News of the Arroyo
Title: | L.A.'s fate in NFL's hands |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2004-07-22 |
Summary: | July 23, 2004 - The NFL is still in a quandry over which (if any) site to use for a new LA franchise. The Rose Bowl remains in contention with the league stepping up to pay for a design and environmental review. |
Author: | Billy Witz, Staff Writer |
Publication: | Pasadena Star News |
Content: | Not so long ago, the NFL had to wonder if walking through the La Brea tar pits was any stickier than trying to return pro football to Los Angeles. When the league owners met in late May -- their target a year earlier for settling on a stadium site in the nation\'s second-largest market -- all Commissioner Paul Tagliabue could say was that he hoped to have a site in place by next May. And it looked increasingly like the winnowing would be done for the NFL instead of by it. That seems to have changed. If the NFL\'s return to Los Angeles is still an open question, its commitment to the process doesn\'t appear to be. A contingent of NFL officials, including two executive vice presidents who have been heavily involved in Los Angeles stadium plans in recent years -- Neil Glat and Roger Goodell -- traveled last month for extensive meetings with those at all three sites. Accompanying them was Eric Grubman, the newly hired executive vice president of finance and strategic transactions, a former Goldman Sachs financier who was involved in sales of the Patriots, Browns and Jets. \"I think they\'re looking to narrow this thing down to who\'s serious,\" said an official from one site. \"Who do you love? \"But it\'s not simple in any of the three cities. You\'ve got lawyers, architects, finance people. They\'ve got all these sheep they\'re trying to get herded.\" Soon, the league will employ a shepherding tool: deadlines. The NFL, according to a league official, is in the process of putting together a calendar for the three sites so it can present a detailed picture of where this is heading to the owners when they meet next in Detroit in late October. \"By October we need to see progress toward May,\" the official said. For each site, progress is defined differently. How the Rose Bowl works is something the NFL is eager to find out. After stopping in Los Angeles in late June, the NFL executives joined a contingent from Pasadena in Green Bay for a tour of Lambeau Field, which completed an extensive renovation last year while retaining its bowl shape. Among the features of the renovation is a glass building built onto the stadium that houses restaurants, shops and a hall of fame. \"We\'re not going to build an atrium, but it shows the league is flexible and willing to work with the community,\" said Bill Thomson, the president of the Rose Bowl Organizing Committee. \"It\'s gotten everybody -- ourselves, the NFL, the architects working together.\" The Rose Bowl architects, HOK + Sport, are trying to add 800,000 square feet of space, much of which was originally slated to be underground until it was nixed as too expensive. Much of that space is expected to be added to the exterior, in the vein of Lambeau Field. However, Rose Bowl officials are mum on what the new drawings may look like, or whether they represent an radical change from the previous drawings that were unveiled in April 2003. \"Until we come up with a concept for the design that we\'re prepared to move forward with, it\'s not appropriate to talk about it,\" Thomson said. \"Right now, there\'s just a fence around (the Rose Bowl) and the clutter (of restrooms and concession stands) and the asphalt. Our goal is to do as much as we can to preserve the truly historic features of the Rose Bowl and retain the landmark status of the bowl.\" The NFL\'s recent decision to cover the cost of the new plans, something that Rose Bowl officials and their lead consultant John Moag had quibbled over this spring, was another bit of good news in Pasadena. Rose Bowl officials, while still with hurdles ahead -- namely an expectedly sticky EIR process -- have clearly been buoyed by their recent discussions with the NFL. They are as optimistic about their prospects as they\'ve been since they asked the league for an exclusive negotiating agreement in May 2003. \"If they\'re stringing you on, they\'re not going to dig into their wallet,\" Rose Bowl general manager Darryl Dunn said. \"It\'s a very positive sign for us. We\'ve had to go back one step to go forward two, but things are much more positive here than in quite a while.\" In Carson, league officials have talked more frequently with Steve Hopkins, the developer who holds the rights to the land being discussed as a possible stadium site. Hopkins remains committed to building a shopping mall, while the NFL is most interested in discussing ways it can buy him out -- if it wants to go forward. Carson officials are trying to get them to work together. The city has solicited requests for proposals from firms that could perform an environmental impact report on the 157-acre site, which was once a trash dump. The requests, thus far, have been for a shopping mall, not a stadium, though Carson economic development director Ron Winkler said the firms are supposed to consider other uses, such as a stadium. \"We\'re far enough along with our due diligence,\" the NFL official said of Carson. \"The city needs to do an EIR on a stadium with or without retails. That\'s what\'s most important to us. \"There\'s different parties with different interests. I don\'t think (Hopkins and the league) have (incompatible) positions. It could be structured a lot of ways, but it\'s important that a stadium works.\" While the Coliseum remains the farthest along -- its EIR was complete in December and it is currently preparing a response to a term sheet proposal by the NFL -- some fissures have surfaced. Coliseum officials met recently with USC officials, as have NFL executives, to quell their concerns about being left out of the process. Also, there has been some heated internal debate as the Coliseum Commission searches for a financing model. At its monthly meeting earlier this month, the commission met for more than two hours in closed session that one participant termed draining. \"A lot of stuff was aired,\" he said. One of the conflicts has involved commissioner Zev Yaroslavsky\'s desire to ask the NFL to contribute money not just for the stadium, but to Exposition Park neighbor, the Museum of Natural History, whose attendance could be adversely affected by the presence of an NFL team. Some on the commission worry that the NFL will balk at such a request, believed to be about $2 million, and view it as a sign that the nine-member commission is once again too unreasonable. Yaroslavsky declined comment. \"Now is not the time,\" he said. \"There\'s multiple options,\" said commission member Don Knabe, after reviewing a consultant\'s report on financing models of recently built NFL stadiums. \"You can\'t do a cookie-cutter deal.\" While Coliseum general manager Pat Lynch has discussed the NFL\'s proposal with league officials, the commission is expected to formalize its response by Labor Day. A rough draft was completed this week and will be discussed in the coming weeks by commission members. The Rose Bowl should have its plans finalized by then, too. It may also be known in a month\'s time whether Carson will still be in the picture. As for now, however, the Rose Bowl thinks it\'s back in the game, the Coliseum is swallowing hard as it wonders whether it can close a deal, and Carson is deciding whether it can summon the courage to say no to the NFL. In other words, all options are open and the NFL is calling the shots -- just what the league had in mind. -- Billy Witz can be reached at (818) 713-3607. |
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