Raiders, Chargers make joint statement on Los Angeles stadium plans

In the wake of Rams owner Stan Kroenke moving forward on construction of a Los Angeles stadium in Inglewood, the Raiders and Chargers have released a statement regarding their plans for a $1.7 billion stadium in nearby Carson.

According to details provided to the Los Angeles Times, the Chargers and Raiders have already purchased the plot of land in Carson where the stadium would be built. The site has been vacant for many years now and in 1999 was nearly home to a NFL expansion team (that expansion team became the Houston Texans).

The stadium plans and concept art is drawn up. It would house 68,000 fans with ability to expand to as much as 72,000. There will also be more than 18,000 parking spaces to allow for tailgating.

The official joint statement reads as follows:

We have both been working in our home markets to find a stadium solution for many years, so far unsuccessfully.

We remain committed to continuing to work in our home markets throughout 2015 to try to find publicly acceptable solutions to the long-term stadium issue.

We also both understand and respect the NFL's relocation process, and we intend to adhere strictly to the relocation procedures that the League has set forth for Los Angeles.

In particular, we respect the right of the NFL's owners to decide on all Los Angeles-related relocation issues and understand that any relocation application that is filed for Los Angeles must obtain the approval of three-fourths of the NFL's owners.

Both teams have kept the NFL owners' committee on Los Angeles, and the Commissioner, fully informed about our joint efforts.

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.

In short, for the remainder of 2015, we intend to move down two tracks simultaneously:

On track one, we will continue to work in our home markets to find permanent stadium solutions that are publicly acceptable.

On track two, we will work in Carson to preserve our options, and the future economic viability of our franchises, in the event that our efforts in our local markets fail.

Throughout this process we will respect the rules and procedures set forth by the League and defer completely to the ultimate decision of the NFL's owners.

Though the status of the two teams in their current cities remains unchanged, this news is significant because it means they are not on board with the Rams plans in Inglewood.

Also, merely the fact that the situation in their respective cities is unchanged is an issue. Mark Davis remains determined to give Oakland every chance to step up and get a new stadium built, but things are not moving as quickly as he would like.

The same can be said of the situation in San Diego, perhaps even to a greater extent. Those situations have forced them to protect their interests by getting the ball rolling so that this time next year, neither team is left in their current stadium situation with no options.

Here are some concept images of the proposed new stadium:

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