L.A. City Council member Mark Ridley-Thomas and NHL
Kings co-Owner Edward Roski Jr. will meet with NFL owners in
San Diego in L.A.'s "most significant pitch to date" to
bring a team back to the city, according to T.J. Simers of
the L.A. TIMES. The two will show NFL owners $480,000 in
signed checks and commitments for luxury suites in a new
football stadium within the walls of the Coliseum. Despite
the presentation, Simers notes, "The NFL will not be
returning to Los Angeles in a renovated, new or any other
kind of Coliseum. ... It wants the Coliseum to go away."
The NFL will "welcome" Roski and fellow Kings owner Philip
Anschutz, "but it already has it figured privately that they
will come to understand it cannot work at the Coliseum, and
that they will be forced to look elsewhere. In doing so,
Roski and Anschutz will finally bury the Coliseum, doing the
dirty work for the NFL without the NFL being blamed."
Simers notes that 23 owners need to approve a return to the
Coliseum, "and presently there isn't one willing to provide
even a hint of affirmation" (L.A. TIMES, 5/19).
