AEG, Roski Stadium Plans Heat Up

Los Angeles may not even have a professional football team, but two potential stadium developers have upped their respective antes in hopes of bringing the NFL back to L.A. and getting the green light to start building.

“We are working on a vision for the NFL in L.A. including a $1 billion stadium that would be privately financed,” AEG President/CEO Tim Leiweke told Pollstar when asked about further investment in L.A. “If we’re going to take on any additional risk in the L.A. area, it would be with the NFL.”

He told a Central City Association symposium Oct. 12 that he’s begun talks with City Councilwoman Jan Perry to redevelop one of the downtown L.A. Convention Center’s halls into an exhibition space that could, with that $1 billion investment, be turned into a football stadium. One that would be managed, of course, by AEG.

Rival developer Ed Roski attempted to sweeten his City of Industry stadium pot a day earlier by telling the Associated Press his Majestic Realty Co. was tweaking the design of his proposed stadium to incorporate field measurements and bleacher configurations based upon World Cup organizer FIFA’s guidelines.

Presumably, Roski would attempt a future World Cup bid for Los Angeles should he get the go-ahead to build. Leiweke has reportedly mentioned the World Cup as a possible event for his project, too.

Considering the sizeable investment AEG principal Philip Anschutz has made to professional soccer – Major League Soccer’s Anschutz Cup, anyone? – it might be time to break out the popcorn if the two camps start seriously butting heads.