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Thursday, December 29, 2005

Dodger's Win More Fans in the City


Since the Dodgers have been doing such an incredible job of PR with the city, it shouldn't be a shock to read the following headline in the LA Times:

Dodgers, NFL Had Meetings -- The idea of suggesting a football venue at Chavez Ravine angers those who back the Coliseum plan.

Um yeah, you think? Here's some choice quotes from the story:
  • "We told the McCourt group we were not interested in proceeding unless we're unable to close deals with the Coliseum and Anaheim," Aiello said. "There are no further discussions planned. There are no next steps. We're not negotiating with them."
  • "I've got to believe he [McCourt] didn't understand the depth and the extent of the community consensus behind the Coliseum as the site for an NFL team in Los Angeles," Villaraigosa said.
  • Yaroslavsky said the Dodgers had "broken ranks with what has been a united community — the business, sports, political and environmental communities, all of them behind the Coliseum project."
  • "If he's making these overtures, it's a big blow to the folks who are building a level of trust with him," Reyes said. "That's important when you're dealing with issues of that scale."
  • "Mr. McCourt has been sensitive enough to meet with us. He has shown concern about our community," Brown said. "He said, 'If a stadium should ever come into the discussion, you would be the first to know.' "
***UPDATE***

Walter O'Malley has chimed in with his opinion in the comments below. It is worth promoting up top to the post itself. See below:

Here's one other quote from the article: "The Dodger Stadium site is arguably the best site for the NFL in the entire Southern California area. Politically, it's D.O.A," Ganis said.

Can't LA politicians just be honest for a minute? While it's admirable that after 10 years, all of LA has rallied around one plan, the Coliseum, let's just admit that it's not actually the best plan.


At Dodger Stadium, you have an enormous open plot of land. It has some of the best views in Los Angeles. There's plenty of parking. And it's right by three freeways (5, 110, 101) and Sunset Blvd.


While the Coliseum area has gotten better, it's still lousy. The NFL hates it. The NFL owners fear it. Parking is a nightmare. Traffic leaving the Coliseum is five times worse than Dodger Stadium. It's less accessible than Dodger Stadium. There's science museums and other entities down there which get in the way of football, and lose all customers because of football. State governments and city governments have to be placated.


The Coliseum Commission's past problems have driven away the Rams, Raiders, the Chargers, UCLA football, and NFL expansion efforts five years ago (see: Houston Texans).


Ten years ago, my son Peter wanted to build a football stadium at Chavez Ravine. The NFL wanted him to join their fraternity. They loved the Dodger Stadium location. And Peter would have arranged shuttle transportation from downtown parking lots to alleviate traffic concerns.


If local leaders hadn't been so quixotic in killing that plan, then Peter O'Malley would still own the Dodgers and LA would have a football team in a gorgeous hillside stadium. Chalk one up for short-sightedness.


So now Frank McCourt has the temerity to bring forward the same plan, one of the few sensical ideas he's had (although don't ask me how he would afford an NFL team or NFL expansion fees), and the political climate is so warped that we're stuck supporting this inferior plan which will be a mess if it ever comes to fruition.


Anyone with a basic understanding of LA's economy and land planning knows that Chavez Ravine is the perfect site for the NFL to return. It's a shame that Zev Yaroslavsky, Mark Ridley-Thomas, and co have been supressing that reality for a decade in the name of their own private interests.

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Wait until Bitter and vindictive Bernie takes a stab at McCourt for trying to destroy his deal.

December 29, 2005 9:20 AM  

Blogger James Alfred Ysrael Gomez said:

I can't wait to watch Matt Leinart or Reggie Bush playing for the Los Angeles Saints at the New Coliseum!

www.ghostbrief.blogspot.com

December 29, 2005 11:21 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Does it really matter where in LA the NFL team ends up? The fact of the matter is you will risk your life getting there (via south LA) or being there (see Raider thugs), either way!

I say, let's try to keep it as safe (white) as possible and put it in OC.

December 29, 2005 1:00 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Put it any place you want, but not one red cent of public money for subsidy.

We've got SC anyway, so what the hell do we need the NFL for?

December 29, 2005 5:09 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

The LA Coliseum/Sports Area Commission has a glorious 40 year record of blundering and imcompetance. In that time they have lost as tenants:
LA Lakers
LA Kings
LA Rams
LA Raiders
LA Clippers
USC Trojans (Basketball next year)

Then after the Northridge earthquake they spend 100 million on an aging dump of a stadium to fix some cracks and it was still a dump of a stadium that the NFL would have no part of. They could have had a down payment on a new stadium. Al Davis was a shortsighted fool for leaving the LA market after the Rams bolted for St. Louis. The clowns who have run the Exposition Park facility should be closed down themselves.

December 29, 2005 5:12 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

anonymous....
If the city leaders at the time had a bigger spine back then....we would have had a football team in Los Angeles and a great baseball team....the reality is...that back then the city fathers stabbed Peter O'Malley...and now McCourt is stabbing Los Angeles....I guess their is Kharma...

December 29, 2005 11:06 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Clearly the posters here do not understand the nature of the Coliseum and Chavez Ravine.

To begin with, the residents of Chavez Ravine are sick of the Star Spangled Banner playing every Summer night at 7:00 during their dinner and every weekend day, etc. The traffic is an anethma to them and they would fight to the end to stop any further development on the site.

The Coliseum is just the opposite; it is a cottage industry for the residents and they welcome the development. How many kids went to college because their folks parked cars in their front and back yards on game day @$30.00 apiece? Plus employement in all kinds of ways. The Coliseum is the third largest employer in South Central, after USC and the hospital.

Therer is plenty of parking; USC has increased its parking to boot, and other parking structures are possible, including the Sports Arena site.

The money spent on the rebuild of the Coliseum was federally funded and mandated, as the Coliseum, one of the most recognizable structures in America, is a National Historic Monument, and cannot be destroyed and must be rebuilt.

The new plan, developed over the last decade, will provide for a new stadium within the old walls, and will have all the traffic planned, including a new off ramp directly into and out of the park from the 110.

Frank McCourt and Howard Sunkin have incurred the wrath of the entire political community, and, after dumping a popular Joe Cerrell, Sunkin is already a pariah. What will he do if McCourt, rather WHEN McCourt, dumps him for this faux pas?

The only ones who knew what they were talking about were Israel ("If Peter O'Malley couldn't do it, what is this guy thinking?") and the person who made the comment about the "hard edge" on McCourt.

The Coliseum is a deal that has already been made and is just waiting for a team.

Dodger Stadium is D.O.A. for anything but a new stsdium for what used to be the pride of L.A., and might be again when McCourt goes back to Boston and sells out to Angelenos. He should do so before he loses his entire investment, which he will if they don't start winning games, which they won't.

December 31, 2005 12:57 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

United community front i.e. Businesses , elected officials, etc...? I hate to break the news to them but the fans do not want the coliseum. Give us a new stadium, good parking, good location and a good team and you'll get our seal of approval. Until then, there is no united front. Go McCourt...stick it to the city!

December 31, 2005 11:00 AM  

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