Culver City Observer -

For the next two seasons the LA Chargers will be playing in their temporary home in Carson while the Rams' new stadium is being built in Inglewood.

This is not just a short-sighted remedy. The NFL owners will be watching closely how the 30,000 seat StubHub stadium is run.

If the Chargers' organization can make a nice profit out of this smaller "pocket-sized stadium," this may intrigue the NFL to re-think its idea that every new stadium it builds has to cost billions of dollars.

Pro football is a business and if this new smaller model can make a profit without shelling out billions, then the NFL would be crazy not to look into it.

Tickets sales makes the teams some money. Concession sales can be very lucrative. But, today, the real money in owning an NFL team is in the selling of the television rights. And you don't need to build a multi-billion dollar, 80,000 seat stadium, to televise a competitive football game.

Large municipalities have started to resist helping to pay for the building these new mega stadiums. City councils decline to pass favorable tax incentives and large stadiums are getting to be a tough sell to local taxpayers across the country as they vote down paying for government-backed bonds subsidizing larger stadiums.

George Laase

If all goes well in Carson smaller stadiums could find a future in the NFL. They could open up many smaller, secondary cities across the nation to having their own hometown team.

The NFL will have to be aware of over exposure and over saturation. But just think cities like Portland, Wichita, Savannah or San Antonio just to name a few--could have an NFL franchise in their future.

It will be interesting to see how the Chargers will fare, business-wise, in Carson. We might be looking at the future business model of the NFL in the making. If the other NFL owners can envision the possibilities of profitable, pocket-sized stadiums, the idea will spread to other cities across the country.