AEG Has 5 For Idea Of Possible LA Move

((HT: ESPNLosAngeles))

The cat is now, somewhat, out of the bag...

The HQ knows that AEG is looking to build a 72,000 seat NFL stadium next door to Staples to be part of the LA convention Center campus-megaplex.

They've talked to five separate teams about the idea of moving there if and when the stadium is built: San Diego, Minnesota, St. Louis, Jacksonville, and Oakland...

Chris McKendry asks Adam Schefter about the idea...
Hey, Schef...


The HQ could see the San Diego gambit working if the stadium idea falls through down there. We also could see Jacksonville with their disappointing efforts at the gate before the other three.

Scott Reid broke the news from his beat at the OC Register. But there's a huge hook in all of this for AEG...

From Reid:

He (Leiweke) reiterated AEG's July 31 deadline for reaching a memorandum of understanding with the Los Angeles City Council in order for AEG to move forward with the project. The council is expected to adjourn for the summer between July 31 and Aug. 15. AEG hopes to have a deal finalized with the city by May 2012.

Leiweke said the MOU is vital if AEG is to break ground on the project next June, which would enable it to open the stadium in September 2016.

"If it (the council) goes away for the summer without the MOU we've got to rekindle this again in mid-September and we're not going to make 2016," Leiweke said. "If we get the MOU by July 31st, what it proves to the NFL is that we could in fact get a deal done here."

But the larger question is: Which of those above teams could wait to 2016 to file their moving papers for downtown LA (or Ed Roski's City of Industry site which seems like it's been planned since the Raiders moved back to Oakland)...???

Jacksonville...? Could Wayne Weaver hold on that long...???

Minnesota should have its new stadium built by then...

San Diego would need to have their plans finalized one way or the other by the end of their current lease...

St. Louis is up to the Kroenke's by the time we hit 2016...

And, Oakland...? Hell, the HQ reminds everyone we're talking Al Davis here...

Where's Ol' JR again...???

One step closer: L.A getting support for stadium, will team follow?

Stadium Project Rendering/Gensler

((ht: latimes))

This may get interesting. A Los Angeles City Council committee meeting turned into a bit of a love fest for the AEG group and their plan to bring football back to L.A.

The group made their initial presentation and proposal to the committee, telling them what they plan to do and what they would need in order to make their ambitious stadium plan and acquisition of a team happen.

And apparently, the committee liked what they heard. AEG is promising to foot most of the bill for all of this and is claiming they'll create a ton of new jobs.

More from Lance Pugmire of the LATimes RIGHT HERE

There are still a ton of questions to be answered here. A lot of the costs for the $1 billion project is supposedly going to be paid back by ticket taxes. AEG is claiming they will be paying for shortfalls and other incidental costs. Quite frankly, don't believe that for a second.

It will also be interesting to see which team AEG president Tim Leiweke can actually convince to come play in his palace. We aren't saying he won't. There are plenty of teams out there who are struggling financially. And there are a handful who are having attendance problems. More than one of them are trying to bleed more money out of their financially strapped cities to help curb the fact that nobody wants to pay a kings ransom to see them play anymore (see: Bengals, Cincinnati).

We will continue following this story. While it may not be an issue in a strike shortened year such as the one we have to look forward to in late 2011, it will be as we move forward from there. We'll just have to wait and see who's going to be the first one's to say "Okay, I'm in".

The only video we could think of to fit. Madness--"One Step Beyond"!