The L.A. City Council committee studying AEG's proposal to build an NFL stadium in downtown L.A. will meet next Thursday "with AEG's deadline for reaching an agreement four weeks away," according to Scott Reid of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. The ad hoc committee on the Farmers Field proposal "meets against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations between AEG and city officials." While AEG "doesn't expect to reach a finalized agreement with the city until May," AEG President & CEO Tim Leiweke "wants a memo of understanding before the city council adjourns around July 31" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 6/24). In California, Thomas Himes noted the "rivalry between competing plans to build an NFL stadium in the Los Angeles area is heating up -- again." Majestic Realty Chair & CEO Ed Roski "has recently started racking up endorsements from area officials for his now three-year-old plan to build a stadium" in nearby Industry. The Majestic project "has picked up endorsements" from the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, the Orange County Business Council and California State Univ. San Bernardino President Albert Karnig. But AEG VP/Communications Michael Roth said that "the 'intricacies' of the downtown stadium proposal are lost on many of the people and organizations who are criticizing it and endorsing Roski's project." Roth said that AEG also "has amassed a number of endorsements from groups within the city and plans on releasing them in the near future." Leiweke has "agreed to appear at a town hall meeting" with L.A. City Council member Bill Rosendahl on Monday "to answer questions about his plan" (SAN GABRIEL VALLEY TRIBUNE, 6/23).
ALL OPPOSED? In St. Paul, Sarah Horner reported Shoreview City Council member Blake Huffman has "started a petition against building" a Vikings stadium in neighboring Arden Hills. The petition “calls on Ramsey County, Arden Hills and the state to put the stadium in Minneapolis or St. Paul, where Huffman said there is more infrastructure, and to build it without using taxpayer funding” (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 6/23). At presstime, the petition had more than 150,000 signatures (THE DAILY).
