While Tom Brady and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates were celebrating their win, the president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission was already focused on the Super Bowl’s return to L.A. after a three-decade absence.
Even with the Covid wild card still in play and the fact that SoFi Stadium has yet to welcome in-person fans, the countdown is officially on.
And the anticipation isn’t just building for the NFL showcase. Super Bowl LVI is just the beginning of the major sporting events planned for coming years at SoFi, including college football’s national championship game in 2023 and, further out, the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Given all that L.A. has endured in the past year, it’s a welcome respite to have something to look forward to next year — and beyond.
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With the vaccine rollout underway, to varying stages of success, cautiously optimistic executives are starting to look ahead to a time when workers can finally return to in-person settings.
The question for many, though, is whether vaccines will be required before the doors fly open again. A recent Business Journal survey found that 52% of execs don’t plan to require their workers to get vaccinated. A broader poll by of West Coast C-suite types by West Monroe revealed that 55% of execs said their companies expect team members to have their shots (or shot) before rejoining the workforce.
It’s likely to be a while before the theoretical turns into reality, of course. But it will be interesting to see if those numbers move in coming months.
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A villain to some, an unlikely hero to others, Larry Flynt rarely failed to generate a strong reaction. Before he died last week at the age of 78, the irascible and controversial Flynt became a First Amendment champion and built Hustler magazine into a Beverly Hills-based media empire worth a reported $400 million.
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Catching up on comings and goings …
USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate has tapped Bill Witte as chairman and Nadine Watt as vice chairwoman. Witte, the chairman and chief executive of Related California, succeeds Emile Haddad, chairman and CEO of FivePoint Holdings, who had served as chairman at the center since 2017. Watt is the chief executive at Watt Cos …
City National Bank has promoted Lindsay Dunn to executive vice president and head of real estate banking. A 15-year veteran of City National, Dunn also joins the bank’s executive committee. She will report to new President Richard Raffetto and succeeds Mark Forbes, who moves to a vice chairman role …
Phil Brodkin is now executive vice president, head of industrial and logistics services, at Newmark. He’ll also continue in his capacity as Newmark’s Market Leader for the L.A. region. He joined Newmark in 2017.
