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It was widely reported on Wednesday that Edward Roski, a part owner of the L.A. Kings and L.A. Lakers, will make a “major announcement” on Thursday regarding the possible future of the NFL in Los Angeles.
He’ll unveil on Thursday morning his concept for a new stadium in L.A. PFT Planet gets an advance peek at the venue, thanks to Roski’s group, which sent to us a link to the proposed venue’s brand-new web site.
The site included a computerized flyover of the stadium. Though the graphics are a bit on the N64 level, the video reveals a stunning structure that creates the appearance that it is surrounded by a bowl of earth and grass.
And if you look closely, you’ll notice the obvious ambition of the project. One of the nearby buildings is adorned with a huge sign that proclaims “SUPER BOWL.”
The stadium would be built in the City of Industry, roughly 20 miles east of Los Angeles. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello tells the AP that the NFL will not be involved in Thursday’s press conference. (The computerized mock-up of the stadium, however, sports the NFL logo on one of the background signs.)
If there’s going to be a stadium, there also needs to be, you know, a team (unless the league acts on our idea to play eight neutral-site games each year in L.A., once the regular-season schedule expands to 17 games). Roski plans to announce that the stadium will be ready for play by 2011 (just in time for a work stoppage!).
Some readers already have speculated that the Minnesota Vikings could be sold to Roski and moved into the new venue, but the Vikes are tied to the Metrodome through the 2011 season.
Other possible candidates include the Chargers, the Bills, and the Jaguars.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Add 49ers to the list and just think about the cheerleaders (Hollywood wannabies)
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April 17th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
To msnyder275, I wonder if this company even obtained permission for use of those logos. The NFL says they’re not involved in the press conference, yet there is the NFL logo and the name “Super Bowl” — both of which are trademarked and can’t be used without permission for promotional material like this. I do publications work for an A/E firm. I guarantee some egotistical architect said “Throw in Coke, throw in Bank of America,” and some underpaid graphic designer pirated logos off websites and threw them in the video.
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April 20th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Alright, I have to say people on here are very ignorant about Los Angeles and haven’t even read the article on Yahoo! The site would be City of Industry (a small City basically that only has commercial business’ in the City. No one actually lives there.) and Edward Roski has stated that it would be paid in full by him. Just like the Staples Center, all he wants is a small part in ownership of the team. Trust me, the NFL is looking into this while they say they’re not interested. They spent a shit-load of money before trying to get an L.A. team and we the new Coliseum lease, it’s a whole new ball-game.
No tax-payer money spent (which was the huge reason why L.A. didn’t get a new team). Now teams can use this as bargaining power in stadium negotiations. I expect Minnesota, San Francisco and San Diego to get their deals done. The Jaguars I’m iffy on especially from an earlier poster plus they’re an extremely good team, plus they can get Super Bowl’s easy for the beautiful weather. The only team I see moving back to Los Angeles is the Raiders, the fan-base is huge for the Raiders and the lease in Oakland ends in 2011. Al Davis would be itching to get his team back into the L.A. market and he wouldn’t have to drop much coin to get into a nice brand-new stadium
Oakland doesn’t have the money to support a new stadium, they’ve only been talking about renovating the current stadium they have. So in the end, I expect the Oakland Raiders to move back to Los Angeles in 2011. The NFL wouldn’t have to screw with relocation of divisions or anything crazy like that. The dark-horse candidate would have to be the Minnesota Vikings, but I highly doubt that they’ll end up leaving a terrific football city and the great rivalries established in the NFC North, especially for Los Angeles (Minnesota would hate us after that).
But trust me… Roski’s stadium deal is a wet-dream for an owner, it’ll happen. Los Angeles will have an NFL team again in 4 years or less. Now it’s time for cities with possible relocation threats to get their acts together.
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