Ed Roski Jr.? dream of bringing the Super Bowl to Los Angeles will have to wait until at least 2014. That? because the National Football League announced last week that New Orleans will host the 2013 championship game at a renovated Louisiana Superdome.
Roski, chief executive of Majestic Realty Co., has said that bringing a team to the stadium he wants to build in City of Industry will lead to the NFL scheduling a Super Bowl game in Los Angeles.
Local interest in a football stadium has been high. Hundreds of fans view the proposed stadium? Web site daily and have been signing up for notice as to when game tickets could possibly go on sale.
?e?e already received enough requests for information to sell out the venue twice,?said Taylor Talt, Majestic Realty project associate.
The proposed 75,000-seat stadium will include 176 suites and 12,500 club seats. Majestic has received more than 2,000 requests for information on suite sales and 40,000 requests for club seats. Guaranteeing suite sales is critical to receiving the financing needed to build the proposed $800 million venue.
The NFL? naming of New Orleans as the 2013 Super Bowl city shows that there will be still be a wait to host the league? championship game.
?he NFL would not award us a Super Bowl until we have approvals for our stadium,?said John Semcken, Majestic Realty vice president.
Hosting the big game means millions of dollars for a city and its NFL franchise. The last Super Bowl held locally was at the Rose Bowl in 1993.
Studies conducted by host cities have shown the game has an economic impact in the range of $300 million to $400 million, mostly through visitor spending on hotel rooms and restaurants.
NFL owners have recently sought out newly constructed venues to host the Super Bowl. Over the past decade, the league has selected host cities as rewards for building or refurbishing stadiums.
Officials have even been willing to suffer through cold weather, despite preferences to hold the game in a warm climate city.
For example, Detroit was awarded the 2006 Super Bowl at Ford Field, which was completed in 2002. Arlington, Texas, was awarded the 2011 game, to be played at the Cowboys Stadium that will open later this year. The 2012 game will be in Indianapolis, where Lucas Oil Stadium opened last year. In all three cases, the selections were announced before the stadiums were complete.
Roski said that he?l start construction once the NFL moves a team to Los Angeles.
?e are still on the same timeline for opening the Los Angeles Football Stadium,?said Talt. ?nce we lay a shovel in the ground, it will open two years from that point.
Before the stadium can begin construction, Majestic Realty must settle two ongoing lawsuits regarding the facility? environmental impact. Once the legalities have been settled, it can formally submit its proposal to the NFL and seek a team for relocation.
Drop Shot
Recipients of government bailout funds have pulled back from sponsoring high-profile sporting events for fear of criticism for spending any money after receiving federal funding.
As a result, two local professional tennis tournaments are without title sponsors as they prepare to start marketing their events.
The L.A. Women? Tennis Championships is the new name for the annual women? tennis event at Home Depot Center. AEG owns the tournament. Pasadena-based East West Bank had served as title sponsor for the past two years, but the bank has not renewed its contract after receiving $306 million in Troubled Asset Recovery Program funds in December.
At UCLA, the L.A. Tennis Open has a slightly different problem. The tournament? title sponsor for the past three years was Countrywide Financial Corp., which was acquired by Bank of America Corp. in 2008. Bank of America declined to continue the sponsorship under its name; the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking giant has also received Tarp funds.
In some cases, companies sponsor events because they don? want to abandon them, but they want to keep a lower profile.
?here are still banks, insurance companies and auto manufacturers partnering with high end events, but they won? put their name on it right now,?said Jeff Marks, chief operating officer of Premier Partnerships, a sports marketing consultant. ?ompanies still need to provide hospitality to important clients.?p>Representatives at L.A. Women? Tennis Championships and the L.A. Tennis Open did not return phone calls.
Ball Call
The Los Angeles Dodgers pro baseball team has launched an online radio broadcast of its games. The twist: It? targeted toward women. The broadcast debuted May 20 with Jeanne Zelasko handling the play-by-play calling. Former Dodger Mark Sweeney serves as analyst.
The duo will broadcast games for each Wednesday home game for the remainder of the season, with live audio feed available through the Major League Baseball team? Web site.
The broadcast is part of the Women? Initiatives Network created by Jamie McCourt, Dodgers chief executive. The network? goal is to bring women closer to the sport.
Staff reporter David Nusbaum can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 236.
