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News

Mayor Tony Courts NFL with Three Hours of Puck

By  Tony Pierce
Published Jun 15, 2006 11:00 PM
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The latest episode of Who Wants an NFL Franchise entered a new stage yesterday: The Meetings of the Rich Dudes.

The most interesting items so far, it seems, are the descriptions that theLA Daily News made about the two sides -- the OC & LA -- as they vie to get the new NFL team to play in their little corner of paradise.

First the Daily News described who the Mayor of LA brought to meet with the NFL Commissioner and his posse of owners.

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Villaraigosa brought together some of the highest-profile billionaires in the nation to meet with Tagliabue and the NFL owners, including philanthropist Eli Broad, Ron Burkle of Yucaipa Cos., and media mogul Haim Saban. He also included some of the top financial and business people in Andrew Cherng of Panda Express and Russell Goldsmith of City National Bank.

OK wait. THE Andrew Cherng of Panda Express? Mayor Tony knows EVERYONE!We kid, but seriously, if LA has been without the NFL for the last 14 years because we were one Panda Express honcho away, heads should roll. The Daily News continued...

Some of those familiar with the event sponsored by Villaraigosa said several of the participants spontaneously offered to meet with other NFL owners, and to bring together others who would be interested in helping bring professional football back to the Los Angeles Coliseum. The Los Angeles dinner lasted about three hours and featured meals prepared by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.

But... um... Mr. Express is sitting right there. You're telling us that those owners are talking to the Panda Express guy all day and you know they look at him and think about delicious broccoli beef, and some fried rice and then when the food comes out it's Wolfgang hustling out the same old tired mini-quiches from last year?
In contrast, the Orange County event was described as "efficient and businesslike," with a cross section of businessmen from real estate, biotech and new technology.
Did LA just get dissed in that sentence?In contrast... it was described as efficient? In contrast? So does that mean the LA meetings were inefficient? In other ways than having two cooking guys there? But we really want to know what unbusinesslike looks like.

Sounds fun.

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