urbanSTL

dbInSouthCity wrote:

roger wyoming II wrote:^ Sure. But he does't need to pay someone like Goldman to figure out how to make things work.

but he is paying someone to figure out how to make things work....he just doesnt have to disclose it since he is paying them directly and unlike here where a public entity ( RSA ) is paying Goldman, thus its public knowledge....

dweebe wrote: Kroenke is partnering with Stockbridge Capital Group. They actually own the Hollywood Park land.
http://stockbridgerealestate.com/
http://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp ... tml#page=1

....I’ve written no fewer than a dozen columns that could be categorized anywhere from “supporting” to “begging for” a new stadium. I want the Chargers to get their dream home in San Diego, have elucidated why I think it’s a win for the region.

The view offered here does not refute that.

Neither does it contradict my contention that the Chargers leaving would be the biggest story in the history of San Diego. I base that on the number of people who would deeply feel the loss and also include in that “story” the ensuing process of moving on from the team’s departure.

But the Chargers are not life and death.

As the time many more San Diegans will have to face that appears to be drawing inevitably near, it would be prudent to grasp onto some perspective.

I was fortunate enough to find it close to home.

...We posed that question to more than 100 Angelenos from all walks of life. We talked to a struggling actor and an A-list entertainer, a bus driver and a barista, natives and transplants, lawyers and self-described hipsters. We also spoke to people like Urbano, residents of Inglewood and Carson who might have a large, loud tenant moving into their backyards. We found pockets of passionate sports fans who felt jilted by the NFL’s extended absence. But that paled to one overarching theme: apathy.

“I kind of want the NFL here, but I think I am the minority,” Urbano says. “In Los Angeles, in Inglewood, and maybe even on my own block. A team could be coming right here, and nobody seems to care.”...

“Are we worse than other cities?” asks 42-year-old Jimmy Smith, a bartender in Venice Beach. “I don’t know. But I do know we’re super fickle. The bandwagon effect is real.”

“I don’t care if this sounds bad,” says Melly Juliana, a 24-year-old model. “I probably wouldn’t go to an NFL game in L.A. unless the team was good.”

The city’s NBA teams offer a good case study. For their first 13 years as cohabitants at the Staples Center, the Lakers dominated the Clippers on the court and in attendance. Then the roles reversed. Since 2012, the Clippers have emerged as championship contenders while their rivals have floundered. For four straight seasons, the Clippers have also outdrawn the Lakers.

Decades ago, attendance at L.A. Rams games whittled when the team struggled. After their 1990 NFC Championship Game appearance, the Rams went 23-57 over their next five seasons. Through the last four, they ranked in the league’s bottom six in attendance. Their final game in L.A., a 24-21 loss to Washington on Christmas Eve in ’94, drew only 25,705 to Anaheim Stadium—590 fewer than a high school game at the same venue eight days earlier. In 1980, the Rams’ first season in Anaheim, they averaged 62,550 fans.

This wasn’t the only reason the Rams left. The team no longer supported itself financially and owner Georgia Frontiere feared that local politicians wouldn’t help build a new stadium. But Frontiere, who died in 2008, was also dismayed by the dwindling interest. “If [the fans] really care about the team and wining,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1993, “then they should not be giving up.”