October 07, 2009
L.A. developers target six (or seven) NFL teams
Majestic Realty stadium czar John Semcken has officially announced his hit list for NFL franchises to lure to Los Angeles, and it looks like the L.A. Times guessed right:
Semcken said new talks would begin after the Super Bowl in February, and may involve the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Buffalo Bills, the Minnesota Vikings, the St. Louis Rams, the Chargers and the Oakland Raiders.
The San Francisco 49ers could also be pursued if a vote for a new stadium in Santa Clara fails.
Semcken said a new stadium could open in 2013, but a team could be relocated as early as next year or the year after, playing at a temporary site for the first couple of years.
In related news, Majestic owner Ed Roski has lost $1 billion of his $2.5 billion net worth in the last year, according to Forbes, thanks to the California real estate crash. Stadium consultant Marc Ganis calls this "significant"; Majestic says it's just a flesh wound.
June 02, 2009
Rams for sale, could seek to break lease?
St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz has ignited a firestorm of media chatter with his column Sunday indicating that the Rams are for sale, and could be headed out of town:
The owners will ask Goldman Sachs to help facilitate the sale of the Rams by evaluating bids and soliciting potential buyers.
The sale price is unknown, but Forbes magazine's most recent estimate listed the Rams' value at $929 million.
And if you are a St. Louis Rams fan, here's the reason to be concerned: I'm told there will be no preconditions attached to the sale of the Rams. This means the Rams could be scooped up by out-of-town buyers.
The Rams, you'll recall, have a 30-year lease on the Edward Jones Dome, but were clever enough to include a provision that lets them break the deal if the building isn't among the 25% most "state of the art" in the NFL, something Miklasz says ain't gonna happen:
It's virtually impossible for the CVC to meet that top-eight standard. By 2010, 23 NFL stadiums will have been built or thoroughly renovated since the Edward Jones Dome opened in 1995.
Even with a $30 million upgrade that's being done now, the Edward Jones Dome will be one of the oldest stadiums in the NFL by 2015.
If all this sounds familiar, it's because it comes exactly one year and one day after a similar Post-Dispatch article asserting that St. Louis needs to replace the dome or else see the Rams leave town. It looks increasingly like St. Louis is headed for another major football stadium showdown, just 14 years after their last one.