Land deal closes for planned NFL stadium near Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A complex land deal finalized Tuesday marks another step toward development of a shared stadium near Los Angeles for the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders, officials said.

The transaction involving about 170 acres of land in Carson, a city of 93,000 people, could provide the footprint for the proposed $1.7 billion venue. The teams are planning a shared stadium if both fail to secure new stadiums in their current hometowns.

The deal closed a day after the teams hired former San Francisco 49ers President Carmen Policy to spearhead the next stages of their push to move to the nation’s second-largest media market.

Los Angeles has become the center of a fierce rivalry that could bring professional football back to the region two decades after the departure of the Raiders and Rams.

The Carson site is one of two prominent proposals that have emerged. St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke is part of a development group planning to build a nearly $2 billion, 80,000-seat stadium in the city of Inglewood, roughly 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

The deal would send the deed for 157 acres of a former landfill to an entity controlled by the city. That entity would own and control the site and lease it to a stadium authority, similar to a model used by the San Francisco 49ers for a new stadium in Santa Clara.

A separate, 11-acre parcel would remain under the control of the teams and is expected to be developed for parking.

The Kroenke plan envisions a stadium rising on the site of the former Hollywood Park horse track, as part of a sprawling development of homes, parks and office space.

Chargers attorney Mark Fabiani said in a statement that if, for whatever reason, the stadium is not built, Carson would retain control of the 157 acres at no cost to the city and could develop the site for other uses.