Posted on 05/22/2018 9:03:22 AM PDT by Simon Green
This new Los Angeles Rams stadium better be good.
We know it will be expensive, to a record level. Sports Business Journal reported that costs for the new stadium in Inglewood have passed $4 billion. You read that right.
Stadium costs have gone way up through the years, but no other stadium in the United States has come anywhere close to this. SBJ said the most expensive stadium previous to this was MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, and that cost $1.7 billion. The Raiders’ new stadium in Las Vegas is expected to cost more than $2 billion. That’s still less than half of what the Rams stadium, which will also be used by the Los Angeles Chargers, will cost.
Cost keeps rising
When Rams owner Stan Kroenke first got approval to move his team from St. Louis to Los Angeles, his proposed stadium was slated to cost $2.3 billion, SBJ said. That would have been the most expensive stadium in U.S. sports. About $2 billion has been added onto the cost since then.
In March, the Los Angeles Times reported the price had crept to about $3 billion. Sports Business Journal said the price is now an estimated $4.25 billion. SBJ cited sources that were involved in a bank meeting on May 4 to arrange a $2.25 billion loan.
What is costing so much?
The stadium project always had big expectations. It was designed to be an enormous complex, designed to be an entertainment district as well as host big events like Super Bowls.
The extra costs, in part, come from ensuring the stadium can withstand an earthquake, SBJ reported. There have also been other costs like access roads and utilities that are adding to the price tag.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
That’s a lot of money for empty seats
Just think of how many third world illegals will flock to the new stadium to watch Bull Fighting and pay big bucks when there are no soccer games.
$4 Billion sports arena - So what!
LA / CA’s Titanic economy is So strong that even the almighty could not sink it..
True that. And if the NFL declines in popularity, and/or they reach the end point of what the market will bear with seat licenses and ticket prices, then what??
How the heck is a $2 billion plus loan ever going to be paid back from stadium revenues??? Did this plan ever pencil out?
For all its problems Los Angeles is still the best city in Mexico.
How wonderful to be the Project Manager on a job such as this. Double the cost of your estimate and still have a job. Somewhat akin to a weatherman, except the PM has to produce results, eventually.
I wish someone would explain to me why ancient Roman structures are still in use but stadiums wear out every 5 years.
LOL
Well, at least it will be a nice venue for the 2028 Olympics... It will probably be a Soccer Stadium by them anyway.
How much of the $4 Billion is for land acquisition?
This is really where the taxpayers can be taken to the cleaners- who owns the property now in Inglewood, and what kind of profits are expected here.
When Forbes Field was built in Pittsburgh in 1908, Dreyfuss chose a place on the edge of civilization at that point in time. Not in downtown.
Of course, modern stadia are built by the taxpayers so frugality is out the window
Maybe related to the project manager of the bullet train to nowhere. Cali. doesn’t seem to mind “money is no object” projects.
Taxpayers pay, silly!!! You think a league like the NFL is supposed to fund their own stadiums? Nonsense. Taxpayers will pay every single dime of interest on that stadium ... And if the Rams fail again in LA, they’ll also have the privledge of paying down the stadium itself!!! It is beyond amazing that people still cheer these frigging teams on as the owners rape taxpayers.
Entirely possible. I wonder if there is a depot at the new stadium?
I have built some buildings near the New Madrid fault with related impacts to design by severe seismic requirements. What it does to things as simple as a building’s concrete footings is amazing.
What might have been a 5’ x 5’ x 1’4” spread footing (1.24 cubic yards) can grow to 6’ x 6’ x 5’ for additional uplift mass (6.66 cubic yards). So the excavation, placement, concrete and other related items go up over 500% for a simple building element let alone bracing elements that are pure adds to the structural design.
Sprinkle pipe takes special bracing, duct work takes special bracing — virtually every building element is impacted. Buildings such as warehouses and stores are not impacted nearly as much as public assembly structures.
"I'll have a $16 beer and a $9 hot dog please."
Let the NFL pool their money to build new stadiums as needed.
Major League Losers: The Real Cost Of Sports And Who's Paying For It
"A welfare system exists in this country that transfers hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers to individuals who hardly require government assistance. State and local officials, mesmerized by vague promises and starry-eyed visions of the future, cave in to ever escalating demands from the system's beneficiaries, without ever finding out whether the public is served by such policies.
It's a scandal, really, and reform is long overdue if we are to rein in the abuses perpetrated by … America's professional sports franchises.Major League Losers is a clarion call that exposes the system by which American cities and states shell out scarce tax dollars to subsidize the expenses of wealthy team owners and their extraordinarily well-paid employees. New stadiums and arenas are built at public expense, but municipalities are regularly shut out from sharing in the profits they generate.
Sweetheart deals, negotiated under the threat of a team leaving town, result in many owners receiving land, investment opportunities, luxury suites, prime office space, and practice facilities—all financed by the taxpayers.Mark S. Rosentraub, a leading analyst of the economic impacts of sports on urban areas, has studied the truth behind the claims routinely made by mayors, team owners, and the media, and he has discovered that major league sports have no more than a minuscule impact on the economy of a city or region.
They produce few jobs, little tax revenue, and a negligible positive impact even on their own immediate neighborhood. In these times of tight budgets, Rosentraub shows that the current system wastes a colossal amount of public money that Americans cannot afford, and his pointed critique provides government officials and taxpayers with a clearer understanding of how cities can, and should, negotiate with sports franchises to protect the true public good."
On the East Coast we sell the Brooklyn Bridge.
On the West Coast, apparently, they sell a football stadium.
No unions, OSHA, EPA for starters.
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