New Facility Could Have Chargers Falling for L.A.

I have good news for bondsmen and local Ecstasy and steroid pushers, momentum is building to bring an NFL team back to Los Angeles, and this time the effort may have the sports empire-powered oomph of Philip Anschutz behind it.

Anschutz’s interest in the NFL has already progressed to the surprising point that plans are now on the drawing board to build a training camp facility at Cal State Dominguez Hills with the intent of making it the permanent practice home for an NFL team moving here.

Construction on the Dominguez Hills’ $112-million sports project, which already includes soccer and tennis stadiums, is expected to begin in January, according to the Anschutz sports empire. The NFL facility will be ready for use in 2003.

“In the big picture, we would like to see an NFL team return to Los Angeles,” said Tim Leiweke, point man in Anschutz’s world-wide sports endeavors, which include Staples Center. “As members of this community, we would like to do what we can to help.”

I hope that includes roadblocks in the event the Raiders get any crazy ideas.

Just by coincidence--I’m sure--the San Diego Chargers have been in Los Angeles for months now visiting various campus sites to relocate their training camp. Wouldn’t it be interesting--and telling--if they found it at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

We already have two mediocre college football teams in the area, so we know the Chargers would feel right at home.

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JUST BY coincidence--I’m sure--the Chargers also have an escape clause in their Qualcomm Stadium lease in 2003, and while team officials have been telling fans they want to move their camp out of San Diego to allow the players to bond without distraction, the suspicion here is a training camp move would have more to do with leveraging bonds for a new football stadium in San Diego or L.A.

Anschutz, of course, is in the business of building and operating sports venues, and the decision to include a permanent NFL training facility in the Dominguez Hills’ project is a huge tip he’s interested in doing a Staples Center-like deal in L.A. to construct a new football stadium.

Just by coincidence--I repeat--the Chargers will soon be available to move and play in a new football stadium.

If Anschutz builds a football stadium, it will be at the Coliseum with the intention of linking a new facility with Staples Center at the other end of Figueroa Street--with the added benefit of kick-starting the retail development around Staples.

Imagine the frazzled nerves, however, if the Chargers scored in the Coliseum and they brought along the cannon they shoot off in Qualcomm.

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FOR BACKGROUND purposes, two years ago the Anschutz sports empire approached the Rose Bowl about assuming management of the facility and readying it for NFL use. The Rose Bowl declined. Anschutz’s interest in football, NFL insiders says, primarily rests in his desire to build and operate a venue--rather than becoming part of the NFL establishment.

Anschutz obviously has the money to buy a minority piece of any team moving here, but there’s a feeling now L.A.’s best chance to obtain a team is following the Houston blueprint, which had a group of wealthy and influential businessmen buying ownership shares in Robert McNair’s expansion franchise.

There already have been several such meetings in L.A. with a number of businessmen expressing an interest in pooling their resources to buy a minority share in whatever team moves here.

Leiweke said he has not spoken to Charger owner Dean Spanos yet, although it is known the team has had talks with Dominguez Hills’ officials. The Chargers would like to move to a training camp site in L.A. next summer, but the Anschutz project won’t be completed in time. The team, however, is expected to meet with the Anschutz sports empire in the next few weeks.

Now the Chargers, of course, would prefer to remain in a new stadium in San Diego because it would be less messy, but then Doug Flutie would probably prefer to be taller. The Chargers might have a tougher time getting what they want.

Taxpayers have been funding the Chargers for years, buying unsold tickets to make good on stadium improvements and to benefit the Spanos family.

Taxpayers are not happy in San Diego, and now after five consecutive losses, the team is expected to replace Coach Mike Riley after the season and rebuild again.

The Chargers had hoped they’d win this year behind the flamboyant play of the Mission Bay Shrimp, take advantage of the fans’ euphoria, and after scaring the locals with a summer camp move to L.A., make a pitch for a new stadium in San Diego. With so much riding on Flutie, in retrospect, the Chargers were short-sighted.

Leiweke, meanwhile, is concentrating on the big picture. He said he has been talking to NFL officials to better understand what teams might be in position to move to L.A. in the next few years.

“Suddenly there is a lot more intensity, momentum and interest in the return of the NFL here from our discussions with the business and political leaders in the community, as well as the NFL itself,” Leiweke said.

Based on experience, I’d like to say, “Call me when the opening kickoff is in the air in the new L.A. stadium,” but I’ve had the experience of covering the Chargers since 1986, and if the Spanos family gets a whiff of the money available in luxury suites in a new stadium in L.A.--they’ll be on their way in no time.

And I’m sure they will be really happy to see me.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.