For all of those out there keeping your fingers crossed that the San Diego Chargers could be soon making the move north to Los Angeles, that may be becoming less and less of a possibility.
10 news in San Diego reported Thursday that the NFL ownership has brought a defunct loan proposal back to life that could net the Chargers as much as $200 million of the proposed $800 million it would take to build the stadium in the East Village area of downtown San Diego, close to the Padres home at Petco Park.
Back in July the team thought they might get $100 million if it restored it's low-cost loans that ran out in 2006, but the $200 million is music to their ears:
"As much as $200 million in league loans and assistance might now be available to us," Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani said. "The final amount will depend on a variety of factors, set forth in the resolution passed by the owners today, and we will be crunching numbers in the coming days."
The Chargers have been thought as a leading candidate to move to LA with their new proposed stadium, but they also have eyed this spot in San Diego for a while now, looking to leave the 44 year old Qualcomm Stadium behind. But with competing stadiums behind built in Southern California, and the 49ers pushing forward with their stadium up North, who will be getting the dough from the NFL? Well, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said construction money will be distributed based on the merits of the projects' private investments, but also to where the market is as well:
"They've become more complex and more expensive in these markets and we had to adjust our policy to participate in these projects and support these projects both at the club level and league level," he said.
In San Diego, city officials and members of the Chargers organization have been meeting for months now, trying to hammer out a financing proposal that would hold up in a public vote to be held in November 2012. If the Chargers were to stay, that would leave few teams that could move to LA, one of which would be the Minnesota Vikings, who could also stand to earn $200 million from this proposed loan deal.
While up in San Francisco, 49ers president Jed York tweeted that he felt the 49ers would be the first team to get allocated funds for their proposed $1.1 billion stadium project in Santa Clara, CA.
#NFL's next-gen stadium financing program approved today -- confident that the #49ers will be the first recipient...
— Jed York (@JedYork) December 14, 2011
Just how will this all affect an LA stadium? It is possible that both the downtown stadium proposal and City of Industry proposal may not benefit from this new program as the resolution requires that a stadium that gets NFL assistance "must not involve any relocation of or change in an affected club's 'home territory," which brings up the question as to whether LA is in the Chargers 'territory.'
Should be interesting to see just where all this money ends up.
For more details on the NFL stadium loan program, click here.