Football Is Coming Back to Los Angeles, But Should Taxpayers Be Cheering?

NFL owners approve move of Rams; Chargers could be next.

On Tuesday NFL owners approved the relocation of the St. Louis Rams back to Los Angeles.

The vote marks the end of a 20 year effort to bring football back to the second-largest city in the country. 

As the Los Angeles Times reports:

NFL owners voted 30-2 to allow the St. Louis Rams to move to Los Angeles for the 2016 season and to give the San Diego Chargers a one-year option to join the Rams in Inglewood.

The Rams' home will ultimately be on the site of the old Hollywood Park racetrack in Inglewood in what will be the league's biggest stadium by square feet, a low-slung, glass-roofed football palace with a projected opening in 2019 and a price tag that could approach $3 billion.

The Raiders withdrew their application for relocation and will remain in Oakland for the foreseeable future. The NFL has stated that they will give the Chargers and Raiders $100 million for new stadium projects if they can work out a deal to stay in their respective home towns. That money is basically chump change compared to the billion dollar price tags that now come with building modern stadiums. 

While the Inglewood stadium is being built without public money, the threat of NFL teams trying to relocate should give pause to other localities that are being hit up by wealthy team owners to build new public stadiums. Just take a look at St. Louis, who saw their plan to offer up $400 million in taxpayer money to build a new stadium brutally rejected by the Rams franchise and NFL brass. 

Since football was last in Los Angeles some 20 years ago, the U.S. has opened 101 new sports facilities and stadium finance experts say that almost all of them have received public funding totaling billions of dollars. Civic leaders usually justify this expense by stating that stadiums will generate economic revenue and job opportunities for the city, but those gains are rarely ever realized. 

Reason TV has done extensive coverage on the public stadium issue and the NFL's move back to Los Angeles. 

Why No Smart City Would Want the NFL

Sports Stadiums Are Bad Public Investments. So Why Are Cities Still Paying for Them?

NFL Hits to Taxpayers

How Football Fleeces Taxpayers: Gregg Easterbrook on The King of Sports

Comments

[AlexInCT]

If they are happy seeing their tax dollars go to this pork vs. other sorts of government pork, I guess they could cheer...

[jesse.in.mb]

Anything that makes traffic worse in LA should be destroyed.

*glares at elderly people*

[Los Doyers]

Just nuke Torrance.

[jesse.in.mb]

Torrance?

Nuke DIAMOND BAR.

[Los Doyers]

The 2010 United States Census[16] reported that Diamond Bar had a population of 55,544. The population density was 3,731.5 people per square mile (1,440.8/km?). The racial makeup of Diamond Bar was: 29,144 (52.5%) Asian;

What you did there, I see it.

[jesse.in.mb]

I, uh, don't know what you're, uh, talking about, Doyers.

[Old Man With Candy]

*glares at elderly people*

GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY, YOU SLOW FAGGOT!

[jesse.in.mb]

The only thing that keeps me from driving faster is that I drive a Honda, and I'm prone to speeding tickets.

[Hugh Akston]

Is it a new Honda or an older one? Because my Honda got me pulled over a lot, but mostly because it marked me as poor.

[jesse.in.mb]

2009 Honda Fit. Mine just marks me as terminally un-hip and sensible.

[Hugh Akston]

Is it the hatchback that does that? Because I've been kinda wanting a hatchback and now I'm wondering if I should get myself examined.

[jesse.in.mb]

Don't care. I love it. I can throw my bike in the back without popping off the front wheel.

[TheZeitgeist]

Hollywood Park? Aside from 20,000 new cars on 405 on Sunday the stadium will be directly under LAX approach. Next 9/11's gonna be in Inglewood!

[CE]

It's only the second busiest freeway in America. They're gunning for No. 1.

[Warty]

FUCK ART MODELL

[John]

You fire the two greatest coaches in NFL history and bankrupt one of the league's signature franchises and people never let you hear the end of it.

[Adans smith]

And yet,Art looks good compared to the clowns running the show now,so sad.

[John]

Nothing says professional organization like drafting a QB in the first round and then spending the next two years having everyone in the organization tell the media how he will never play and how much they hate him.

Regardless of what you think of Manziel, why did they draft him if the coach and GM hated him?

[Irish ?s ESB]

I was laughing when they drafted Manziel. It was obvious that was going to be a catastrophe.

[Pro Libertate]

As did I. No way he was going to make it, for several reasons.

[Irish ?s ESB]

Also, you know what's funny? People talk about Belicheck not having much success with the Browns, but I just looked up the stats and he had the best winning percentage of any Browns coach since 1990. That's a total joke.

[John]

He went 11-5 and won a playoff game in 94. The only reason the team fell apart in 95 was because Modell announced he was moving the team and all hell broke lose.

[Old Man With Candy]

Art Modell was a SAINT (the virtuous being, not the shitty Drew Brees team).

[Apatheist ?_??]

Fuck Bud Adams!

[Unreconstructed (Sans Flag)]

^^^^THIS!!!!

[John]

No they shouldn't. But when you compare this to the $69 billion choo choo to nowhere they are stuck paying for, this is a regular bargain. At least someone wants to see an NFL game.

[Brett L]

Just not Angelenos.

[Los Doyers]

Hey! Collectivizing is so un-libertarian.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

I believe the train was federally subsidized, at least in part, so really we're all paying for that.

[John]

I would rather pay for the Rams

[Los Doyers]

If anyone came here to talk shit on LA, you'll have to go through me, first.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

So what? You'll just piss yourself and run away. LA is America's France.

[Los Doyers]

Typical flyover drivel. *yawn* *fixes another avocado sandwich*

[Irish ?s ESB]

I'm voting for Donald Trump because he promised to build a wall around LA and then blast the inhabitants with chlorine gas. And make Mexico pay for it.

[Hugh Akston]

People in LA all have pools, we practically drink chlorine. The only thing that can kill Angelenos is sub-60? temperatures.

[Sevo]

Which is the reason they're building a dome, right? To keep the snow out?

[jesse.in.mb]

sub-60? temperatures are a myth meant to scare LA children into obeying their parents.

[jesse.in.mb]

That's ridiculous. I don't have access to nearly enough local cheese for that to be true. Now San Francisco, that I could see. It's all vineyards, expensive cities with massive poor populations around the edges and libertine sexual mores up there.

[Irish ?s ESB]

LA is what happens when smog slips greed a roofie and they give birth to a city.

[jesse.in.mb]

That's silly talk. You forgot incompetence.

[Los Doyers]

Sounds like the story of my conception.

[Hyperion]

They were going to let the Raiders come, but then they saw Mark Davis's haircut.

[jesse.in.mb]

Raiders fans are worse than Hitler.

[Hyperion]

Yeah, I know, I've been one since I was 9 years old. That's when I decided I like football and want to be a Nazi.

[John]

They belong in Oakland. Sadly, I don't think they will ever be anything like they once were. The Raiders of the 70s were a very great thing.

[Hyperion]

They have a good quarterback finally and some good receivers. The o-line is finally decent and the defense actually shows up in a game occasionally.

Then again, Mark Davis owns the team and he made Reggie McKenzie general manager... of a NFL team ... Ok, there's no hope.

[Brett L]

Derek Carr got to see his brother get beat to a pulp with the Texans. He understands how to get rid of the ball the second his back foot plants.

[Hyperion]

He's also accurate more accurate of the time. And he does have a better o-line at the moment.

[Overt]

his o line is the reason he is so accurate. People don't realize how much accuracy depends on your quarterback having a consistent amount of time to handle the ball. It doesn't have to be a lot of time- just a consistent amount.

[Hyperion]

Well, he does get the ball out very quickly.

[Los Doyers]

Why not just live in the trash among other trash, trash fan?

[Hyperion]

I'm used to it bro, no effect anymore.

[Los Doyers]

*Doyers starts burning Raiders flags*

[Hyperion]

I think you are confused about this NFL stuff. Aren't you supposed to be burning Seahawks flags?

[Los Doyers]

Sea what? And are touchdowns a good thing?

[Hyperion]

No, no, not at all. When you see yellow flags on the field and then your team moves backwards that's a good thing. When your team actually moves backwards into their own end zone, that's what you want.

[jesse.in.mb]

You make so much more sense now.

[Hyperion]

Tell us your team, Jesse. My gawd, please tell me it's not the Squaws or Donkeys?

[jesse.in.mb]

Niners. I was a kid in the '80s in Santa Cruz when Joe Montana was big. Haven't really cared about football since I was a tyke though.

[Hyperion]

Well, the niners are sucking pretty badly right now. What happened to that tattoo guy, what was his name?

[jesse.in.mb]

Colin Kaepernick?

[Hyperion]

Yes! That's him. At least someone remember him.

[Old Man With Candy]

Raiders fans are worse than Hitler.

Bengals fans are worse than Raiders fans.

Still better than Nicole, though.

[Idle Hands]

Wut?

[Hyperion]

That's not Mark Davis, it's his sister!

[waffles]

Funny enough the Raiders now play closer to SF than the niners. The Niners are going to suck for a while anyway, silly San Jose 49ers.

[John]

If the Chiefs end up in the Super Bowl in San Francisco with Alex Smith at QB, the butt-hurt and anguish of 49er fans is going to be epic.

[Hyperion]

There's no way the Chiefs are going be beat New England, so just forget about that scenario.

[John]

You are wrong. New England's offensive line is a disaster. The Chiefs are just a terrible matchup for New England. New England might win, but it is going to take a super human effort on Brady's part. New England is not as good as they were last year.

Did you see them play the last half of the season? Their line is so bad they ran the ball with utter futility 30 times in the second half down in Miami because they were legitimately afraid Suh would put Brady in the hospital had they tried to pass very much.

[Hyperion]

John, look at their record this year. Look at who they beat to get where they are. They took advantage of a weak division for one thing. They lost almost every game they played against a team with a winning record. The only two wins I know of they had over 500+ teams was against Denver, a division game, and Pittsburgh.

They haven't played any teams as good as New England. They lost to Greenbay and the Bengals.

[Hyperion]

Really, they had a very soft schedule the second half of the season, with wins over the Raiders, San Diego, Cleveland, and Baltimore.

[John]

Yeah Baltimore is a pushover. Anyone can beat them. Kind of like Miami.

[Hyperion]

Yeah Baltimore is a pushover. Anyone can beat them

Oh, no, they're really tough, John. They've won at least 2 games this year, they're dominant.

[John]

And they have won 11 in a row. They won a road playoff game 30-0 last week. I know, the Texans are not good, except no one said that before the game. It was all about how their elite defense and Anthony Hopkins were going to do enough to win a low scoring game. How did that work out?

[John]

A weak division? Denver is the number one seed and the Raiders were a decent. And spare me the "who did they play bullshit". This is not college. Every game is hard. Go talk to the Steelers and Jets about how "easy" it is to beat teams you should in the NFL. And the Patriots were last seen getting dominated by Miami in a game where they could have locked up home field.

I love it, the Chiefs get no credit for winning ten in a row but people like you watch New England get destroyed in a meaningful game by a team with an interim coach playing out the string and it is somehow the Chiefs who are only there by accident.

[Hyperion]

Denver fell apart the last part of the season. The Raiders had 5 or more sacks against them the last match up and the Raiders defense is not very good, especially against the pass.

[Hyperion]

Lets also not forget how many playoff games the Patriots have been in and how many the Chiefs have been in, which almost every one of, they have lost. That actually does matter.

[John]

Denver fell apart. That is why they beat the Pats and ended up with the number one seed. All of that happened after they lost to the Chiefs.

[waffles]

You've made a strong argument for the Chiefs. Nobody understands how the Chiefs are so good right now and no one wants to discount the Brady/Belichek team. I'm a Steelers fan so I'm just hoping we can patch up enough to give Denver a game. Last week was as ugly as football can be.

[Overt]

While I agree that New England is in trouble this year, the game against Miami was not indicative of how good/bad they are. Coach Fatasshat sat a good number of his starters under the hope that Denver would blow it and either lose the last game of the season on lose this week's playoff game. He could be right.

The real question is whether the two weeks of rest for NE got enough of their key players healthy again. I am not so sure about that.

(I say this as a Denver fan who hates NE with a passion, and most especially their bitchy little hoodie wearing Offensive Coordinator)

[Hyperion]

I hate both KC and New England. My totally unbiased opinion as I couldn't give a shit less about who wins. KC will not beat New England in a playoff game. I don't see it happening.

[Overt]

The only two wins I know of they had over 500+ teams was against Denver, a division game, and Pittsburgh.

They lost to Denver.

[Hyperion]

The split with them. They won the last matchup 29-13.

[Overt]

Huh? Denver played the Pats once this season. And NE lost 30 - 24..

[Hyperion]

You quoted my comment: The only two wins I know of they had over 500+ teams was against Denver, a division game, and Pittsburgh.

I was referring to KC who split games with Denver this year.

[Overt]

Ahhh sorry, man.

[Los Doyers]

Also, WELCOME BACK RAMS. Been a die-hard fan since 1/12/2016.

[Hyperion]

Have the Rams been relevant since Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk?

[John]

No. And worse, they hired one of the most overrated coaches in the world a few years ago and will likely continue to be irrelevant for the foreseeable future.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

How does Jeff Fisher have a job? It's amazing. He sucked for over a decade in Tennessee, and has been sucking for 5 years in St. Louis. How long will he get to suck in LA before Kroenke starts paying attention?

[John]

He had one run in Tennessee to the Super Bowl and that was because of an illegal play and resulting miracle against Buffalo. And even that wouldn't have happened had the jackass BIlls' GM let them start Flutie. He did nothing else after that. One good 13-3 season followed by a first round playoff loss. That is it. God does he suck.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

And his second-best season he was carried by Vince Young, who he then tried to destroy. He is the worst.

[Dark Lord of the cis]

Vince Young really didn't need any help with that.

[Los Doyers]

Who? Only been a fan for one day, dude. There's still research to be done.

[Hyperion]

Well, I guess we won't be asking you any more Rams questions for a while.

[bacon-magic]

Fuck off. You can have them. /St. Louis metro area.

[Los Doyers]

Still bitter about your precious Cardinals, eh?

[Brett L]

The San Diego Chargers of Los Angeles

[Hyperion]

L.A. Dolts.

[waffles]

I love this.

[Marty Comanche]

Unless you're the kind of person who really wants to pay to watch an NFL game live, this really sucks. When you have an in-market team, you get to see fewer games on TV and the games you do get to see are less diverse. Oh, and have fun paying for the new stadium that you probably won't even step foot inside. We'll see if the blackout rules are reinstated this year to add insult to injury.

[Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper]

When you have an in-market team, you get to see fewer games on TV

Isn't this mostly irrelevant now since you can buy the NFL Sunday package and see every game? Maybe the NFL has blackout rules like MLB.TV, but I am unaware of them since I don't have the package.

[Overt]

NFL Sunday Package is exclusive to Dish Network. So unless you want that shit sandwich, the best you can get in the US is NFL Game Pass which allows you to watch reruns of the games starting Sunday Night.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

Um, NFL Sunday Ticket is on DirecTV.

[Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper]

Isn't this the exact kind of relocation a libertarian should support?

It seems like the Rams owner would rather spend private money in L.A. than take taxpayer money from St. Louis. If this guy can raise the money privately, then every other willing owner should be able to do the same and therefore no governments ever have to offer money for this shit anymore. Now the NFL is even offering to help pay individual owners to get stadia built, so there is almost no reason for any city or state to offer taxpayer money unless the politician in charge simply hates his taxpayers' guts and wants to ruin his city/state.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

unless the politician in charge simply hates his taxpayers' guts and wants to ruin his city/state.

Have you never met a politician?

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

I had major deja vu watching the (fucking) Vikings on Sunday.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

At this point, think of all the improvements an earthquake would do to L.A.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Wait, how did Aresen's comment get down there? Ok, who turned out the lights?

[Hyperion]

I was in a sports bar and my wife was talking to me about something that distracted me right at the moment they were lined up for the kick. All of the sudden, there was all of this 'HOLY FUCK, HOW THE HELL DID HE MISS THAT'!!!!

Well, it's the same old Vikings.

[Aresen]

This sounds like the plot of yet another disaster movie set in LA:

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

OT fun fact: The next Democratic president will inherit a really bad economy from George Bush.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

And two three four? wars. Also Bush's fault.

[Sevo]

Four? Obo's got some time left, ya know...

[Aresen]

Well, he DID end the War on Drugs, didn't he?

[Aresen]

I'll be here all week, folks.

[Aresen]

Which do you prefer: GWB's fifth term or Eugene Debs' first term?

[Dan Bongard]

Well, as a San Diego taxpayer I'm hoping the Chargers will follow them. There are hopeful signs.

[Sevo]

It can happen; the Santa Clara taxpayers have the honor of hosting the 49ers now, and paying for it.

[Rhywun]

I don't understand this thing where the teams move around all the time. IHMO, most of the "fun" with being a fan is rooting for the home team. It's almost like the sport isn't actually catering to fans....

[Aresen]

Umm. Have you been in a coma since the 1960s?

[Rhywun]

Coma, not a football fan - same difference.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

I should introduce you to Jerry Seinfeld's 1990s rant that fans are essentially rooting for laundry.

[CE]

Taxpayers should celebrate. St. Louis dodges a 400-billion-dollar bullet, and the owner is paying for the new LA stadium. Win-win.

[bassjoe]

What's shocking is that the state, county and city in Missouri STILL have $135 million to pay off from 20 years ago! And they still offered another $400 million!?!?!

[bassjoe]

Good for Inglewood for not providing financing; that city has enough issues without being weighed down by bonds that'll take decades to pay off.

On the other hand, the State of Missouri, the County of St. Louis and the City of St. Louis still have ~$135 million in bonds to pay off they incurred financing the construction of the current home of the Rams. I wonder if anybody is thinking that maybe a small percentage of that money would be better spent reforming the horribly corrupt "judicial" system of the County of St. Louis... because too late now!

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