Stadium Players Out of Position?

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Across Los Angeles in recent months there’s been a fair amount of dreaming about a new football stadium. And debate about where to put it. So last week I kicked back and tossed a football in the air for a few minutes to think about it.

And I must say – strictly speaking as a fan, here – I’m not excited about either of the two major proposals.

Sure, Ed Roski Jr.’s longstanding plan to build a stadium in the City of Industry has some pluses. It’d be relatively cheap to build, which makes it more doable. And the stadium could draw fans from the Inland Empire and Orange County.

But fans are less interested in that and more concerned about the location. I mean, the City of Industry? Westside-centric L.A. types probably think of that town as somewhere way out there. The beginning of fly-over territory.

What’s more, if the stadium is too successful drawing fans from the IE and OC, that may turn off Angelenos. Fans from the beach towns or the Valley or the Westside may quickly conclude that any new football team is not ours, it’s theirs. You can almost hear it now: “Let the guys in Yorba Linda and Rialto paint their chests and hold up those ‘D’ and ‘Fence’ signs. I’ll go to Nate ’n Al’s and read the Hollywood Reporter.”

Of course, the second major proposal has location as its big advantage. That’s the one from Anschutz Entertainment Group, which calls for building a stadium in downtown Los Angeles. (See the article on page 1.)

One big plus: a stadium with an enclosed roof could complement the Los Angeles Convention Center and it would fit nicely with L.A. Live.

But looking at it from a fan’s standpoint, downtown is a bad location. For one thing, there’d be no huge surface parking lots for tailgating, which has become a big part of the game-day experience.

And most NFL games are played on Sunday, which means fans must make a special trip to the stadium. Who wants to drive downtown on Sunday? It’s not like baseball or basketball, where a downtown stadium is a significant plus because fans can easily take in a game after work on a weeknight.

It may be difficult to root for either of the two major proposals for a new football stadium. But now that I think about it, there is an interesting minor proposal – one that was briefly floated and laughed off last year. That was the notion from Frank McCourt that an NFL stadium could fit on the parking lot of Dodger Stadium.

Think about it. That would be a great spot for football. It has an inland sea of asphalt for tailgating.

And as long as we’re dreaming, let’s push it further. Tear down Dodger Stadium and replace it with a football stadium. Then build a new Dodger Stadium on AEG’s spot downtown.

A downtown baseball stadium – as long as it had a retractable roof – could complement the Convention Center almost as well as one for football. And it would be much better for Dodgers fans, who could more easily attend baseball games after work.

Of course, I’m not the billionaire who’s writing the checks and making the decisions. I’m just a fan. Another one who’s dreaming.

Charles Crumpley is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].

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