AEG has the "momentum and buzz and interest from the NFL these days" for its plans to build Farmers Field in downtown L.A., according to Vincent Bonsignore of the L.A. DAILY NEWS. Majestic Realty Chair & CEO Ed Roski's City of Industry football stadium project has stalled long enough to allow AEG "to not only catch up to him, but in some ways nudge ahead of him." But Bonsignore wrote, "You get the idea Roski will be fine no matter how this high stakes stadium competition plays out, that he'll be happy as long as NFL football is being played somewhere" in L.A. Roski said, "We think we have the best solution, but it isn't the only solution. The main concept is to just get football back here. It's been too long. I'm tired of watching it on TV." Roski believes that the possibility of L.A. getting an NFL team "is close to coming to fruition." Roski said the NFL is "focused on Southern California" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 9/29). Meanwhile, in L.A., Kate Linthicum notes AEG President & CEO Tim Leiweke's "ambitious campaign" to build Farmers Field "has reverberated through the diverse neighborhoods surrounding the proposed stadium site in unpredictable ways." Some residents in L.A.'s Pico-Union district said that their neighborhood "has been bypassed by the wave of prosperity that in recent years has transformed downtown." But Leiweke's visit to the neighborhood "just down the street from AEG's corporate headquarters, showed that others see promise in a stadium" (L.A. TIMES, 9/30).
SPOKE TOO SOON? In K.C., Sam Mellinger wrote the next time Leiweke "thinks it's time to break from speaking to Los Angeles rotary clubs long enough to acknowledge his company's failure to bring an anchor tenant to the Sprint Center, I hope he has something more realistic" than what he said Tuesday. Mellinger argued Sprint Center "is a terrific place," but the "same issue remains and that's who the heck is going to own this hypothetical Kansas City NHL/NBA team?" Mellinger wrote Leiweke's "talking points about this are disingenuous. Profit from the building or not, AEG hasn't lived up to its end of the Sprint Center" (K.C. STAR, 9/29).
