The Las Vegas Raiders NFL football team will host a pre-season training camp this summer at Costa Mesa’s Jack R. Hammett Sports Complex and pay for upgrades at the facility’s public sports fields.
City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison said she estimates the move will bring in $1.3 million in sales and hotel tax revenue.
“The Raiders being here in town and staying at local hotels, visiting our restaurants – there’s an estimated $1.3 million revenue generation from that activity and so we’re really, really happy to have that economic benefit to the overall city and to our businesses,” Harrison said during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Yet there were no revenue estimates in the staff report on the freshly minted one-year agreement unanimously passed by council members Tuesday night – one in which the Raiders will also pay $165,000 in rent to use the field this summer.
“I know the Raiders will have much success in the future, like we will have in Costa Mesa,” said Councilman Jeffrey Harlan. “There’s an expectation that we have these kinds of facilities and people want to come to Costa Mesa for precisely these reasons.”
The Raiders are expected to also make $600,000 in improvements to two of the fields at the sports complex, as well as provide an RV for recreation programs in underserved areas.
All of the $165,000 rent paid to Costa Mesa is also expected to go back into the fields.
The football team will also donate $10,000 to a local youth sports team, 100 tickets to local students to attend a pre-season NFL game in Southern California, fund a city-hosted junior training camp for kids aged 6-12 and replace weight training equipment at Costa Mesa High School.
Maintenance on the fields is expected to start on June 4 and the training camp is expected to take place from July 19 to August 11.
Lucas Paule, an attorney for the Raiders the agreement is good for both the team and the city.
“We’re very grateful for the chance to work and visit Costa Mesa for our 2024 training camp and get ready for a successful season,” he said during Tuesday’s meeting. “We’re happy to contribute financially and through other community benefits.”
Councilman Loren Gameros questioned if the NFL team could host a meet and greet with the local youth sports community.
Paule said NFL rules limit certain activities in another team’s home marketing area and they may not be able to do a meet and greet.
“We are in talks currently with other Southern California teams about what that looks like. But as of right now, we are committed to funding a city organized youth camp,” he said. “We are also supporting through a different agreement with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, a event for the high school football team here at Costa Mesa High School.”
The Raiders also plan on renting space in Costa Mesa High School for weight training and to use as a locker room.
“We are still in talks with the high school on that agreement. It’s not finalized yet,” Paule said
Harrison, the city manager, also said the team’s investment in the fields as well as the mobile RV will benefit the city’s youth.
“We have about five user groups with almost 3,000 kids that use our fields and so we’re really excited about this particular contribution and their ability to get the fields to NFL standards and our community being able to benefit from that,” she said.
It’s not the first time a pro football team has used the Jack R. Hammett sports complex for training.
In 2017, the Los Angeles Chargers entered a 10-year agreement with the city to use the facility for their annual summer training camps – renting the space for over $150,000 a year, according to a staff report.
The LA-based team also invested over $1 million in some of the fields to bring them to NFL standards.
In 2022, the Chargers informed the city they would move to a training facility in El Segundo in 2024 and later opted not to use the Jack Hammett complex for their training camp this year.
NFL teams aren’t the only sports teams looking to use Orange County sports facilities.
The LA Galaxy’s reserve soccer team had their eyes on using the Great Park Championship Soccer Stadium in Irvine – where the Orange County Soccer Club plays.
But officials rejected the proposal.
[Read: Orange County Soccer Club To Stay at Great Park; Will Irvine Break Even?]
Last year, Irvine City Council members entered into a new deal with the OC Soccer Club that gives the city 20% of revenue from billboard advertising, but it was unclear if the $500,000 revenue expected to be generated by the deal would be enough to maintain the field.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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