News of the Arroyo
Title: | Anaheim might opt out |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2005-03-10 |
Summary: | March 10, 2005 - Anaheim isn't begging the NFL. Follow your timeline or we might be out, city manager says. |
Author: | Daily News Staff and Wire Services |
Publication: | Pasadena Star News |
Content: | Wednesday, March 09, 2005 - If the NFL is not intent on sticking to its deadlines for selecting a stadium site, then Anaheim might consider other options for its property, city manager Dave Morgan said Tuesday. Morgan, who has spoken several times with NFL executives in the last week, expressed frustration that the league no longer seems intent on making a comprehensive presentation when the owners meet March 20-23 in Maui. \"I believe Anaheim wants to make decisions because we have options,\" Morgan said. \"If the NFL is not ready (to make a decision on a site) by May, we may make our own decision.\" Morgan, after discussing negotiations with the city council in closed session, said recently that the NFL had emphasized the importance of the March meeting. That\'s no longer the case. \"Maybe they\'re changing deadlines,\" Morgan said. In August, the NFL, seeking to bring some order to a meandering process, issued the four sites -- Anaheim, the Coliseum, Carson and the Rose Bowl -- with a set of dates by which it wanted work complete. They weren\'t deadlines, NFL executives said, but guidelines -- the idea being that if the too many dates were missed (or by too far), that site would have a hard time presenting a finished proposal by May, when the league hoped to have a site. But by October, representatives at some sites were questioning the seriousness of the dates -- and league officials acknowledged they might have to wait until the fall to make a decision. All sites were expected to have term sheet agreements with the NFL by next Tuesday, but none currently do. \"No one wants to sound arrogant, we just want to maintain our options,\" Mayor Curt Pringle said. \"We\'re not out marketing that property. It\'s a hot area -- a lot of people see opportunity there. \"We\'ve been living under the NFL\'s timeline. If they wanted to drive it, they\'d get it done.\" -- Billy Witz |
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