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The TV networks with NFL rights have been salivating at the thought of putting a pro football team back in the ultra-lucrative Los Angeles market. Today, the Los Angeles City Council has become their new best friend by voting to approve a memorandum of understanding that outlines the financial framework of a $1.2 billion stadium, Farmers Field, to be built in downtown LA to house the first NFL team here in 16 years. The deal between the city and Anschutz Entertainment Group, which would see a 68,000-seat stadium attached to a new wing of the LA Convention Center, still must pass environmental-impact hurdles, but the tentative plan is for AEG to begin construction in 2012 for an opening in September 2016. The Council vote was unanimous today, mostly thanks to amended bond agreements that reduces the amount the city would have to shell out for the convention center upgrade. Last week on ESPN Radio’s local Mason and Ireland Show, former stadium skeptic Councilman Bill Rosendahl said he was on board with the deal but that he didn’t want ground broken on a new stadium if a team hasn’t been lined up yet to play there. AEG president Tim Leiweke has previously said he’s had discussions with the Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings and the San Diego Chargers (always a top candidate to head north thanks to a shaky stadium deal of their own).
LA City Council OKs NFL Stadium Plan
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I’m confused. How does this work again?
Calif. deficit falls under $10 billion, Brown says
California is scheduled to borrow about $5 billion from private investors
LA is a city in the state of California. It is not California itself. It has its own budget.
Here’s how it works again: Jerry Brown.
Obama recently announced on national television that if our Debt ceiling (credit limit) wasn’t extended that we would default on our loans. Debt ceiling was raised and he has no interest in cutting spending.
Here’s an experiment for you: Max out a credit card and when your payment comes due, call the credit card company and explain that, because you pend too much, you are not going to be able to make the payment unless they give you more credit.
Let me know how that works out for you. (Worked out pretty well for Obama…)
You do realize that raising the debt ceiling is a standard practice. You sound Republican…your Fuhrer, Ronald Reagan, raised it 17 times and the worst president in history raised it 8. It’s a made up number. We set it, we can change it.
Your understanding of these issues could fill a thimble. Having said that there’s nothing LA needs less than an NFL team or a new stadium.
Or more businesses operated by Phil Anschutz.
The debt ceiling was for money already spent. Budgets are for the future. If you actually found out facts for yourself you would know that the following facts are true:
The budget deficit growth from 1998 to 2011 was almost all related to putting the Bush era policies back into the budget.
The 2001/2003 tax cuts were not paid for or budgeted.
Medicare part D was not paid for or budgeted.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not on the budget.
TARP, and the conservatorship of Fannie and Freddie were all done at the end of 2008.
If you also factor in the loss of revenue from the recession and loss of jobs the only actual additional spending reflected in our deficit comes from the stimulus which was widely acknowledge to be too little and only came in at 862 Billion.
There are the facts. Hope that helps but I doubt it.
Cheers,
James
This is a huge day for Downtown LA!
68,000 seats and they still won’t sellout in Los Angeles and we’ll never see home games on television…
Great day for L.A.; bonds, bills & bust.
Team owners will get richer, the bonds will suck investors away from the municipal bonds that would finance civic improvements, and how much will seats cost for the poor Angelinos who just want to watch a game?
It’s bread and circus time in America, folks.
If LA would stop playing identity politics and elect any MecHa member that runs (and is in someone’s pocket) we might have a nice city again.
It will soon make sense to buy one of those downtown lofts. LA is probably going to get two teams (similar to the Giants/Jets setup).
said the developer who is upside-down on overpriced shoebox lofts…
Does anyone in LA really believe that we are missing out by not having an NFL team? And if you are a Raider fan in Los Angeles (or even, mercy, one of the few remaining Rams fans), and we end up with the Jacksonville Jaguars, how are you going to feel about that?
Yes, have mercy for us waiting for the Los Angeles Rams to be reborn. Keep the Raiders where they belong…in hell.
This isn’t about football to me. I am more than happy to watch all the games on TV without blackouts. This is about LA getting a new downtown stadium, which will be a huge win for the city of LA.
We now have a premier venue for concerts, conventions, major sporting events, etc. It will vastly increase the viability of the convention center for major conventions.
It has been a shame that a city like LA has been saddled with outdated facilities like the colliseum, rose bowl and dodger stadium for all these years because of small minded attitudes typified by the people on these boards complaining about the deal.
People complained when AEG built Staples Center, and it has been a massive success. Can you imagine if LA’s only arena venues were still the Forum and the Sports Arena?
Likewise, people complained about LA Live, and that has also helped to lure people downtown and made it a premiere international entertainment district (see the recent X-Games, Grammys, NBA All-Star game, etc).
The stadium will be built with mostly private money, so we would have to be idiots not to do this deal. 10 years from now people will realize how important this venue is to the city of LA, just like they now realize how important Staples Center has been.
Get with the times, people. LA needs a 21st century stadium. And AEG (like them or not) has come to the rescue and saved us from being stuck with a useless stadium in the City of Industry.
The freeway’s not getting any wider down there. Football Sundays GRIDLOCK-MAGEDDON Do the council members know where people are going TO PARK! Refurbish the Coliseum… Oh sorry AIG doesn’t control that… too far away from their Staples Center base. Vote NO!
Maybe you haven’t heard. Downtown LA now has a subway and light rail. It’s no longer necessary to drive everywhere.
It’s AEG. And traffic is always going to be bad around a stadium but it’s not like there are nearly as many people already on the road on Sundays downtown. Thousands of people find their way into the Staples Center for Lakers games and hundreds for Clippers/Kings games during rush hour on weekdays. Do you really not think there are parking structures in the new stadium plans? USC’s contract with the Coliseum means refurbishing the stadium isn’t going to happen, by the way.
The Coliseum broke their contract with USC by not having the funds for improvements they agreed to….so I expect USC to move to the AEG house also.
Yeah but I believe that was two years ago and they have since inked a new deal. I could be wrong though. However, on top of that USC also now owns the property the Coliseum stands on so that would make a move less likely, on top of the fact that the Coliseum seats 92,000 so a 68,000 seat stadium wouldn’t make much sense.
Bring home the Chargers.
No surprise.
What is more revealing is that I sent a letter to Councilman Paul Koretz clearly stating that this is not for the people of Los Angeles, but for the rich and powerful.
To this end, and it was brought up in the council meeting) I requested that the costs for tickets be explained as they will be well out of reach for the average LA citizen. And, I pointed out that LA is not your typical sports town. If the team is not championship caliber…it won’t sell out…so, the 14,000,000 plus citizens in the greater LA area may lose televised games. Neither the Raiders or Rams hardly ever sold out unless they were playing towards the playoffs.
The City Council never addressed the attendance and potential loss of television.
The cost of the tickets was officially brought up…and, are you ready…it’s coming…AEG’s response was that although it can speculate through two outside ‘independent’ research firms (which oddly came up with almost identical revenue projections for the city and others looking for money… while AEG hired and paid both ‘independent’ firms…. plus, AEG can put together a BILLION DOLLAR proposal for this complex stadium deal….but estimated ticket cost seemed to be too complex to consider.
Let the record show that speculating the probable ticket prices for the citizens of LA was too complex for AEG to even consider…so, this question was shelved. Can you believe it…no…but, the LA City Council chose not to push this issue even an inch towards the truth, because AEG could not speculate on this one quite important aspect of the stadium deal.
Trust me, unless the New England Patriots or Green Bay Packers move to LA…the odds of securing a championship team are remote. So, remember Los Angeles, once the novelty wears off…you will have a state of the art stadium that won’t sell out…and, LA fans will lose television because they can’t afford to attend the games.
Congratulation, LA City Council…how much money has AEG donated to each of your election campaigns?
This deal is SO BAD on so many levels..but, mostly for the citizens of LA who have NEVER raised much of a fervor over the past fifteen years to bring an NFL team here.
This is all about the money…and, most of it will go to AEG.
Follow up…the vote was unanimous…those few who were against it… caved in to the pressure.
Not sure if you caught the excellent article in the LA Weekly in late May, but it discussed the voting trends with the council. Of legislation that has passed, a whopping 97% of it has passed unanimously. Staggering. The volume of backdoor deals and special interests controlling this city is mind blowing. I highly recommend you check out the article
I’m a citizen of LA and I am excited. Heck, its not like Hollywood or the networks are producing anything remotely entertaining.
I’d love it to be the Chargers, so long as they fire Norv before they make the trip up the 5!
I’ll also bet my bottom dollar the stadium is filled week in and week out. Times have changed.
Hey Tipsy,
Save your ‘bottom’ dollar because:
1) This is a bet you will surely lose.
2) You will need every dollar you have to buy tickets, parking, food and beer to attend a game…and, with the luck of LA…it won’t be the Chargers…it will be the Jaguars.
Tom – why do you think people will not be able to afford to go to games? Lakers sell out every other night with very high prices. I’m sure an NFL team could sell out every other week.
Whatever, some people are just against it for their own reasons. But I for one am excited. Its crazy LA does not have a football team. We are a huge market. Done right, with a successful team on the field that stadium will be full. And i’ll be one of them.
But I am biased. I’m a sports loving male with money to burn. I want an NFL team here. I couldn;t give a shit about people moaning about extra traffic. I couldn’t give a shit how its paid for. Thats not my job.
Its the NFL and it is almost finally back in LA.
who cares about deficits and bonds and unpaid bills. THIS IS FOOTBALL
The downtown area regularly handles events with more than 65,000 people. I went to a dodger game at the coliseum a few years back that had nearly twice that number and they regularly seat 80,000 plus for USC football games.
As a football nut, I love the idea of this. But, it won’t help the economy if the team sucks. They need to get a bunch of rich celebrity co-owners once they pick a team to move to LA, and beef up the roster with star talent and a great staff, otherwise, the team will lose, tickets won’t be sold, and thus this entire endeavor will do nothing but DRAIN the local economy as opposed to assist it long term.
Terrible, terrible, terrible. Another scam on the city by billionaires and real estate speculators — the same ones who’ve spent the last 30 years trying to convince people to rent out their expensive downtown real estate. The city will shell out billions, including giving these billionaires free land on which to build a stadium they’ll own and profit from. Plus we’ll have to loan them money to pay for it, spend tens of millions demolishing and remodeling the convention center, etc. For what? We don’t need this and can’t afford another scheme to make rich guys richer at our expense (and further screw up traffic).
Bend over taxpayers here comes the shaft! Most economist say that doing something like this does not add any money to the local economy. Your discretionary spending on entertainment will just shift from restaurants to a football game. Build it and they will spend is the biggest fraud.
yes, but there will be more jobs created to run this place and more deliveries to supply it. more swag sold in stores to fans. another location for concerts and events. a new great location for conventions in our state. And if we get a team from outside California, then it is yet another attraction for California. look away from the bright light of the money/tax possibilities. LA will have a football team again and that’s pretty cool for fans of the game and people with kids who would like to share that experience with them. I pray it’s not the Raiders though. No way I support that team.
I hope you’re right, but I doubt it. People only buy tickets if they can afford to, and swag only if the team is worth it, and, either way, the jobs created by this white elephant will be almost entirely in the service sector at minimum wage. Like The Grove in LA it will strangle nearby businesses because it will be a destination unto itself with few patrons venturing into the community. Even if they match Christians vs. Lions there will be little local revenue thrown off. But the franchise holders will get rich, and that’s all that matters.
I keep hearing how this won’t cost L.A. any money, but somehow I have a tough time believing that. I like too that the team we end up getting will be carpetbagging their way into town. I’m still sure this is all bluster to get Minnesota and San Diego to build new stadiums.
I’ve always maintained that one of the few financially prudent things the City of L.A. has done is not to be hoodwinked into a publicly-funded football stadiums like so many other municipalities have done. Other cities have had their identifies wrapped up in their football team but I figured we always had too many other alternatives (as well as having our own pro team: USC).
Financial journalism is hard to do and it’s even harder for the lay people to understand, so the details of this will remain buried to the general populace and they’ll take another financial hit.
This will end up a million times worse than the Alamodome debacle.
I think this is a good move for LA. Football has grown a considerable amount since the Raiders and Rams were here. It is the biggest sport in the country and one of the largest markets doesn’t have a team. Players and coaches would love to live and play in LA. As far as fans go, I am a die hard Cleveland Browns fan who wants to go to live football games. I would instantly become a LA Jags, Charger or Vikings fan.
Hey LAFootballFan,
You hit the nail on the head…you are a die hard Cleveland Browns fan. Cleveland is the single worst professional sports market for team championships over the last 50 years. To my knowledge…Cleveland has won no pro championships for two generations…yet, the Cleveland fans pack the Browns and support the Indians and the Cavaliers (especially when LeBron was there – no championship).
This is Los Angeles…If the Cleveland Browns played here the same way they have been playing in Cleveland…you couldn’t give away the tickets.
This ain’t Cleveland.
Get the Raiders out of Oakland, get rid of Al Davis and move the team where they belong…back in LA. The Alameda Coliseum has to be one of the worst stadiums to play in today. The A’s need to move out of there as well, IF they want to be marketable again.
The TV networks with NFL deals are not “salivating” for a team in LA. Ratings are huge without LA. A team here means even higher rights fees without necessarily any growth in ratings since the number of games shown in the market will drop if LA gets a team. . Get a clue.
An intriquing proposal that is missing one element – an NFL team. Ask San Antonio how they are doing with the Alamadome – built for an to attract an NFL team in the 1980s. None there yet almost 30 years later, an no hope of ever getting one.
The choices for an LA team are slim. There will be no expansion of the league for at least 10 years (if the CBA holds). That leaves moving an existing franchise. Los Angelenos look longingly at San Diego, but that is not likely going to happen. Nor is moving any other California team to LA. So who’s left?
A promising potential are the Vikings, who are currently arguing about a replacement for the Metrodome. Their lease is up this year and they could start looking around for a new home. Expect the entire State of Minnesota to put up a fight if the team makes noise abpouit moving.
Other disgruntled teams include Jacksonville and Carolina, who are both unhappy with their respective stadia. even though those buildings are not that old. Tennessee is also a possibility.
The Vikings are arguably the best team in this potential crop. It will also take roughly 30 months to build the LA stadium, not to mention the environmental studies that will eb required before construction can begin. So that makes this stadium a non-starter until most likely the 2015 season.
Vikings aren’t going anywhere. Zygi Wilff has already announced he will not pursue this. He has made a lot of progress with the discussions about a new football stadium in Minnesota. Unless those talks completely dismantle don’t count on the Vikes being an option for LA.
I have read numerous studies that says it’s about a 50-50 split of a new stadium creating long-term jobs/not doing that. Alas, I think it’s good to have a football team in such a major American city. I think the Jags should move LA (and change its name).
yay what a great new place for raves!!!!