NFL IN LA: MIAMI DOLPHINS NOT RELOCATING TO LOS ANGELES (AND STADIUM GAME THEORY)
By Jaboner Jackson 8 a.m. | Despite posturing in the media by Miami Dolphins' owner Steve Ross after a failed legislative attempt to bring to the residents of Miami-Dade County a vote regarding renovations for Sun Life Stadium, the Dolphins are not relocating to Los Angeles. Any media noise or speculation to the contrary is wrong. Despite the efforts by AEG and Majestic Realty over past few years to get Farmers Field and Los Angeles Stadium off the ground, Los Angeles remains only a bargaining chip for the NFL--and increasingly one which no municipality should take seriously.
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NFL IN LA: JABONER JACKSON HAS RETURNED FROM BRAZIL, PART 2
By Jaboner Jackson 8 a.m. | Last week, I reviewed the developments regarding the NFL in LA that have occurred while I have been away in Brazil (Brasil) during the past year. As our Wonderful Readers are aware, the NFL in LA has imploded in my absence. AEG's Farmers Field died, Majestic Realty's Los Angeles Stadium remained the forgotten stepchild, and the NFL pretended to still be interested in Los Angeles as a football market. Today, FOOTBALLPHDS looks ahead to the cloudy future of the NFL in LA by examining what went wrong with Farmers Field and LA Stadium and where the NFL will next place its interest.
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NFL IN LA: JABONER JACKSON HAS RETURNED FROM BRAZIL, PART 1
By Jaboner Jackson 2:30 p.m. | After an extended stay in Brazil (Brasil) during which much has changed in the world of the NFL in LA, I have returned to the City of Angels. Since my departure to Rio de Janeiro almost a year ago, Farmers Field has imploded, Los Angeles Stadium has failed to gain momentum, and Brazil has put up more sporting facilities than the entire Southland combined. Coincidence? I think not. Accordingly, it is time to update our patient Wonderful Readers on the NFL in LA. Today, FOOTBALLPHDS reviews what has gone wrong with the NFL in LA during my absence. In Part 2, we look to the future of the NFL in LA. Finally, we close out Part 3 with a leisurely stroll through my (almost) year in Brazil, including updates on all of our Intelligent Staff and the stadium boom occurring in the plastic surgery capital of the world.
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NFL IN LA: CORRECTING MEDIA SPECULATION REGARDING THE OAKLAND RAIDERS
By Jaboner Jackson 8 a.m. | In terms of the NFL in LA, not much has changed in the battle between AEG and Majestic Realty to return professional football to Los Angeles. Even though other less informed media outlets had touted the Minnesota Vikings as a prime contender for relocation even up until last week, footballphds.com had always been steadfast in our knowledge that the Vikings were never a contender for relocation. We have also been steadfast in our knowledge that the St. Louis Rams remain a secondary player for relocation and not a primary one. And we are definitely steadfast in our knowledge that Los Angeles still belongs to one of two teams--the San Diego Chargers to Farmers Field or the Oakland Raiders to LA Stadium. The more things change, the more things stay the same.
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NFL IN LA: VIKINGS STADIUM UPDATE AND FLYTHROUGHS FOR FARMERS FIELD AND LA STADIUM
By Jaboner Jackson 8 a.m. | While Minnesota lawmakers continued their back and forth over funding a proposed new football stadium in downtown Minneapolis for the Minnesota Vikings, AEG continued to sell the Southland on its vision for Farmers Field, its proposed football stadium in downtown Los Angeles, by releasing a flythrough video. Despite media and fan supposition that the Vikings will relocate if the people of Minnesota do not front the majority of the cost for "The People's Stadium," we detailed last month the reasons why the Vikings will not be moving to Los Angeles. We also delineated the problems with the current financing plans for The People's Stadium and why the people of Minnesota could do much better. Today, we update the stadium situation in Minnesota before flying through both Farmers Field and LA Stadium in the Battle of Promotional Videos.
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NFL IN LA: AEG’S ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT (EIR) FOR FARMERS FIELD, PART 3
By Jaboner Jackson 8 a.m. | Part 3 of 3 | The period for public comments on AEG's Draft Enviromental Impact Report (EIR) for Farmers Field and Pico Hall continues in earnest per timelines established by SB 292. But as we surmised last year when we first reviewed SB 292 and its companion piece of legislation, AB 900, legal challenges to the validity of the accelerated review process for Farmers Field and similar projects have arisen. In particular, the nonprofit Planning and Conservation League and its Executive Director, Bruce Reznik, sued the State of California and Controller John Chiang in Alameda County Superior Court last week, alleging that certain provisions of AB 900 are unconstitutional. Today, footballphds.com completes our three part series on AEG's EIR for Farmers Field and Pico Hall by examining the significance of the aforementioned legal challenge and offering our own analysis of the impact that Farmers Field and Pico Hall will have on the downtown Los Angeles community of South Park. (The first part in this series can be found here; the second part can be found here.)
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NFL IN LA: AEG’S ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT (EIR) FOR FARMERS FIELD, PART 2
By Jaboner Jackson 8 a.m. | Part 2 of 3 | Last week, footballphds.com began to dissect AEG's Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Farmers Field and Pico Hall. Hard copies of the 10,000 page EIR are available to the public for review at the Department of City Planning, Central Library, Exposition Park Regional Library, and Pico Union Branch Library. Of course, the EIR is of a technical nature and hardly compelling reading for most. Accordingly, footballphds.com has delved into the EIR so that our Wonderful Readers will not have to do so. Today, we highlight fifty-eight key points of the EIR--including our personal favorite at #47--before wrapping up the dissection next week with our own analysis of the project.
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NFL IN LA: USC’S MASTER LEASE FOR THE LOS ANGELES COLISEUM
By Jaboner Jackson 9:30 a.m. | While local fan attention focuses on AEG's Environmental Impact Report for Farmers Field as the next step in the return of the NFL to Los Angeles, the University of Southern California (USC) and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission continue to work from behind closed doors to cede operational control of the Coliseum to USC. Last August, footballphds.com was the first and only media outlet to report that USC would be gaining operational control of the Coliseum, and sure enough the process is quickly coming to fruition. Today, we examine the terms of USC's Master Lease for the Coliseum and detail how USC will figure prominently into the return of the NFL to LA.
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