The NFL and the Fox Group "have held preliminary talks"
about the Dodgers leaving Chavez Ravine to build a new
ballpark alongside a renovated Memorial Coliseum -- "a
dramatic twist in the ongoing debate over how to bring
professional football back to the city," according to Simers
& Newton in a front-page report in the L.A. TIMES. If
approved, "the proposal would centralize Los Angeles' sports
and entertainment venues, clustering homes for its major
sports teams in state-of-the-art stadiums near downtown."
One source familiar with the talks said, "It's a different
vision -- a Dodger Stadium solution, NFL solution, a unique
sports complex in the entertainment capital of the world."
Simers & Newton characterize the NFL-Fox talks as "in a very
early stage, but they have already generated both enthusiasm
and ridicule." While football officials are "encouraged" by
the proposal since it could be a way of bringing the NFL
back to the Coliseum, others wonder if the sports complex
would "swamp other Exposition Park tenants," and whether Fox
"will follow through on the proposal, since it would face
huge roadblocks in winning approval for an Exposition Park
stadium and would be left with the difficult problem of
disposing" its land in Chavez Ravine. Sources said that
part of the Fox Group's interest in the project is the
"corporation's increasing realization of how difficult it
will be to win neighborhood and political support for" a new
Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine (L.A. TIMES, 4/13).
HOW IT WOULD WORK: NFL officials were in town last week
and "briefed a number of local leaders," including Mayor
Riordan, New Coliseum Partners Eli Broad and Ed Roski, and
former Dodgers Owner Peter O'Malley, on discussions with
Fox. Under the proposal, Fox and the NFL would privately
finance separate baseball and football facilities, "while
benefiting immensely from infrastructure improvements in the
area, such as new freeway offramps." The league and Fox
would "turn to the private sector for help in building a new
parking structure," but the local government has "in the
past" showed "considerable resistance" to any public funds
being used to assist a sports team. The NFL had no comment,
and Fox officials were unavailable (L.A. TIMES, 4/13).
