Kroenke's NFL stadium proposal for Los Angeles would house two teams

LOS ANGELES -- An NFL team owner has designed a Los Angeles-area stadium for two clubs -- with two home locker rooms, identical sets of office space and two owners' suites.

St. Louis Rams' owner Stan Kroenke doesn't need to partner with a second team to finance the $1.86-billion venue in Inglewood, but the league considers Los Angeles a two-team market and wants a stadium that could accommodate both, according to the Los Angeles Times.

His plan competes with one by the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders, who want to share a stadium in Carson.

Kroenke hasn't said he plans to move the Rams, but analysts doubt he would invest in a stadium and not use it for his team.

The Times reported details of the stadium's design as league owners prepared to gather Monday in Phoenix and shortly after the Chargers and Raiders offered their rival plan. Any franchise would need the support of three-quarters of the league's 32 owners to move to the nation's second-largest market, which hasn't had an NFL franchise since 1994.

Renderings for the privately funded venue show a light metallic, wave-shaped structure featuring a roof that encompasses the stadium and a surrounding plaza. The roof has metal borders, but the area over the playing field is made of a transparent material called ETFE, which is as clear as a car windshield and strong enough to support the weight of a vehicle.

While the roof of the stadium would be 275 feet above the playing field, the building would be set into the ground, giving it an above-ground profile of 175 feet, lower than most enclosed stadiums. The proposed venue conforms to the height restrictions imposed on buildings within close proximity to Los Angeles International Airport.

The Times said the roof gives Kroenke the ability to create a billboard visible to more than 35 million travelers who fly in and out of Los Angeles each year.

Loading docks, mechanical yards and other infrastructure would be below ground and accessible via tunnels located near the stadium. Counting the underground and surface parking, 9,000 spaces would be dedicated to the stadium alone, with others in the nearby office and retail buildings.

HKS, Kroenke's architectural firm and the designer of stadiums for the Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts, estimates the project would take fewer than three years to build.