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To LA, or not to LA; That's the NFL Question
It started as SB 1771, a bill that would implement a program teaching homeowners how to navigate through the current mortgage crisis. Then, all of the sudden, it was about the NFL in the City of Industry. It may seem tricky, but that's the game when it comes to "spot bills," or placeholders with text and intentions that may be the goal or not.
Developer Ed Roski Jr., owns 600 acres of land in Industry and wants to develop the land into the "Los Angeles Stadium." It could be completed by the 2011 NFL season and only cost $800 million. The cost is half the normal price for a project of that scope, but since the stadium will be built into a hill, less steel is used, therefore less cash, according to Roski.
But the question comes down to who gets to pay for it, even if the price is cheaper than usual. Not Roski. Well, he is offering to loan $150-million. He, the 195th richest American, according to Forbes, is the other half of the Staples Center along with partner Philip Anschutz. Roski is estimate to be worth $2.3 billion.
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LA Times sports columnist Sam Farmer says Los Angeles is not even near the top of their priority list. "Moving back to L.A. isn't among the NFL's top three priorities, and I'd be surprised if it were in the top five... L.A. won't reappear on the NFL's radar screen until an owner stands up and says he can no longer get it done in his current city, and the prospects of staying are so bleak that his team can be more successful in Southern California -- even when saddled with the cost of a new stadium, an astronomical relocation fee, and heaven knows what else."
Proposals for the NFL have come and gone many times to Los Angeles. This is just the next one. But is it the final?
Photo by Damian Dovarganes/AP
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