Stadiums

At the Dallas Cowboys stadium that will open for the next NFL season, what catches your eye -- no, what makes your jaw drop -- might be the 60-yard-long video screen that hangs from the translucent, movable roof. At the New York Mets ballpark that will open April 13, it might be the soaring open-air rotunda that honors Jackie Robinson.

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday ordered the county's lobbyists to oppose any legislation in Sacramento that would ease environmental and planning regulations in order to clear the way for a proposed 75,000-seat professional football stadium to be built in the city of Industry. Gloria Molina asked her fellow supervisors to take that stand after recent reports indicated that backers of the stadium were aggressively lobbying state legislators. The Times reported last week that aides to top lawmakers appeared receptive to issuing California Environmental Quality Act waivers for the stadium, in light of the tough economy.

USC and the Coliseum Commission have tentatively agreed on a lease that will keep the Trojans playing football at the historic stadium for the next 25 years, multiple sources said Tuesday. The commission will vote today on a nonbinding letter of intent that sets the terms of the deal. The sides would then have 60 days to formalize the contract.

Convinced he can succeed where so many before him have failed, billionaire developer Ed Roski today will unveil plans for a proposed NFL stadium in the City of Industry, aimed at luring the league back to the Los Angeles area. NFL executives have already visited the site, which is near the intersection of the 57 and 60 freeways, and have had several conversations with Roski.

Summer has finally arrived, and I don't know what your plans are, but mine are in full swing. In June, I went to Seattle for a first look at that city's snazzy ballpark. In a month, I'll be in New York to see one last game at Yankee Stadium. Fifteen years ago, traveling anywhere other than to Boston or the north side of Chicago to visit a baseball stadium wasn't my (or anyone's) idea of fun.

Just being great and retired doesn't guarantee a baseball player has the mettle for metal. Cal Ripken Jr. played in 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles, yet baseball's ironman has never been cast in bronze. Nor has legendary Dodgers left-hander Sandy Koufax, and that rankles San Diego freelance writer Howard Cole, whose edgy Dodgers-focused website, baseballsavvy.com, has been agitating for a Koufax statue for years. "To me, he's Los Angeles' sports hero.

The story of an Olympic stadium often mirrors the Games themselves, reflecting the political and social history, becoming a window into that era. To see one is to know more -- sometimes much more -- about the place it calls home. The strong physical image of Beijing's "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, of which you will more than likely see plenty when the Summer Games open Friday, seems likely to help strengthen that notion of place.

First the bursting of the dot-com bubble in the 1990s, then the accounting scandals earlier this decade, forced ballparks and arenas around the country to change their names. Enron Field became Minute Maid Park, and names such as PSINet Stadium and CMGI Field vanished. Now, the Wall Street meltdown is creating its own identity crisis for arenas and teams that bear the names of financial companies that are suddenly disappearing or in distress.

For a city in a political slump, the idea was like a Hail Mary pass geared toward a game-winning comeback. Lynwood's former mayor had been hauled to federal prison, and the FBI and district attorney's office continued to poke around town. The city was growing but revenues were not. Some leaders saw a measure of redemption from an unlikely source: the National Football League.

Consider it an Olympic-sized task: Dressing up, and modernizing the historic Coliseum without leaving any lasting fingerprints. Results of the careful balancing act were unveiled with plans for a $112-million temporary renovation of the 84-year-old facility, announced Thursday by the group attempting to bring the 2016 Summer Games to Los Angeles.