The Los Angeles Rams and Chargers have shown off their future new home rising from a very deep hole in suburban Inglewood.
The teams on Wednesday gave news media a hard-hat tour of the stadium construction site about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southwest of downtown Los Angeles and not far from the eastern approach to Los Angeles International Airport’s two northern runways.
A massive amount of earth has been moved Aaron Colvin Jersey , foundational pillars are rising and some structures are beginning to take shape.
”We have completed the mass excavation, which is actually the digging of the hole, if you will, and we’re bringing the buildings up out of the hole,” said Robert Aylesworth Jr., who is in charge of stadium construction.
”The proximity to LAX created the necessity to push the building in the ground 100 feet,” he said. ”Normally, a football stadium would be in the ground maybe 30 feet but we’re in the ground 100 feet, so the race has been dig to the bottom and then start your way back up.”
That requires more equipment and manpower to be able to complete it in the same time frame Austin Seferian-Jenkins Jersey , he said.
The $2.6 billion, 70,000-seat stadium was originally supposed to open for the 2019 NFL season but heavy rains last year delayed excavation and it’s now expected to open in 2020.
”We’re on target to open in 2020,” Aylesworth said, but added that the project faces competition for labor by the end of this year and 2019 as large projects open up at the airport and elsewhere in the greater Los Angeles area.
”So we’re pushing hard right now in every way we can to get as much done, but typically the manpower at the end of the project increases pretty dramatically because you’re doing things like painting, floor finishes, millwork and that kind of stuff and it just takes more people to do it,” he said.
In the meantime L. P. Ladouceur Jersey , the Rams will continue to play at historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Chargers will remain at tiny StubHub Center in suburban Carson.
”This is gonna be a work in progress obviously but we’re starting now for planning to be in here in 2020 and I think everybody is really excited about it,” said Chargers owner Dean Spanos. ”This is something that’s global. It’s world class. It’s one of a kind. Something that all of Los Angeles and Inglewood is going to be very proud of.”
The stadium complex will also include a hotel, retail space, office space and a 6,000-seat entertainment venue.
The project backed by billionaire Rams owner Stan Kroenke was a prime factor in the league’s decision to allow the Rams to move from St. Louis, returning the NFL to Los Angeles after a 21-year absence from the nation’s second-largest market. The Chargers then exercised their opportunity to join the Rams in Los Angeles.
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AP reporter John Antczak contributed to this report.
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After struggling with a knee injury late last season, Devonta Freeman says he is on track to returning to the form that made him the NFL's highest-paid running back.
Freeman missed two games for the Atlanta Falcons last season following his second concussion in four months. Then a sprained right knee cut into his production in the last few games of 2017. The injury helped to keep him from his third straight season with 1,000 yards rushing. It also helped to stop the Falcons' bid for a return trip to the Super Bowl.
No offseason surgery was necessary, and Freeman said Wednesday his knee is feeling better.
"I'm able to do a lot of things I couldn't do back in January and February Randy Gregory Jersey , running, cutting, sprinting, getting a little stronger," Freeman said.
Freeman said he's "making harder cuts" and "sprinting a little faster" in his offseason workouts .
He said he wants to be "100 percent healthy" for the team's minicamp in June and training camp in July.
"Be able to be ready for game one," he said.
Two straight Pro Bowl seasons earned Freeman a five-year, $41.25 million extension before the 2017 season. It was the top overall salary package for any NFL running back. Only Pittsburgh's Le'Veon Bell has a higher average salary.
Health problems quickly followed Freeman's big new deal.
He spent the last two weeks of the preseason in concussion protocol before suffering another concussion on the second play of Atlanta's 27-7 win over Dallas on Nov. 12. He missed the next two games but returned with three strong games, including a season-high 126 yards rushing at Tampa Bay on Dec. 18.
The knee injury helped to limit Freeman's production the rest of the season. He was held to a combined 59 yards rushing in the final two regular-season games and then managed only seven yards on 10 carries in a playoff loss to Philadelphia.
Following the season, Freeman said he feared he would need surgery on the right knee. No surgery was needed Jack Youngblood Jersey , so he has focused on rebuilding strength through his offseason program.
Freeman's health will be a key for Atlanta's offense, which led the league in scoring in 2016 before falling to mid-pack in the league last year. The Falcons will be closely watching Freeman's health, as top backup Tevin Coleman is entering the final year of his contract.
The Falcons selected running back Ito Smith from Southern Mississippi in the fourth round of last week's NFL draft. Smith is expected to replace Terron Ward as the team's third running back, behind Freeman and Coleman.
General manager Thomas Dimitroff said Smith was not drafted to be a safety net if the team can't re-sign Coleman.
"That's not what we're looking back," Dimitroff said Saturday. "We're looking at him being a nice addition in that third position."
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