The L.A. City Council on Tuesday "approved financial
and environmental agreements" with developers of a proposed
downtown arena, according to Beth Shuster of the L.A. TIMES.
The council's action, which follows "months of tough
negotiations and bitter wrangling," now "clears the way" for
developers to secure funding for the $300M project, which is
"expected to open" for the Lakers and NHL Kings in '99.
Under the deal, Kings Owners Ed Roski and Philip Anschutz,
the arena developers, "will guarantee repayment" of $58M in
municipal bonds and "will ensure" that the repayments do not
come from sales, property or utility taxes generated by the
sports complex. Kings President Tim Leiweke said the deal
was a "monumental step" for the two teams (L.A. TIMES,
10/22). In L.A., Scott Howard-Cooper writes that news of
the deal's approval "will be greeted with interest" by the
NBA, which "would love to stage an All-Star game here for
the first time since 1983." Considering lead time "for
promotional and logistical purposes," the earliest the game
could be in L.A would be 2001 (L.A. TIMES, 10/22).
