Chargers and Raiders Plan Shared $1.7 Billion LA Stadium in Carson

With both the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers pushing for new stadiums—so far unsuccessfully—the two franchises are joining forces for a potential groundshare in Carson, California.

The Chargers and Raiders are still pursuing solutions that would see them remain where they are, but they're also toying around with the idea of a $1.7 billion stadium they'd co-own close to Los Angeles, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday night.

Shelby Grad of the Los Angeles Times posted a photo of what the stadium could look like:

Oakland and San Diego released a collective statement, via the Chargers' official site. It read in part:

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We have both been working in our home markets to find a stadium solution for many years, so far unsuccessfully. We remain committed to continuing to work in our home markets throughout 2015 to try to find publicly acceptable solutions to the long-term stadium issue.

Both teams have kept the NFL owners’ committee on Los Angeles, and the Commissioner, fully informed about our joint efforts. We are pursuing this stadium option in Carson for one straightforward reason: If we cannot find a permanent solution in our home markets, we have no alternative but to preserve other options to guarantee the future economic viability of our franchises.

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Michael R. Blood and Andrew Dalton of The Associated Press reported a statement from Carson city officials Friday:

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Carson officials responded Friday with an event at City Hall that took on the air of a celebration. Raiders fans waved flags and officials spoke of the opportunity for new jobs and economic activity in the area.

"It will change our city forever," Mayor Jim Dear told the crowd. "You are at the right place at the right time."

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Arash Markazi of ESPN added more from Tim Romer:

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The lone connection to the teams who spoke at the event was Tim Romer of Golman Sachs in Los Angeles, who said he has been working with Chargers for many years as an advisor on stadium financing.

"Most of the [Chargers'] work has been finding a solution in San Diego," Romer said. "Recently when we began to evaluate the financing opportunity and options here for this stadium in Carson we became very interested in the site's potential opportunities. The site is very centrally located to all of Southern California. It's got great freeway access and great local road access and the site is large enough to accommodate what could be one of the best NFL experiences for fans."

"We've worked at Goldman on many financings for stadiums across the country; most recently the most successful was for Levi Stadium up in Santa Clara, California. In our view, we've concluded that the financing of the stadium here in Carson is very viable and very doable and we're committed to helping to get this done. It's important note that the financing will follow the model that was used in Santa Clara. The financing will not rely on general fund moneys. The financing will not rely on taxes new or existing.

"The financing, which we provide, will rely solely upon the revenues generated from the stadium from football and other events. We're excited about this opportunity. We think it's transformative and we're excited to continue to work with our clients and both teams to get the financing done for the stadium."

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Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports is optimistic a deal could actually get done, per the people he's talked to.

The Beast 980, a Los Angeles radio station, reported Chargers point man Mark Fabiani's take on Rams owner Stan Kroenke:

Neither the Raiders nor Chargers look particularly close to reaching a new stadium deal with their respective cities, though Jerry McDonald of the Oakland Tribune reported Raiders owner Mark Davis has not ruled out Oakland as a potential destination for the franchise, saying "absolutely Oakland is still on the table."

Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News provided more info on the Raiders' potential move:

Matthew Artz of the Bay Area News Group reported earlier in the month that the Raiders are withholding their rent payment for O.co Coliseum in the midst of Davis' dispute with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority.

Meanwhile, things in San Diego are at a similar deadlock, with San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer critical of the Chargers' attempts to find a new stadium, per Lori Weisberg of U-T San Diego. Marty Caswell of The Mighty 1090 provided a statement from Faulconer following the joint statement from the Chargers and Raiders:

According to U-T San Diego's David Garrick, Faulconer will meet with Chargers president Dean Spanos to iron out some of their issues.

The Chargers and Raiders aren't the only franchises using Los Angeles as a possible bargaining chip on the stadium front. Farmer and Roger Vincent of the Los Angeles Times reported in January that Kroenke is looking at building an 80,000-seat venue at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California.