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CHRIS MORTENSEN WRONG: NEW CBA DOES NOT HAVE ‘CREDITS’ SPECIFICALLY FOR FARMERS FIELD

By Jaboner Jackson 8 am | With the new CBA almost negotiated in full, details have continued to leak out, including provisions reported by Chris Mortensen of ESPN (aka BSPN around FOOTBALLPHDS’ offices) that there will be “credits if three new stadiums are constructed, including one in Los Angeles, where the NFL has not had a team since the 1994 season.”  Mortensen is correct in his understanding that there will be ‘credits’ in the new CBA but he is incorrect in stating that these ‘credits’ are coming to a new stadium in Los Angeles.

The ‘credits’ to which Mortensen was referring was G3 Financing, of which our readers have been aware for months.  G3 Financing is the internal term used by the NFL to denote loans made by the NFL to public-private stadium projects.  (We will get PHD on G3 Financing and give you all you could ever hope to know about G3 financing later this week.)  AEG, the force behind Farmers Field in downtown Los Angeles, is not planning to use G3 financing.  Rather it is privately financing the stadium without the help of the NFL.

Mortensen should have said that the new CBA will have enough G3 financing in place to help finance at least three stadiums.  As we have been saying all along, these three stadiums will be the Santa Clara Stadium, the new stadium in Ramsey County, Minnesota, and the new stadium in downtown San Diego.  The San Francisco 49ers will call the Santa Clara stadium home, the Minnesota Vikings will call the Ramsey County stadium home, and the San Diego Chargers will call the downtown San Diego stadium home.  This paves the way for the Oakland Raiders to return to Los Angeles and be Farmers Field’s first tenant if relocation is in the cards.

Nonetheless, we are still are hearing from AEG that NFL expansion remains a possibility for filling Farmers Field.  This makes sense with AEG’s expected bidding to manage O.co Coliseum (Oakland Coliseum).  Last week, the Oakland’s Coliseum Authority opened up management to bids in accordance with the policies of the City of Oakland.  At stake is a 10-year contract to manage O.co Coliseum, which houses the Oakland Raiders and Oakland A’s.  AEG already manages five stadiums, including The Home Depot Center in Carson, California, and Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.  AEG is looking to add NFL stadiums to its portfolio.  Of note, AEG is also in talks with Ramsey County and the Minnesota Vikings to manage their planned stadium.  AEG would like to gain management of O.co Stadium (ownership will stay with Oakland / Alameda County) and keep the Raiders as their tenant while fielding a new expansion team for Farmers Field, which AEG would own the majority stake.

There are two lessons to be learned:

1.  AEG’s expected bidding to manage O.co Coliseum is consistent with what we have been hearing all along about expansion.  Accordingly, expansion to Los Angeles is still at the top of our Stack Rankings.

2.  Be careful about what you hear on BSPN.

 

jaboner@footballphds.com

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