Peter Holt and Red McCombs willing to invest in the Oakland Raiders ...

[random21]

Don Harris

The reason SA is having doubts about spending money on Toyota field is because MLS is a dying sport (Have you seen the MLS Finals ratings? 0.4) and SA isn't getting an MLS team, yet. They're getting a second division team lol.

Dude thinks he's preaching too, is the funny part. Isn't that fat a Cowboys fan?

Donny had a weak ego... Same guy who let Tspence all over him....

[cjw]

Don Harris

The reason SA is having doubts about spending money on Toyota field is because MLS is a dying sport (Have you seen the MLS Finals ratings? 0.4) and SA isn't getting an MLS team, yet. They're getting a second division team lol.

Dude thinks he's preaching too, is the funny part. Isn't that fat a Cowboys fan?

MLS Finals were going head-to-head with the NFL (pretty stupid) and featured two crappy markets in Portland and Columbus.

Attendance is actually very strong in the MLS. Yes, there are only 17 gates per year plus playoffs / ancillary tournaments, but ten teams drew 20k+ per game (most stadiums are about that size) and the leaguewide average was 21.5k, which is just behind Serie A in Italy.

I do think they've overexpanded, but quality of play has increased substantially in the past several years. Games on TV used to be unwatchable, now they're simply unwatched. It's hard when you're competing for soccer eyeballs against European leagues now that all of them have major TV deals here in the U.S. That doesn't mean people aren't going to games - league is very healthy right now. More NHL teams are at risk of having to move than MLS ones.

[BatManu20]

[BatManu20]

Could Austin-San Antonio land an NFL stadium? Speculation resurfaces

By John Egan

1.13.16 | 10:29 am
21 Comments

Where would an NFL stadium likely land? Someplace in or near San Marcos. Photo by Staff Sgt. Kristi Machado






As talk has been rekindled about an NFL franchise relocating to San Antonio, speculation has surfaced about where that team might play. Some of that speculation has centered on what essentially is the center point between San Antonio and Austin: the fast-growing suburb of San Marcos.

Giving rise to that chatter is a story from sports website Bleacher Report indicating that Mark Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders — an NFL team shopping for a new home — has purchased land somewhere between San Antonio and Austin that purportedly could be the site of a new stadium for the Raiders. Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole says the Davis parcel “splits the difference” between San Antonio and Austin. Translation: Someplace in or near San Marcos is the likely spot.

In interviews with CultureMap, officials in San Marcos and Austin say they aren’t aware of such a land deal. Officials in San Antonio also seem to be in the dark, according to media reports.

Whatever the situation with the land, local officials say they’d be delighted to extend an invitation to an NFL team and explore construction of a stadium in our region.

Given its prime location along I-35 and between Austin and San Antonio, San Marcos would be a “natural play” for an NFL stadium, says Lance Aldridge, executive director of the Austin Sports Commission.

“I think it would be an exciting proposal,” Aldridge says of an NFL team and stadium in San Marcos. “We’d kill to have that.”

Adriana Cruz, president of the Greater San Marcos Partnership, a regional economic development agency, says an NFL stadium in San Marcos would align with her nonprofit’s stated goal of accommodating “destination attractions,” such as a major-league sports venue or an amusement park. She also says a stadium would complement San Marcos’ various amenities, particularly the two outlet malls, which collectively draw about 14 million visitors a year.
“Could we be home to a major stadium? Absolutely,” Cruz says.

An NFL stadium in San Marcos is “certainly something that makes a lot of sense — a lot of logistical sense, a lot of economic sense,” she says.

San Marcos sits about 30 miles south of Austin, the 11th largest city in the U.S., and about 40 miles north of San Antonio, the seventh largest city in the U.S. The Austin-San Antonio region is home to more than 4.3 million residents but just one major-league team: the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. Experts say either the San Antonio metro area or the Austin metro area alone could support an NFL team, but situating an NFL stadium where those areas overlap undoubtedly would fortify the fan base.

For now, it’s impossible to say precisely how much land Davis might have purchased between Austin and San Antonio. But it is safe to say that a stadium project would require dozens of acres. As a means of comparison, U.S. Bank Stadium, under construction as the new home of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, will stand on a 38-acre site.

Of course, an NFL stadium in the Austin-San Antonio corridor would come with a hefty price tag: likely more than $1 billion. The NFL’s newest venue — Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers — cost close to $1.3 billion. Next month, Levi’s Stadium will host Super Bowl 50.

As officials in our region salivate over the possibility of hosting an NFL team, the fate of the Oakland Raiders remains up in the air. The Raiders had sought to move to Los Angeles, but that proposal has been scrapped, and Davis now suggests that he’s not inclined to keep his team in Oakland. NFL owners approved the St. Louis Rams' move to a planned stadium in Los Angeles and gave the San Diego Chargers an option to join the Rams in LA a year later.

Amid the Raiders-Chargers-Rams drama and the buzz about the Oakland team possibly packing up for Texas, Aldridge cautions that the owners of the Lone Star State’s two NFL teams — the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans — might balk at the idea, as a third team could cannibalize their fan bases. Furthermore, he says, Davis merely could be dangling a hypothetical move to Texas as a bargaining chip with Oakland.

“I can’t say it can’t be done,” Aldridge says of an NFL presence in the Austin-San Antonio corridor, “but there are a lot of challenges.”


http://austin.culturemap.com/news/ci...ampaign=buffer

[BD24]

I will be a bit pissed if they bring a team here and put the stadium in ing San Marcos.

[BatManu20]

Sherrington: Time for Jerry Jones to allow Raiders to move to San Antonio


Michael Ainsworth / DMN
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones greets Oakland Raider owner Mark Davis (right) during their afternoon practice in Oxnard, CA, on Aug 12, 2014. (Michael Ainsworth/The Dallas Morning News)


By Kevin Sherrington , Staff Columnist Contact Kevin Sherringtonon Twitter:@KSherringtonDMN

Jerry Jones helped clear the way for Los Angeles to get another NFL team, if not two.

Now he needs to do the same favor for San Antonio.

Can you see the Raiders in the Alamo City?

Not without Jerry's say-so, and it's time he did.

The possibilities have been discussed before, and it's always been dismissed because the NFL's most powerful man doesn't want any financial compe ion. Jerry thought reporters were joking when they asked him what he thought of Mark Davis, the Raiders owner, meeting with San Antonio officials in 2014. He estimated then that San Antonio is "97, 98, 99 percent Cowboys fans," a conservative guess, at that.

Bob McNair guesses that half of San Antonio's NFL fans pull for his Texans, but the chairman of the finance committee, which must approve any relocation, has said he wouldn't necessarily oppose a third team in the Lone Star State.

Problem is, Jerry probably likes his money more than McNair. Or Donald Trump.

As for whether San Antonio has the money to pull it off, Red McCombs didn't have much luck getting the football coach he wanted at Texas, but he's not just sitting around on his billion or so, either.

He told the ESPN affiliate in San Antonio he's lined up corporate sponsors. He'd even be willing to buy part of the team, if that's what Davis wants.

And what about the relocation fee? The Rams must pay $550 million to the rest of the owners for trading St. Louis for LA. It's also a sliding scale. A move to San Antonio shouldn't cost nearly as much because revenue streams aren't as lucrative in South Texas as in Southern California.

On the other hand, think what another NFL team could do for the South Texas economy, not to mention the state in general.

NFL owners have already said they'd contribute $100 million to help fund a new stadium in Oakland, which still leaves them, oh, about $300 million short. Davis, a native Californian who reportedly owns land around San Antonio, may have no desire to leave the Bay Area. But at some point he has to understand he's not getting what he wants in California, either. Ask Billy Beane how stadium talks are going for the A's.

All of it is moot, though, if Jerry doesn't put aside his portfolio. It's not enough that San Antonio fans get to pull for the Cowboys from their couches. If it can afford it, the city deserves another pro team.

Houston's Roy Hofheinz kept Major League Baseball out of North Texas for longer than most old timers here care to remember. Jerry doesn't need a similar designation in his obituary.

Besides, we could always use another rivalry.

http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dall...go-san-antonio

[BatManu20]

This would be like the Dodgers moving from LA to San Fran. Just ain't right.

[T Park]

Three teams in Southern California within 100 miles? No way.

[baseline bum]

This would be like the Dodgers moving from LA to San Fran. Just ain't right.

That would be disappointing as .

[lmbebo]

That would be disappointing as .

Very much so ...

Getting tired of the NFL and its $hitting on SA.

[BatManu20]

Three teams in Southern California within 100 miles? No way.

That's exactly why part of me thinks there's zero chance that happens. But Mark Davis seems desperate to keep the franchise in California so who knows.

[spurraider21]

i dont get why people are just assuming they're gna go to SD. if the chargers couldn't get a stadium deal done, why do people think the raiders will be able to?

dont get me wrong, i'd welcome the move, and i'd probably get season tickets if they did

[Aztecfan03]

i dont get why people are just assuming they're gna go to SD. if the chargers couldn't get a stadium deal done, why do people think the raiders will be able to?

dont get me wrong, i'd welcome the move, and i'd probably get season tickets if they did

The chargers haven't wanted a stadium deal in san diego.

[exstatic]

If they put the stadium in San Marcos, they might as well stay in CA.

[Mugen]

my playing everybody once again tbh...

[sasaint]

If they put the stadium in San Marcos, they might as well stay in CA.

EXACTLY!

[cjw]

Onto the Jaguars... oh wait, have to fight with London for them

[Cowboys_Wear_Spurs]

This would be like the Dodgers moving from LA to San Fran. Just ain't right.

I saw the LA move as viable. This no. What people fail to realize is that it will cost 500 million + more to build the same stadium in SD as SA. Land prices are like 3X higher in Cali. Plus the cost of labor, materials, gas, electricity, etc. is more expensive. There is a reason why the City of SD doesn't want to build a new stadium.

Raiders are 2nd to last in value and dead last in Net profit and 2nd to last in Revenues. Even the Texans had 115 mil in PROFIT last year. And they are valued at 2.5 bn, 1 bn more than both the Chargers and Raiders.

Moving to SA where a new stadium deal is a sure thing, the Raiders value should easily top 2 bn in a couple seasons.

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mlm45...kland-raiders/

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mlm45...iego-chargers/

[Obstructed_View]

If they put the stadium in San Marcos, they might as well stay in CA.

Why? It's an hour drive from Plano to Arlington, and people don't mind doing it 8 times a year. South Texas isn't getting an NFL team without Austin's money, so it seems logical. San Antonio needs to import a lot of better paying jobs or triple in size before they can start dictating where they want their NFL team to go.

And frankly, San Antonio's track record ain't great considering AT&T was supposed to stir economic growth and didn't.

[BatManu20]

Get to know the Texas town that's 'a natural fit' to host the Raiders


The San Antonio Raiders would be wise to set up their operation to the north of the major Texas city.

Jerome Miron / USA TODAY Sports





By Nick ToneyJan 18, 2016 at 9:58a ET

Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis knows there's a welcoming market waiting for his team in San Antonio.

He might also know there's a perfect market waiting for him about 50 miles to the northeast. Perhaps no other Texas town is as uniquely positioned as San Marcos is to provide a home beyond the Alamodome for an NFL franchise.

Adriana Cruz, president of the Greater San Marcos Partnership, via Culture Map Austin:

“Could we be home to a major stadium? Absolutely. (It's) certainly something that makes a lot of sense -- a lot of logistical sense, a lot of economic sense."

Cruz is correct; the town of about 60,000 is a strategic football market. To the north lies Austin, another football-centric town without a single pro sports team. To the south, San Antonio, which could house Davis' team while a stadium gets built. And one highway -- 1-35 -- connects the two.

That stadium would go up in one of America's blossoming areas. San Marcos was named the fastest-growing U.S. city by the U.S. census bureau in 2013 and 2014. Its major draw? Two shopping outlets which attract over 14 million per year.

The Raiders would provide a third huge attraction. And more importantly, it sounds like they'd get the new stadium they've wanted since Davis' father ran the team.

Said Lance Aldridge, executive director of the Austin Sports Commission:

“I think it would be an exciting proposal. We’d kill to have that.”

http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/t...stadium-011816

[BatManu20]

[raybies]

Well that's that

[BatManu20]

[Obstructed_View]

Jerry Jones still has a and two fingers firmly in the ass of San Antonio.

[BatManu20]