the Los Angeles Rams and
Los Angeles Raiders both fled their home city in the same season as the
likelyhood of new or renovated stadiums for the two teams became
increasingly unlikely, despite several promises to the contrary. Nearly
15 years later, it's no longer a laughing matter.
Los Angeles, the country's largest media market, has been without a
professional football franchise since the 1994 season. The San Diego
Chargers and Oakland Raiders both play in venues that are considered to
be vastly outdated by modern standards, and the San Francisco 49ers
still play at Candlestick Park, which has not undergone a major
renovation since 1971 and is widely considered to be the most
dilapidated in-use venue in American professional sports.
The news last week that the NFL is warming to developer Ed Roski's
recent LA stadium proposal could serve as the catalyst to turn this
situation around.
Several proposals for new football stadiums in the greater Los Angleles
area have come and gone over the past twenty years, but none has
appeared to be quite as refined or thought out as that put forth by
Roski. Aspects of the stadium design, such as the use of hilly terrain
to vastly reduce the cost of construction and the multi-use capabilities
of the planned surrounding development, as well as Roski's surprising
success in gaining support from local elected officials in the City of
Industry, where the proposed stadium site is located, gives the plan a
strong possibility of success.
Los Angeles aside, a lot is at stake for California as a whole. The
successful construction of a Los Angeles stadium would immediately
entice California's three existing football franchises to move to Los
Angeles and take advantage of both a brand new, state-of-the-art venue
as well as a large and vastly profitable media market. As a result, the
cities of San Francisco, San Diego, and Oakland and their surrounding
localities, which thus far have had the luxury of dragging their feet
and stonewalling their sports franchises on the possibility of new
venues, would be forced to change course or risk the possibility of
their teams opting for a lucrative LA deal.
Best case scenario -- a strong possibility exists that California could
see four state-of-the-art sports venues open in the next seven years,
along with a potential investment of eight billion dollars into the
state economy from construction alone. Cities would benefit by owning
and operating versatile facilities that could attract events such as the
World Cup, NCAA tournaments and bowl games, outdoor concerts and more.
And the Super Bowl, for which the NFL has been itching to add a
California venue to regular rotation, would bring hundreds of millions
more in tourism investments; Arizona has estimated that last year's game
brought $500 million to their state economy, and that number would only
grow if the event were to come back to California.
Business and Political leaders from throughout California should see the
obvious benefits to the success of the Los Angeles project, as well as
others across the state seeking to build modern outdoor venues. If Ed
Roski is able to pull his plan off, he will have played a large part in
helping jumpstart a stagnant part of our state's economy - something
California desperately needs.
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