MLS expansion team LAFC today will formally announce "plans to construct the country's most expensive privately financed soccer stadium on the site of the Sports Arena in Exposition Park, making it the first open-air professional sports venue to be built" in L.A. since Dodger Stadium in '62, according to a front-page piece by Kevin Baxter of the L.A. TIMES. The $250M complex, "covering 15 acres in the shadow of the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, would include a conference center, restaurants and a soccer museum." At its center would be "a 22,000-seat stadium," home to the new MLS franchise when it makes its debut in '18. The project, costing $100M more than the team's projections seven months ago, "still needs approval from the Coliseum Commission and the L.A. City Council." But both groups, along with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, "have already expressed support for the project and approval is expected by July." The decision to go forward with the project "was made last week." An addendum to an existing environmental impact report "must also be completed, a process that could take up to a year." Demolition of the Sports Arena and construction of the stadium "would take an additional two years, delaying the MLS team's debut by a year." Construction "would be financed by the team and its ownership group." The new stadium "was designed by" L.A.-based architectural firm Gensler (L.A. TIMES, 5/18). SI's Grant Wahl on Twitter this morning asked, "If the new LAFC soccer stadium seats 22,000, you have to imagine it would be expandable at some point, right?"
