For better or worse, an aspect of my job for the foreseeable future is to parse the words of Los Angeles developer Ed Roski, who is targeting the San Diego Chargers for his new football stadium.
The Associated Press has a story today quoting Roski’s spokesman who says that the developer won’t talk with the Chargers while they’re working on a deal here because he doesn’t want to interfere.
Instead, the top two teams on Roski’s list are now the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills. They are small-market teams that have little chance of building larger venues in their regions, Roski’s spokesman said.
My take: It is interesting that Roski now is saying he is prioritizing other teams, especially since the L.A. Times and others have deemed the Chargers the favorite to move to Los Angeles. But ultimately I’m not sure how much this announcement changes the landscape. The Chargers have always said they will exhaust all options in San Diego before deciding on moving. There’s an option here now in downtown San Diego, but numerous financial, legal and environmental landmines could blow it up at any point.
Another point of note in the AP story is the last sentence:
(Roski’s spokesman) also said Majestic chief executive Ed Roski’s preference is to find owners willing to sell their franchise to a consortium of investors that he would lead, rather than buying a minority stake in a team that would move with its existing majority owner at the helm.
My take: This is a much bigger deal. Up to now, the understanding has been that Roski would trade development rights around the new stadium for a minority stake in an existing team. We did a story saying that existing owners would be unlikely to accept this arrangement.
There’s been no indication that Chargers owner Alex Spanos is interested in selling his team and the idea always has been Spanos and Roski — who are friends — would share the Chargers.
Thoughts? E-mail me, tweet me and the comment box is open.
— LIAM DILLON