It’s starting to heat up behind the scenes as it relates to potential NFL relocation to Los Angeles. The day after the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers hired former San Francisco 49ers president Carmen Policy to head the Carson stadium project, it appears that the two teams have closed on a deal to acquire the land to build a stadium in the Southern California city.
According to Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times, the two teams have finalized a deal to acquire a 157-acre lot of land near the 405 freeway in Carson, California.
The report goes on to say that the city of Carson would retain control of the land if a joint stadium isn’t built in the city.
The transfer of the land from Carson Marketplace to the Raiders and Chargers will be channeled through Carson Holdings—a new company created by the two AFC West division rivals.
This also comes on the heels of a report from the San Francisco Chronicle that indicates plans to build a stadium for the Raiders in Oakland are nearly dead.
Some are calling this a power play to get the cities of Oakland and San Diego to step up as it relates to building stadiums in their markets. But as the weeks and months drag on without any substantive progress in each city, the Carson plan becomes more viable.
With the land now in play, we can expect groundbreaking on a new joint stadium to take place at some point later this year.
Photo: Manica Architecture