Farmers Field

The office that advises the California Legislature voiced doubts Friday about the level of economic benefit that would come from an NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles, saying studies commissioned by the project's developer "likely overstated" the financial boost it would deliver. Speaking to a state Senate panel reviewing the plan by developer Anschutz Entertainment Group, policy analyst Mark Whitaker warned that football stadiums typically have a minimal effect on a region's economic growth, largely because they become a magnet for household entertainment dollars that were already being spent elsewhere in the area.

Let's assume AEG manages to build a massive football stadium and event center in downtown Los Angeles, an outcome looking increasingly likely following a unanimous City Council vote last week in support of the project. What would the arrival of $1.2-billion, 72,000-seat Farmers Field mean for downtown and its role in the larger region? For the city's architectural reputation? For the state of the urban mega-project in an age of austerity? We've gotten some tantalizing clues in recent weeks, though not from Anschutz Entertainment Group itself.

So the City Council unanimously approved a new $1.2-billion stadium and promised that it wouldn't cost the taxpayers a cent. Uh-huh. This from the free-spending politicians overseeing a bankrupt city that at one time had four (4) full-time calligraphers on its staff. A word to the wise: If it sounds too good to be true, it's too good to be true. Skip Usen Santa Monica :: As a longtime USC and college football fan, I have not missed having a local NFL team.

I hate to interrupt the ticker-tape hug between city officials and AEG in the wake of Tuesday's agreement to build a downtown football stadium and bring the NFL back to Los Angeles, but ... There is a group out there who could ruin all of this. There is a group who could show up at Farmers Field dressed in havoc, bearing chaos and portending dread. They are not neighborhood protesters, they are the sort that neighborhoods protest against. They are not environmentalists or economists, but, quite the opposite, they tear up the grass and take your money.

Los Angeles officials produced their financing plan Monday for a downtown Los Angeles NFL stadium and new $275-million wing of the city Convention Center, saying it would protect taxpayers by requiring the developer to absorb a greater share of the costs and risks. Demolishing and rebuilding part of the Convention Center — a move that is central to the stadium deal — would require issuing $195 million in bonds, according to a proposed agreement released by negotiators for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council.

Once the dust settles on the NFL's new labor agreement, will the league finally start pushing dirt in Los Angeles? That's what backers of the competing L.A. stadium proposals are hoping, that team owners will turn their attention to the nation's second-largest market now that their first-largest nightmare — a bitter fight with the players — is over. "For us, the timing is perfect because it's coming at the same time we're finishing what no one thought we could do, which is a deal with the city," said AEG's Tim Leiweke, who hopes to know by the end of the month whether the L.A. City Council will issue roughly $300 million in bonds and approve the just-completed memorandum of understanding for a stadium deal.

When AEG executives signed the final documents to take over the Millennium Dome in London, giggles could be heard in the adjacent room. The 860,000-square-foot entertainment dome was regarded as something of a national joke that had soaked up $1 billion in British taxpayers' money and was mothballed before the Los Angeles-based venue operator showed up with an offer. "It was like they couldn't believe these silly Americans were dumb enough to do this," Anschutz Entertainment Group chief Tim Leiweke recalled.

Construction of a $1-billion NFL stadium and a new wing of the Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles would dramatically increase the number of convention bookings while generating $22 million annually for the city, according to the findings of two reports commissioned by the project's developer. One study contends the two projects would generate $41 million in tax revenue annually for an array of government agencies, including the state, school district and Metropolitan Transportation Authority, during their first full year in operation in 2016.

The battle of NFL proposals has taken another interesting turn. AEG, pushing for a downtown stadium, announced Wednesday that it has selected Populous as the architectural firm to design the relocated West Hall of the Convention Center, which sits on the proposed site of Farmers Field. A senior principal at Populous is Staples Center architect Dan Meis, who designed Ed Roski's proposed City of Industry stadium. Populous, a global firm with offices worldwide, including a Los Angeles office, now will turn its attention solely to the downtown site.

AEG's Tim Leiweke, spearheading an effort to build an NFL stadium next to Staples Center, said Thursday the project could be scuttled if the city doesn't sign off on the framework of a deal by July 31. "We will know by July 31, one way or another," Leiweke, the sports and entertainment company's chief executive, told The Times from his office at L.A. Live. Leiweke wants the city to issue $350 million in municipal bonds to relocate the West Hall of the Convention Center — where the proposed Farmers Field will sit — and has promised those will be paid off by new revenue streams created by the project.