Chargers, Raiders owners meet with L.A., Carson officials about stadium
San Diego and Oakland have made proposals to keep their NFL teams, but it’s clear the owners of those teams remain unconvinced.
Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Raiders owner Mark Davis were in Los Angeles on Tuesday, meeting with Mayor Eric Garcetti and other political heavyweights and promoting their vision for a shared stadium in Carson.
A spokesman for Garcetti confirmed the meeting and said the mayor “would welcome a team anywhere in the Los Angeles area.â€
“While Mayor Garcetti frequently meets with companies looking to do business in Los Angeles, we are mindful that the Chargers, Raiders and Rams are still actively discussing stadium deals in their current cities and the NFL has not yet approved a team moving,†Jeff Millman said.
Spanos and Davis also had meetings with L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson and County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, as well as Carson Mayor Albert Robles and Carson City Atty. Sunny Soltani.
According to an individual with knowledge of the details of the meetings, it was not mere coincidence they took place in the wake of a plan submitted last week to Oakland and Alameda County leaders by businessman Floyd Kephart, who has an exclusive negotiating agreement to assemble a deal. Kephart’s proposal has been widely panned in NFL circles.
The Chargers do not think San Diego can legally get any stadium initiative on the ballot until late 2016 at the earliest, and team officials have no confidence such an initiative would gain public approval anyway.
NFL owners will convene in August for a special meeting regarding the L.A. situation. The Carson plan is competing with a proposal by St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, who intends to build a stadium in Inglewood.
In Missouri, there is political infighting over efforts to convince the Rams to stay. Rep. Jay Barnes of Jefferson City is representing six lawmakers attempting to stop Gov. Jay Nixon from working on plans for a riverfront NFL stadium in St. Louis.
Barnes and his fellow lawmakers are suing Nixon and the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority in an effort to block them from moving forward on a new stadium, calling the effort a misuse of taxpayer dollars.
Times staff writer Peter Jamison contributed to this report
Follow Sam Farmer on Twitter @LATimesFarmer
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