Chargers, Raiders propose shared stadium in Carson, CA

By Robby Sabo | Feb 19, 2015

Oct 12, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers players Darrell Stuckey (25), Philip Rivers (17) and John Phillips (83) and Oakland Raiders safety Usama Young (26) join hands in prayer after the game at O.co Coliseum. The Chargers defeated the Raiders 31-28. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

While they’re bitter AFC West rivals on Sundays, right now the Raiders and Chargers are coming together financially.

While on Sunday’s the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders have beaten each other up pretty badly over the last half-century, both franchises are coming together to work on their current stadium situations.

Both old AFL teams have proposed a shared NFL Stadium idea for the city of Carson, near Los Angeles.

The LA Times is reporting that both teams are moving forward on the projected $1.7 billion project to share the stadium.

"“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,” both organizations said jointly in a statement on Thursday."

It’s a situation that satisfies many angles.

For one, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been aching to get a franchise back into the LA market since he took office in 2006. For all the faults our “no-nonsense” and “sweep it under the rug” commissioner has, the one thing he has accomplished with flying colors is making his owners money.

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Never before has the league been in such great standing financially, and Goodell realizes it will only improve with a team in the second largest market in the country.

It will also force other franchises like the St. Louis Rams to look harder at other options. Rams owner Stan Kroenke has been public in his possible affection to move the team to Hollywood as he’s also put forth a plan.

Kroenke’s plan would to place a theater and many retail outlets around an 80,000 seat stadium on the Hollywood Park site.

However, with the Chargers having at least a quarter of their fan-base already out of the LA market, it seemed only natural that they’d get in on the fun.

The Bolts and Raiders are currently working with “Carson2together” which is a group of business and labor leaders for the Carson project. Tomorrow the project will be announced at a news conference near the 168-acre sit.

Despite the proposed idea, both teams will continue to seek ways to build new stadiums in Oakland and San Diego. The Carson project will go forward if new stadiums in their home markets are guaranteed by the end of the year.

The only other shared stadium in the league is of course the New York Jets and Giants who share MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The actual site in Carson is a piece of land that the NFL has tried to buy on multiple occasions in the past. It is an old municipal landfill that has been a part of cleanup efforts several times recently.

The proposed stadium would seat a capacity of 68,000 with possibilities of 72.000.

With the Chargers, Raiders and Rams all involved in proposed plans, the ironic twist becomes that all three teams have once played in LA, the city that hasn’t seen NFL football in over two decades.

Still though, only one plan can be approved if their home markets ultimately fail them (to the delight of Goodell).

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