| Los Angeles Football Stadium | |
|---|---|
| Location | Industry, California Grand Crossing, California |
| Broke ground | TBA[1] |
| Opened | TBA[1] |
| Owner | Edward P. Roski |
| Construction cost | $800 million (estimated) |
| Architect | Aedas Sport and Dan Meis, FAIA |
| Capacity | 75,000 (estimated, expandable to 80,000 for Super Bowl games) |
| Tenants | |
| NFL team relocation | |
Los Angeles Football Stadium is the working title for a proposed 75,000-seat football stadium, the centerpiece of a 600-acre entertainment district in Industry, California. Upon construction, the district will be named Grand Crossing, California. Edward P. Roski, a part-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA and Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, has announced plans for the stadium on the northern side of the interchange of state routes 57 and 60, 22 miles (35 km) east of Downtown Los Angeles with the purpose of attracting an NFL team to the Los Angeles region. The Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-largest metropolitan area in the United States, has been the nation's largest media market without an NFL team since 1995.
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Roski, who helped build Staples Center, stated that the new 75,000-seat stadium would be privately financed and would be the centerpiece of a new 600-acre entertainment and retail complex in Industry which would include 25,000 ample on-site parking spaces.[2] The stadium and mixed-use development has been designed by Dan Meis, FAIA, and Aedas Sport out of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles County site would put it in reach of 12 million people in a 25-mile (40 km) radius, including in Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties and the San Fernando Valley. Roski and his spokesman have asserted that a football stadium in the city could mean as much as $400 million in yearly revenue to businesses and bring more than 18,000 jobs to the area.[3] Project supporters have asserted that aspects of the stadium design, such as the use of hilly terrain to vastly reduce the cost of construction and the multi-use capabilities of the planned surrounding development, as well as Roski's success in gaining support from local elected officials in the City of Industry, where the proposed stadium site is located, give the plan a strong possibility of success.[4] Project critics have asserted that it requires more public funding than has been stated, and have questioned the costs and benefits of the project.[5]
Roski has said he will not break ground on the stadium until he has a commitment from an NFL team to move to Los Angeles.[1] In exchange for footing the bill to construct the stadium, Roski wants at least a 30 percent ownership stake in any team that moves to Los Angeles to play there.[6]
The National Football League is not planning on expanding and the developers of the new stadium stated on their website that their tenant will be an existing team "that needs to move because they cannot build a new stadium or financially they are not successful in their current market. We can not disclose which teams we are talking with." The three teams which used to play in Los Angeles but moved elsewhere (the San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders) have all been rumored to be open to moving back. The Jacksonville Jaguars and the Minnesota Vikings, have also been identified by Roski and others as possible prime tenants of the new stadium.[7][8] However, the city of Santa Clara, California has since approved a ballot measure that will allow the 49ers to build a new stadium in Santa Clara, and the Raiders could be allowed to occupy that stadium as well.
On February 28, 2009 the City of Industry city council approved the environmental impact report 5 to 0. The neighboring cities of Diamond Bar and Walnut both expressed concerns about the noise, traffic, and environmental impacts of the proposed stadium. Walnut[9] and a Walnut-based citizens group comprising eight homeowners filed lawsuits to block the project[10], but were unsuccessful.[11]
On April 8, 2009 the city of Diamond Bar unanimously approved a legal settlement that grants it more than $21 million in exchange for dropping objections to the stadium. Diamond Bar City Council members approved the agreement with the City of Industry. The settlement includes $20 million to deal with increased traffic from the stadium and $1 million for a middle school athletic field. Diamond Bar also would receive at least $700,000 per year from Industry for community facilities as long as the stadium remains in operation.
On September 23, 2009 the city of Walnut reached a settlement with the City of Industry and the stadium developer.[12] A group of Walnut citizens refused to settle its lawsuit. The group insisted that the stadium have a domed roof and special freeway exits. On October 14, 2009 the state Senate approved a bill to exempt the proposed stadium from state environmental law, effectively killing the lawsuit filed by the citizen group. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the bill shortly thereafter.[13][14] This apparently clears the last regulatory hurdle for the project: the only remaining barrier (aside from the financing) is the "small" (where others have failed previously) detail of finding an NFL team to fill the stadium. [15]
Jon Semcken III, a representative of Majestic Realty Group of Los Angeles, claimed in December 2009 that the company had a 50% chance of luring at least one existing NFL team to Los Angeles in time for the 2010 season, and that they were certain to have one by 2011. However, no teams moved to L.A. in 2010, nor have any teams agreed to move for 2011. A tenant would have to find a temporary home for at least one season while the stadium is built (Roski will not build the stadium until a team agrees to his deal); possible temporary homes that meet the NFL's seating capacity standards include the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl.
Several other sites are being mentioned as possible locations for a new stadium. Roski's former business partner AEG, headed by Tim Leiweke, is leading a group which proposes building Farmers Field near the Staples Center in downtown L.A. [16] [17] Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has expressed interest in building a new football stadium next to Dodger Stadium (which is also near downtown L.A.) Angel Stadium of Anaheim was reconfigured as a baseball-only park in the mid-1990s, but there have been proposals to build a new football stadium next to it. The City of Carson has been seriously considered in the past as a NFL stadium location; and, the Home Depot Center soccer stadium is already located in Carson. Finally, there are plans to modernize the existing Rose Bowl Stadium and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.