LOS ANGELES - Farmers Field (72,000)

[desertpunk]

The Jaguars should go to LA. End of.

[hngcm]

I hope this project crashes and burns.

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by desertpunk

The Jaguars should go to LA. End of.

[Gianny]

Is everyone just waiting for the Models of the proposals? Can't wait to see what they came up with.

[Franchise646]

I wonder what firm the went with. The leading candidates have to be HKS (they want AEG stadium to be like Cowboys stadium, so why not get the people who designed Cowboys Stadium, and they have a team in LA) and Populous.

[Gianny]

I hope they would go with Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron who designed Allianz Arena and Beijins Olympic Stadium.

The stadiums being designed in USA don't have the FLASHY looks like some of the international stadiums currently been built or recently built.

[ryebreadraz]

Originally Posted by Franchise646

I wonder what firm the went with. The leading candidates have to be HKS (they want AEG stadium to be like Cowboys stadium, so why not get the people who designed Cowboys Stadium, and they have a team in LA) and Populous.

Since NBBJ designed Staples Center I think they have to be a leading contender too and they have experience with NFL stadiums, having designed Paul Brown Stadium and Lincoln Financial Field.

[en1044]

Originally Posted by Gianny

I hope they would go with Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron who designed Allianz Arena and Beijins Olympic Stadium.

The stadiums being designed in USA don't have the FLASHY looks like some of the international stadiums currently been built or recently built.

Maybe the exteriors aren't as flashy, but the interiors are quite impressive.

[soup or man]

Originally Posted by hngcm

I hope this project crashes and burns.

Ahem...

From the LA Times

Coming in 2012 — the once and future Los Angeles Chargers?
The way the political winds are blowing, the Chargers figure to be looking to move back to L.A. in 2012, where they could play in the Coliseum (their original home in 1960) until a new downtown stadium is ready. This could happen. Really.
T.J. Simers
10:00 PM PST, December 6, 2010

If Tim Leiweke does his job over the next year in laying the groundwork for a downtown events center, expect the Chargers to announce shortly after Feb. 1, 2012, they will be here to start the 2012 season, probably playing in the Coliseum.

Talk to anyone who has spent time with Chargers owner Dean Spanos — and Spanos already has a pretty good idea of the endgame. Ordinarily, that's a loss in the playoffs, but now it's all about moving to L.A.

The Chargers probably will announce soon they will not be exercising their Feb. 1-May 1 escape clause from their stadium lease next year because they really have nowhere to go.

San Diego's last shot, and probably its only chance to keep the Chargers, rests on a November 2012 ballot measure that probably will never materialize.

City officials and the Chargers would have to agree on the language for such a ballot measure sometime during 2011 and probably no later than early 2012.

If they could find common ground, such a measure authorizing the spending of public money on a new stadium would need strong political backing. Most observers believe politicians will not show such support, instead leaving it up to voters.

If local politicians don't line up strongly behind such a ballot measure, there would be little incentive for the Chargers to spend money on campaigning for such a losing measure.

San Diego has never really embraced the Spanos family, more affectionately known in this space as the Spanos Goofs. The Chargers have failed to sell out home games, leading to local TV blackouts, and management more often than not comes across as a dictatorship exhibiting poor judgment than as a community asset.

In the meantime, Leiweke has to get beyond all the yackety-yak to date.

His interest in an events center featuring a downtown stadium suggests he already has Philip Anschutz's approval to commit $1 billion to such a project. Or Leiweke has more money than anyone might think.

Leiweke will need to start schmoozing with Sacramento to make the environmental impact process easier, while at the same time working local politicians to avoid any roadblocks.

There are some who believe Leiweke has no choice but to make this happen, calling facets of L.A Live — such as condo sales — challenging. An AEG spokesman said all area businesses showed an increase this year and hotel occupancy has exceeded expectations.

All are in agreement, though, an events center would only maximize L.A. Live's effectiveness and lead to further development.

"The Microsoft convention this July will be the largest to date — 45,000 hotel-room nights total, and that would not have happened without building this hotel in L.A. Live," said an AEG spokesman. "An event center would provide for more convention space and more hotels built downtown."

Any time anyone mentions a new stadium around here, the uneducated become alarmed, figuring public money would be spent on such a playpen.

No public money was used in the building of Staples Center. It's true more than $70 million was committed to the area surrounding the arena, where L.A. Live now sits — $58 million in bonds currently being repaid. Another $12 million in redevelopment money was committed to the project.

When the bonds are paid in full, it's expected the interest paid will match or exceed the $70-million contribution, allowing AEG to say the city essentially paid nothing for the downtown facelift.

Leiweke has told folks in public gab fests no public money will be used on the events center. He's counting on Anschutz and a contribution from the NFL.

AEG will need $300 million in city bonds to tear down the West Hall of the Convention Center and then rebuild it in another Convention Center location. Since it is not AEG-owned property, it would have to be a city-financed project.

Leiweke has said if for some reason those bonds are not repaid, AEG will do so — once again the city losing nothing in public money spent on the project.

Leiweke has only talked to date, which is why it's on him now to take advantage of the Chargers' 2012 escape clause.

If he's on his game, the Chargers will be calling the Coliseum their temporary home — a return to their roots, having spent the first season of their existence playing there as the Los Angeles Chargers in 1960.

Leiweke's attention span, or lack of it, will be his biggest hurdle. It might help if he's constantly reminded he's playing with $1 billion of his boss' money.

I don't mind reminding him on behalf of Anschutz because it would make for great sport bringing the Spanos Goofs here. We'll need someone to replace the McCourts.

IN RETROSPECT, the brawl before the USC- UCLA game the other night was probably a decent dress rehearsal for the Oakland Raiders-Los Angeles Chargers game to be played here two years from now.

THERE WAS only one good reason to attend the Clippers' game Monday night —- the chance to bump into Sacramento broadcaster Bill Walton.

IN HIS USC-UCLA postgame comments, UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel offered this telling remark: "I'm sick about Kai [Forbath] not getting a chance to kick a field goal. He came up and said, 'I need one more.' How can I kick a field goal at the end of the game when you're down 21 points? Kai understood. He's a great Bruin."

Forbath needed one field goal to tie a school record, but make that a great selfish Bruin, who required an explanation from his coach before he understood the game wasn't all about him.

UCLA passed out printed copies of Neuheisel's postgame remarks, but did not include Forbath's comment, "I need one more," as quoted by Neuheisel.

Funny that Neuheisel needs to be censored and apparently Lane Kiffin does not.

[pdotmac1]

Leiweke Wants Framework on NFL Plan Within Three Months

AEG Talking With Architects, Hopes to Have Team for South Park Stadium by February
by Jon Regardie, Executive Editor
Published: Wednesday, December 8, 2010 3:05 PM PST
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - On Feb. 6, the National Football League will host Super Bowl XLV in Dallas, Texas. One month after that, Tim Leiweke, the president and CEO of Downtown-based Anschutz Entertainment Group, expects either to have the framework in place to bring a football team to Los Angeles to play in a $1 billion stadium, or to drop the matter.

Speaking to about 350 people at a Central City Association luncheon this afternoon, Leiweke followed up on football stadium plans he announced last month at another Downtown lunch gathering. At today’s event at the J.W. Marriott Hotel at L.A. Live, he said that AEG’s architectural review process for a South Park stadium with a retractable roof has already begun.

Leiweke said 12 architects have submitted designs, including some from Los Angeles. The only one he would identify is Gensler, the firm whose credits include the 54-story Convention Center hotel developed by AEG.

Leiweke said AEG expects to conduct interviews with the architecture firms next week and to cut the list to about two designers. He said the company plans to make a decision in January.

Leiweke’s vision involves building a new West Hall of the Convention Center, which would attach to the existing I.M. Pei-designed structure fronting Figueroa Street. Once the approximately $350 million convention wing is ready, he said, the current West Hall would be torn down. The new stadium would rise on land bounded by Pico Boulevard, 11th Street, the Cherry Street parking garage and Staples Center.

“A 65,000-seat stadium fits nicely on that spot,” he said.

He has previously said he hopes a new stadium would host the 2016 Super Bowl.

Fight With a Partner


AEG, headed by Phil Anschutz, is working with Casey Wasserman on the deal to return professional football to Los Angeles. The team is competing with a stadium proposal in the City of Industry helmed by Ed Roski, Anschutz’s partner in the development of Staples Center. Roski has been trying to bring an NFL team to Southern California for more than a decade.

Leiweke laid out a scenario to bring football to South Park, though he said three things must happen by next February. First, he said, negotiations already under way with the city have to be finalized. L.A. officials, he said, are in talks regarding the plan to tear down the West Hall of the Convention Center. He said he expects to reach an agreement on those issues early next year, and to begin the entitlement process for the stadium in January.

The other things he said must happen involve the NFL. He said AEG is in frequent conversation with numerous NFL owners, who would ultimately have to approve a deal to return football to L.A.

He also said AEG wants to identify a team that would move to Los Angeles. He said the goal is not to “steal” a team from another city, but to target franchises whose financial situation will require a move. He added that AEG, which owns the Los Angeles Kings and has a one-third stake in the Lakers, is prepared to “invest” in a football team.

Although Leiweke did mention any team specifically, franchises including the San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars have been widely speculated as possible candidates to move based on economics and stadium issues in their cities.

“If we can define… an agreement with the city, an agreement with the league and at least an understanding of the team and the economics of the lease with that, then we’re going to do this,” he said. “And if we can’t, then we won’t do this and we’ll move on and we’ll let others have at it.

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/articl...medium=twitter

NFL Deal to Happen Fast or Not at All, Leiweke Says
By Eric Richardson
Published: Wednesday, December 08, 2010, at 03:55PM
Convention Center West Hall Eric Richardson [Flickr]

AEG CEO Tim Leiweke is pushing plans to construct a $1-billion, retractable-roof stadium next to Staples Center and the Nokia Theatre on the site of the Convention Center's West Hall (top right).

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Before 350 attendees of a Central City Association luncheon this afternoon, AEG CEO Tim Leiweke reiterated his commitment to bringing a new stadium, at least one NFL team, and an expanded Convention Center, but only if the deal happens quickly.

"I spend most of every waking hour right now on the NFL," Leiweke said. "But I will also promise you this: we're going to give this our best shot over the next two to three months … We're not going to hang around for ten years."

Leiweke has spent many of those waking hours making speeches over the two months. There were several quiet months after word first leaked in April that AEG was working on plans for a Staples Center-adjacent stadium, but the CEO has been on the talking circuit of late discussing the company's vision.

At the center of that vision is the Los Angeles Convention Center, whose West Hall would need to be torn down to make way for the stadium. Leiweke emphasized Wednesday that the center was more than just a land source.

"Do we believe in football? Yes, we do, we're excited about it … but we believe in the event and tourism business even more," he said.

He also stressed his commitment to making sure that the city didn't end up on the hook for any of the costs. Debt service on bonds issued for the construction of the new Convention Center hall would be covered by new taxes generated in the area, and Leiweke promised to have AEG responsible for any deficit.

Leiweke's ten year remark was in reference to developer Ed Roski of Majestic Reality's Los Angeles Football Stadium concept, which would bring the NFL to the City of Industry. "This project will be much more difficult than advertised and will require traffic and environmental studies that could take years," said a source close to the Majestic project after Leiweke's remarks. "Regardless of how flashy they make it seem they are selling a deal with zero specifics except for the needs for taxpayer dollars under the name of city bonds."

One of the specifics that has been in the news in recent weeks was the rumor that AEG owner Phil Anschutz had purchased a share of the San Diego Chargers. "No, we have not bought any of the San Diego Chargers," Leiweke said Wednesday.

He did offer a few details on transportation improvements that would need to take place around the new stadium. 10 to 20 percent of stadium attendees could arrive via rail, and Leiweke said that the existing Blue Line station at Flower and Pico will need to be upgraded to handle the increased load. AEG plans to build just two new parking structures next to the stadium, counting on the 32,000 spaces that the company says are available with less than a 15-minute walk to handle the NFL load.

And what will that extra traffic mean for Downtown residents? "I don't think you came here for the peace and quiet of the ocean and the waves," Leiweke said. AEG would make sure that NFL games don't overlap with Staples Center events, but otherwise the company doesn't see much impact for residents. "For the most part, life doesn't change in Downtown," he said.

"I hope that what we look at years from now is a hundred thousand people who want to live Downtown because it's not only one of the most livable areas in the country, but it's exciting and it has energy and it has nightlife."

http://blogdowntown.com/2010/12/5932...ontent=Twitter

[Franchise646]

http://www.gensler.com/uploads/docum...09_16_2010.pdf

Gensler Has Design half of LA Live, NO wonder they are the only Name being dropped right now.

[Marckymarc]

Originally Posted by Gianny

I hope they would go with Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron who designed Allianz Arena and Beijins Olympic Stadium.

The stadiums being designed in USA don't have the FLASHY looks like some of the international stadiums currently been built or recently built.

The designs deserve to be great--this is after all going to be one of the crown jewels of, not only the NFL, but the city of Los Angeles on a world stage. It has to look stunning, unique and modern and FOR GODS SAKE NOT a boring design like most NFL stadiums. I have high hopes that we're going to see some stunning renderings and proposals.

[dfwabel]

Since the WC 2018 and 2022 are gone, the downtown venue is nearly over.

Roski should win.

[slipperydog]

Quite to the contrary, the downtown stadium is actually more closer to reality than ever. The NFL and the owners are heavily involved in negotiations with AEG and have barely entertained the idea of Roski's stadium. They've made it quite clear the consensus is for the downtown stadium. AEG essentially has an agreement in principle with the city and NFL in place already, and all they need is a team. And now reportedly the Vikings owner just flew into LA to meet with Magic Johnson who's part of the downtown stadium.

[pdotmac1]

Originally Posted by dfwabel

Since the WC 2018 and 2022 are gone, the downtown venue is nearly over.

Roski should win.

The notion that a World Cup would cause a project like this to halt (or begin for that matter) is slightly ridiculous.

As has been explained in this thread, there are other cities that would also host WC games, and Los Angeles would only host a handful. Even if it is the finals (which is anything but a sure bet), it's definitely not worth $1B just for that.

[Franchise646]

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/20...s_three_de.php

The downtown stadium project has gone on the fast track. Sports architects HKS and HNTB and L.A. Live designer Gensler are the three finalists to plan the stadium, says SportsBusiness Journal. Interviews are scheduled for Dec. 15, the publication adds.

Also: AEG's Tim Leiweke says he wants the "framework" of an NFL team for Los Angeles in place by March or else the stadium plan may be dropped. He spoke at the Central City Association yesterday. Downtown News:

Leiweke laid out a scenario to bring football to South Park, though he said three things must happen by next February. First, he said, negotiations already under way with the city have to be finalized. L.A. officials, he said, are in talks regarding the plan to tear down the West Hall of the Convention Center. He said he expects to reach an agreement on those issues early next year, and to begin the entitlement process for the stadium in January.

The other things he said must happen involve the NFL. He said AEG is in frequent conversation with numerous NFL owners, who would ultimately have to approve a deal to return football to L.A.

He also said AEG wants to identify a team that would move to Los Angeles. He said the goal is not to “steal” a team from another city, but to target franchises whose financial situation will require a move. He added that AEG, which owns the Los Angeles Kings and has a one-third stake in the Lakers, is prepared to “invest” in a football team.

There we have it folks it's a three way dance between HKS, Gensler, and HNTB.

[Gianny]

If thats the case, "BORINGGGGGGGGGGGGG" All those firms build "DULL" looking stadiums from the outside.

I'm dissapointed by this news.

[ryebreadraz]

Originally Posted by Gianny

If thats the case, "BORINGGGGGGGGGGGGG" All those firms build "DULL" looking stadiums from the outside.

I'm dissapointed by this news.

What do you want out of a stadium then? Is Cowboys Stadium boring? How about Lucas Oil Stadium? Invesco Field is one of the best stadiums in the league. Paul Brown Stadium? The Stanley Park plans were some of the most exciting designs until funding from the club fell through and ended the project, at least temporarily. What do you want? The trio of finalists have some stadiums that aren't the most innovative, but also some of the best there are so what exactly do you want?

[en1044]

Originally Posted by Gianny

If thats the case, "BORINGGGGGGGGGGGGG" All those firms build "DULL" looking stadiums from the outside.

I'm dissapointed by this news.

It's the inside that counts.

[Marckymarc]

Originally Posted by en1044

It's the inside that counts.

If the architecture didn't count, this forum wouldn't exist.