Area residents and elected officials express optimism that a scheduled meeting this week between National Football League staffers and billionaire developer Edward Roski Jr. will ultimately bring a team back to Los Angeles, the Pasadena Star-News reports.
Roski, CEO of Industry-based Majestic Realty and co-owner of the Los Angeles Kings and Lakers, will meet with NFL representatives about building a stadium in the city.
“We are simply going to learn more,” said Greg Aiello, NFL senior vice president of public relations. “Where it goes from there, we’ll see.”
League officials last year said they hoped to have a team in Los Angeles for the 2009 season, but later amended that to 2010 or 2011.
“We are certainly interested in developing a stadium in Los Angeles,” Aiello said.
But as Angelenos have seen, it takes more than just an idea to bring an NFL team back.
The last time the Los Angeles area had an NFL team was in 1994, when it actually had two – the Rams and the Raiders. But after the ’94 season, the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders returned to Oakland.
Previous talks about bringing an NFL stadium or team to Irwindale, Pasadena, Los Angeles, Carson and Inglewood have all failed.
