Eight months ago I suggested that AEG CEO Tim Leiweke and L.A.-based sports biz mogul Casey Wasserman had plans to build a downtown L.A. football stadium without the benefit of a pre-commitment from an NFL team to move into the facility.

(Where the L.A. NFL Stadium would be located)

Excerpt:

So what has to happen for the project to get done? While some may think that an NFL team pre-committing to such a venue would be critical to the process, I’m not so sure.

… I don’t think its an impossibility that a domed stadium in downtown L.A. could get done without an NFL team initially. And when it comes to the Chargers, you can bet that if an L.A. stadium is suddenly available, San Diego’s hand on a new stadium will be forced. 

Friday during a radio interview, Leiweke confirmed exactly that prospect. Read more…

In the aftermath of the news of the first legitimate Los Angeles NFL stadium plan in eight years, I’ve freshened up my investigation into what team is most likely to move to L.A. if the project happens. With all signs pointing south.

(San Diego: Nothing Personal)

There’s two critical things you need to know about the L.A. situation as it pertains to what current NFL team will end up here.

1) The guys who are leading the charge for the L.A. facility, Tim Leiweke of AEG and Casey Wasserman, have every intention of getting the facility built with or without an existing commit from an NFL team. And unlike what outsiders might think, these guys absolutely have the capacity and staying power, thanks to local political clout and financial resources, to get that done.

2) In talking to several San Diego-based media and political sources today, I’ve been told that the financial state of the city and county is in such disrepair that barring a miracle, there will be no new stadium for the Chargers.

The “miracle” would involve a facility erected with zero public funds. If the Chargers were serious about making that happen, the process would’ve started long ago.

It’s undisputed that the the main reason the NFL is not in Los Angeles is the old guard of NFL owners, who for so long have been accustomed to raping cities for new, free stadiums, has been unable to secure a similar, ridiculously lopsided deal in L.A.

With this new, downtown Los Angeles stadium bid, that is not going to change.

But what if the stadium gets built without the NFL’s involvement? That, my friends, is L.A.’s secret weapon in this case. Read more…

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS reports that Texas Gov. Rick Perry was at San Diego Chargers practice on Wednesday as a guest of team president Dean Spanos. A story on CHARGERS.COM says that the two are “good friends” and that Spanos gave Gov. Perry a tour of the practice facility and hung out together for most of the two-hour practice. I’m sure that as a decent politician of strong moral fiber, Gov. Perry spent his time focusing on the Chargers’ nickel formation instead of this:

Maybe Dean Spanos and Gov. Perry really are just BFFs. Or, as PRO FOOTBALL TALK theorizes, perhaps this is part of the courtship process in trying to lure the Chargers to a Texas city - specifically, San Antonio.

Read more…