Officials Give AEG 6 More Months To Lure NFL Back To LA
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Los Angeles City Council committee Friday backed a request from entertainment giant AEG for six more months to secure a National Football League franchise to play in Los Angeles.
AEG executive Ted Fikre told the City Council's Economic Development Committee he's "obviously disappointed that we have been unable to secure an NFL commitment" for the Los Angeles Convention and Event Center Project, which could potentially include a $1 billion stadium.
In 2012, AEG signed an agreement with the city to build a football stadium and expand the Los Angeles Convention Center. But with that deal set to expire next week on Oct. 18, the company has yet to get an NFL team to agree to move to the city.
AEG has invested $16 million in the Farmer's Field project thus far.
KNX 1070's Megan Goldsby reports Councilman Curren Price - who heads the Economic Development Committee - says they've not only extended the deal, they've sweetened it for the city.
As part of its extension request, AEG also agreed to fund a $750,000 back-up plan in the event their bid to secure a football team fails. The money would fund a design competition that would result in six concepts for expanding the Convention Center and to pay the costs of conducting environmental studies of the designs.
"We had allocated $600,000 to do this design competition," said Price. "Now, AEG's going to be putting up $750,000."
The full council is expected to consider the extension request Tuesday.
On Thursday's "Ask the Mayor" segment on KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO, Garcetti said that while the city doesn't want to subsidize a stadium, he thinks the NFL is "finally interested" in Los Angeles again.
Garcetti added that he thinks an NFL team is "highly likely" to come to the city in the next year, though he does not expect an announcement "in the next month or two".
"I believe the NFL, when they sit down, now have teams that are interested in coming to Los Angeles, see the value of a team in Los Angeles, after the Clippers were purchased at such a high price," Garcetti said. "And I think it's more likely than we've ever seen."
Under any potential agreement, L.A. could stand to gain over $400 million in new revenues in addition to about 9,000 new jobs created, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO.
But because the city is unwilling to subsidize any potential stadium development, Santana said that could mean giving up on hopes for an NFL team.
"This is one of the few stadiums in the history of this country that has zero subsidies whatsoever," he said. "We're not going to subsidize a stadium, and so ultimately, if a team doesn't want to come here for that reason, I think the city's ready to take those consequences."
Team owners received an update on the LA situation from league executives at the NFL's annual fall meetings in Manhattan this week, according to The Los Angeles Times.
New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch tells the newspaper there were references to potential new locations, including a couple in the Carson area of south Los Angeles County.
The St. Louis Rams, San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders are all in the final years of their stadium's contracts.
"We would probably stop short of guaranteeing there is going to be a team here," AEG's Ted Fikre said. "But we think there's a good shot."
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