LAFC President & Owner Tom Penn on Saturday said that the MLS team in selecting its new home has "asked five design firms to submit stadium proposals using Exposition Park and the spot occupied by the Sports Arena as a 'hypothetical' location," according to Kevin Baxter of the L.A. TIMES. But the location "appears to be much more than hypothetical." Seventeen months ago, when USC was "granted control over the Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena, the school immediately announced its intentions to tear down the arena and construct an MLS stadium in its place." LAFC, which said that it wants to spend upward of $150M on a "state-of-the-art soccer-specific stadium with a capacity of around 25,000, last month selected Southern California-based architects with Gensler to build that stadium based on their Exposition Park plans." Penn on Saturday cautioned that "no decisions have been finalized." He wrote in an e-mail, "We have not selected a site. We are in discussions with several people regarding multiple locations." The Sports Arena location, close to downtown access by public transportation, "has long been a favorite" of MLS Commissioner Don Garber (L.A. TIMES, 2/22).
