LA wants Falcons

[McUser]

Saw this on the fox 5 website


FOX 5 has learned that the city of Los Angeles has expressed interest in acquiring the Atlanta Falcons.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is warning city council members about business interests in Los Angeles who want to move the Falcons to the west coast. Team owner Arthur Blank shared that information with top city and state officials in their discussions about financing a new stadium in downtown Atlanta.

Two council members who met with Mayor Kasim Reed told FOX 5's Morse Diggs about private discussions the mayor hosted at City Hall.

Reed called in council members one at a time to tell them that the city needs to take a more aggressive lead in the public financing portion of the proposed open air stadium.

The Falcons would foot most of the $1-billion bill for the new stadium, but the state would have to come up with $300 million, most of which would come from an extension of a current hotel-motel tax. The move would require the state legislature to increase the World Congress Center's debt limit by $100 million.

Earlier, Gov. Nathan Deal said the climate at the state Capitol would not be favorable for the state to take the lead.

Council members also reported the mayor described Blank as being willing to increase the percentage the Falcons might pay to make the billion dollar deal possible.

The city of Los Angeles has been without an NFL franchise for almost two decades. In 1994, the Rams moved to St. Louis. A year later, the Raiders relocated to Oakland. Los Angeles remains the largest metropolitan area without pro football, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reportedly wants a team in the city.

??? I'm confused

[RFlagg]

(01-29-2013 07:59 AM)McUser Wrote:  Saw this on the fox 5 website


FOX 5 has learned that the city of Los Angeles has expressed interest in acquiring the Atlanta Falcons.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is warning city council members about business interests in Los Angeles who want to move the Falcons to the west coast. Team owner Arthur Blank shared that information with top city and state officials in their discussions about financing a new stadium in downtown Atlanta.

Two council members who met with Mayor Kasim Reed told FOX 5's Morse Diggs about private discussions the mayor hosted at City Hall.

Reed called in council members one at a time to tell them that the city needs to take a more aggressive lead in the public financing portion of the proposed open air stadium.

The Falcons would foot most of the $1-billion bill for the new stadium, but the state would have to come up with $300 million, most of which would come from an extension of a current hotel-motel tax. The move would require the state legislature to increase the World Congress Center's debt limit by $100 million.

Earlier, Gov. Nathan Deal said the climate at the state Capitol would not be favorable for the state to take the lead.

Council members also reported the mayor described Blank as being willing to increase the percentage the Falcons might pay to make the billion dollar deal possible.

The city of Los Angeles has been without an NFL franchise for almost two decades. In 1994, the Rams moved to St. Louis. A year later, the Raiders relocated to Oakland. Los Angeles remains the largest metropolitan area without pro football, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reportedly wants a team in the city.

??? I'm confused

Sounds to me like Blank is trying to get leverage over the city, which isn't a bad move really. I think it would take an incredible breakdown of negotiations for this move to even be remotely possible.

[Drathdon]

I wouldn't normally use Bleacher Report for a source, but this is a good article to calm any worried nerves of fans who saw that headline and went "WTF?"

Atlanta Falcons: Fans Shouldn't Worry About Move to Los Angeles

According to a FOX 5 report, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and city mayor Kasim Reed have told city council members that businesses in Los Angeles want to lure the franchise to the West Coast.

Los Angeles saw an agreement on Oct. 3 to build a new stadium to help the city in its quest to bring an NFL team back. Los Angeles has not had an NFL team call it home since the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders moved back to Oakland in 1995.

According to an NESN report last October, the Rams and Raiders have been pursued, as have the Jaguars and Vikings, who both have had stadium issues (financially and infrastructural, respectively) in recent years.

The Falcons have been in Atlanta since the franchise's birth as an expansion team in 1965.

This is the first time the Falcons have been mentioned in the discussion, and there's a reason why.

Blank has been pushing for a new stadium for the past several years, and recently it has become more evident that a deal will be made between Blank and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA).

Blank plans to provide $700 million of the $1 billion it's going to take to put a new, state-of-the-art facility just north or just south of the current Georgia Dome site.

The rest of the bill would be compensated by a hotel-motel tax that was extended in 2010 with the purpose of sending $200 million to the GWCCA to use toward renovations towards tourist attractions such as the Georgia World Congress Center, Georgia Aquarium, World of Coke or the Georgia Dome.

Those facilities didn't need renovations, nor were they asking for significant funds, and the Georgia Dome had recently gone under a renovation in 2008. It was obvious this bill was signed with the intention of footing a new football stadium.

Now, the new stadium plan would need to see the state legislator approve a $100 million raise in the hotel-motel tax portion of the deal, or Blank would need to provide more cash from his own pocket. If $200 million cannot go anywhere but a GWCCA facility, then it wouldn't seem like legislators who are against public funding have much ground to stand on when refusing the increase.

Reed has endorsed Blank's wishes for a new venue for the Falcons, and according to the FOX 5 report he told city council members that they need to, "take a more aggressive lead in the public financing portion of the proposed open-air stadium."

Also, according to the report, Gov. Nathan Deal doesn't think the legislator will budge.

Even Atlanta residents made it public in a poll by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they are not on board with the city using public money towards a new venue, mainly because the Georgia Dome has served as a great home to one of the league's winningest teams.

The truth is, however, that the Falcons would be in for more outdated stadium talk down the line if they signed a new lease on the Georgia Dome, which ends in 2020.

The time is now for the Falcons to bid for a new venue, and yes they would have seen easier pickings and public approval of the idea had the team made it to the Super Bowl.

Because the legislature has been a tad ho-hum on the request for a $100 million increase in public funds, Blank and Reed are using threats of a Los Angeles buyer to prompt a quicker and hopefully accommodating response.

Blank is even reportedly willing to take the hit himself to make sure the line is met.

The Falcons and the GWCCA even announced on Monday that the top-five design firms have been chosen to battle for the opportunity to render the new venue.

It's pretty clear the Falcons are going to get the deal done and begin the project of opening a new stadium, which is slated to open in 2017 at the earliest if things go according to plan.

The only reason you are hearing about Los Angeles right now is because of politics. It's also hard to imagine why the Raiders have not been at the forefront of this discussion. The Raiders are the only NFL team that still plays on baseball dirt in September, and with the 49ers moving to Santa Clara in 2013, the Raiders will actually be three times closer to downtown San Francisco than their cross-bay rivals.

A Raiders move to L.A. makes too much sense.

In the end, this calculated threat to the city of Atlanta will probably help jumpstart Blank's vision of a new stadium.

Blank has been a committed and popular owner in the NFL, helping re-tool the Falcons into one of the more likeable and professional organizations in the league.

The Falcons also have a franchise quarterback, head coach and general manager that have helped produce five straight winning seasons for a franchise that had never had back-to-back winning years in team history until 2009.

The football fans here are coming out in waves because of the success.

When it all shakes up, Los Angeles will be getting a team. That's inevitable.

But it won't be the Falcons.

If anything, fiscal fundamentals aside, Falcons fans should be extremely excited for the future of this franchise.

[JDaveG]

Mayor Reed went on 790 this morning and basically debunked all of this. No one has threatened to move the Falcons to LA. It was blown out of proportion.

[papachaz]

(01-29-2013 10:57 AM)JDaveG Wrote:  Mayor Reed went on 790 this morning and basically debunked all of this. No one has threatened to move the Falcons to LA. It was blown out of proportion.

If I was AB, I'd be pushing that story too. Don't blame him one bit for trying

[AsylumGuido]

There is no more chance of the Falcons going anywhere than there was for the Saints moving. It is all posturing for the stadium. For the Falcons and Blank it means a new stadium, while for Benson and the Saints it meant renovating the Superdome into a state-of-the-art facility.

[ATLBound]

Did anybody read the part where Blank is paying $700 million of the $1 billion portion that the Falcons are paying?

I'm doing fine but damn to live on that mountain of money....

[phocis850]

http://m.boortz.com/weblogs/nealz-nuze/2...bend-over/

Check that article out.

[RFlagg]

(01-29-2013 11:10 PM)phocis850 Wrote:  http://m.boortz.com/weblogs/nealz-nuze/2...bend-over/

Check that article out.

This is one of the many reasons I hate Boortz, he makes it sound like Blank doesn't want to pay anything. He's footing 70% of the damn bill.

[juraitwaluzka]

(01-29-2013 11:21 PM)RFlagg Wrote:  This is one of the many reasons I hate Boortz, he makes it sound like Blank doesn't want to pay anything. He's footing 70% of the damn bill.

He's dead on about this:

Quote:With California’s business and tax climate (a 13.3% state income tax on folks like Arthur Blank) there is no way in hell anyone with a still-functioning brain is going to move a team to Los Angeles. Businesses are moving OUT of California and Los Angeles, not IN.

as for the rest tl;dr