NFL Facts & Rumors (a CBSSports.com blog) is reporting that AEG president Tim Leiweke is willing to invest heavily into a stadium in downtown Los Angeles.
He recently presented to a LA City Council panel the plans for a $1 billion, retractable-roof stadium that would require no public funding and could be built near the AEG-owned Staples Center and L.A. Live.
“Zygi (Wilf, the Vikings owner) came down and looked at LA Live,” Leiweke said. “I think Zygi really wants to figure this out in Minnesota. I personally think he will. … I think this is the year they’re going to do it and I think he’s pretty committed to keeping that team and that brand a part of the culture in Minnesota.
“Because we have roots there and we manage the Target Center, that’s not one that we get all excited about. We would prefer and hope that he solves his problem there and that still leaves us with another half-dozen teams that, I think, [are not] going to solve their problem in their current local marketplace.
I’ve lived in Southern California for 10 years now and I’m still amazed that L.A. doesn’t have a football team. There are too many transplants and there are too many other things to do to support two teams, which I believe was the root problem when the Rams and Raiders were both here. L.A. can certainly support one team, assuming of course that the team is good. (Southern Californians are notoriously front-running when it comes to sports teams.)
If they can find a spot downtown for the stadium, it will be a pretty good fit, though traffic will be even more nightmarish than it already is. The fact that most home games will be on Sundays should make things easier. Hopefully, they’ll take the Metro and Metrolink train routes into account when picking a location. I for one enjoy catching the Metro train in Long Beach when I go up to Laker or Clipper games at Staples.
Los Angeles Chargers doesn’t have a bad ring to it, though it really doesn’t matter. If there’s a brand new stadium built in downtown L.A., some franchise will eventually decide to come. There’s just too much opportunity to pass up playing in such a huge market.
