Long Beach may soon try to convince a pro sports franchise to make its home in a new stadium along the city’s waterfront. It’s hiring a firm to study what kind of team it could draw and what type of facility would have to be built.
There’s no team or sport picked out yet, Mayor Rex Richardson said. The study will let the city consider options including what teams could be interested and what venues would have to be built.
Long Beach’s profile has grown recently, Richardson said, and the study “is really about preparing our city to make smart business decisions.”
It’s focused on the possibility of building a venue in the 13-acre parking lot next to the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center. The lot — known as the Elephant Lot because it used to host the Ringling Bros. circus — sits mostly vacant throughout the year except when it’s packed with racegoers during the Long Beach Grand Prix.
Long Beach has talked about developing the lot for years. It represents “one of the few waterfront development opportunities in the region,” Richardson said.
This isn’t even the first time Long Beach has hoped to turn it into a stadium. In 2018, it tried but failed to coax the Angels out of Anaheim.
The target team may not be as big this time. Richardson mentioned League One Volleyball — a women’s volleyball league — as an example of something the city would consider.
The LA Orbit, the newest of six professional teams in the league, will play its 2027 home games out of the Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
That league hosted its finals last March at the Pyramid at Cal State Long Beach.
“Women’s sports are a huge opportunity,” Richardson said. “We’re the birthplace and the hometown of Billie Jean King.”
Now is the right time for a study like this, said Jeff Fellenzer, a sports journalism professor at the University of Southern California.
It’s also the right time to “look at alternatives to the big four in sports” with many “up-and-coming” leagues gaining a dedicated following through social media, he added.
The city’s study also comes as Long Beach is set to host 11 Olympic events and seven Paralympic sporting events in 2028.
That kind of international attention means Long Beach needs to be prepared to “leverage this Olympic moment” to land long-term investors in the city, Richardson said.
Downtown Long Beach still has a few hurdles to clear before a team would consider setting up a permanent home in the Elephant Lot, said John Costello, who spent nearly two decades as marketing director for Cal State Long Beach’s athletics program.
While its proximity to the water could make for a picturesque venue, it also limits the reach of the marketing pool, he said. Essentially, a team would have to reach twice as far inland to recruit fans.
Plus, there’s only one major freeway that leads directly downtown, Costello said.
The city is taking steps to allow for alternate transportation methods to downtown, Richardson said, which could include an expansion of water taxis to and from neighboring cities.
“We need to explore every one of those avenues and see what’s going to work for the next 50 years,” Richardson said.
The city has approved a budget of up to $80,000 for the study, according to the request for proposals. Bids are due next week, and the chosen vendor will be awarded a one-year contract. The city will have the option to renew for a second year.