NFL Plans for Convention Center Site?
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
Rumored to be at the center of new NFL stadium plans, the Convention Center's West Hall (top right) stands next to Staples Center and L.A. Live's Nokia Theatre.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — According to the L.A. Times' Sam Farmer, Casey Wasserman and AEG CEO Tim Leiweke are behind a new plan to bring the NFL to Downtown by building a stadium on the site of the Convention Center's West Hall, next to Staples Center and across the street from L.A. Live.
An AEG spokesman today declined to comment on the story.
It would be the pair's second attempt at getting a Staples-adjacent stadium built. They floated a proposal eight years ago, just as the L.A. Live project was getting underway, that would have placed the venue next to the Transamerica Center (now the AT&T Center). That idea was killed by political pressure from those who wanted to see the NFL return to the Coliseum.
Today, the political landscape is much different. Staples Center partner Ed Roski has proposed a stadium in the City of Industry, and the Coliseum's NFL hopes have vanished. With the City of Los Angeles in the midst of a budget crisis, the prospect of new jobs and the sales tax revenue a stadium would bring has to be attractive to the City's elected officials.
Nor is a deal to replace Convention Center space with a sports venue unprecedented. Staples Center opened in 1999 on the site of the Convention Center's North Hall, a free-standing temporary structure that was in need of replacement.
The West Hall is the oldest piece of the current Convention Center. Opened in 1971, it contains 210,685 square feet in the main exhibit hall space, plus a 21,500 square foot secondary hall.
The City is also planning to solicit bids for a private operator to pay off the Convention Center's debt and take over its operation. A private operator -- especially one connected to a stadium project -- would have more flexibility on offering incentives to smooth over any inconvenienced events.
Don't expect any quick news, however.
Given the energy City officials and Leiweke have put into reshaping Los Angeles as a Convention destination, any plan to tear down the West Hall would surely require that a replacement be built first and that there be no disruption to scheduled events.
The uncertainty surrounding the NFL's collective bargaining agreement, which expires after the upcoming season, would also likely make it more difficult for any arena or team deals to be struck.
John Semcken, a spokesman for Roski's stadium project, acknowledged to the Times that only one L.A. stadium will be built. Only time will tell which project -- if any -- will make it to the finish line.
Whitman Lam on April 16, 2010, at 03:05PM – #1
Won't happen. That's always been the game. NFL dangles a carrot in front of L.A. Different entities compete against each other, trying to sweeten the deal for the NFL to come. NFL laughs and says "sucka", then they put a team in a smaller venue city, using the city of Los Angeles as leverage.
Tornadoes28 on April 16, 2010, at 04:03PM – #2
I would not have thought that site was large enough for a football stadium but I guess it is. I think it is much better than putting it out in the damn boon docks off the 60. I agree with Whitman but at the same time I think the NFL would much prefer this site or Dodger Stadium vs way out off the 60.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on April 16, 2010, at 04:09PM – #3
Tornadoes: If you do the completely non-scientific test of cut and pasting the Coliseum into the site, it does fit just fine.
Robert Banuelos on April 16, 2010, at 04:22PM – #4
thou i agree with Whitman. the thought of a football stadium in southpark would be amazing. Next to 2 large freeways, public transit, various food and entertainment venues, hotels, etc. it would be an idea location
Tornadoes28 on April 16, 2010, at 06:03PM – #5
Yeah, I guess it does Eric, especially since they will probably remove Cherry St. there on the west side. I think it would be an awesome idea to put the stadium there.
Neel Sodha on April 16, 2010, at 08:35PM – #6
My only fear is that this NFL stadium will create the need for mega parking structures upwards of 50,000 spots. Based on LA's huge parking requirements. Then, for 8 days a year, it'll be packed for 50,000 cars. It'll be great if people utilize the Metro there...but c'mon. LA loves to build HUGE parking garages. That's a fact.
So, now outside of the 8 days a year...we are now stuck with 50,000 extra spaces. Thus, the attractiveness of public transit goes down and people go back to driving and bringing more automobile-based demands to South Park. Wider lanes, bigger turnouts, more lighting for the streets and not the sidewalks, etc.... That's my biggest fear.
Guest on April 16, 2010, at 08:46PM – #7
The developers in Los Angeles still do not see the big picture. Traffic in south Los Angeles is terrible. The only real senario for a new stadium would be within walking distance of union station on the northern side of town. Just think! Riding a metro-link to and from a game in downtown Los Angeles. Fans would come from near and far, The metro downtown area Olvera Street, China town, among others will come to life as never before. Big G.
Guest on April 16, 2010, at 09:57PM – #8
One good thing about the idea is that the original part of the convention center finally would disappear. That has to be one of the cheapest looking buildings ever created in the history of Los Angeles. Much of the exterior of the 1971 structure reminds me of a giant cargo-storage container.
Ken Hall on April 16, 2010, at 10:00PM – #9
I say bring it on!!, I'm all for it...I think it would be great for downtown....AEG CEO Tim Leiweke can make this happen!
Guest on April 16, 2010, at 10:10PM – #10
Parking wars!!! Just great..
Guest on April 17, 2010, at 12:45AM – #11
Guest: commuters would be able to utilize the Blue Line station at 12th and Flower and walk about a block and a half. Don't forget about the Downtown Regional Connector between the 7th/Metro and 1st/Alameda rail lines, either.
LAofAnaheim on April 17, 2010, at 11:43AM – #12
Guest # 11 - that's the hope...but you have to consider LA's ridiculously high minimum parking guidelines. Look at the new TOD being built at McArthur Park...90 units with 133 parking spots!! (note: officially 233 but 100 of those are for Metro). We have the train capacity, but yet, with LA's minimum parking laws..we could potentially see a huge parking structure that dwarks the massive elephant in Disneyland. There's a serious lack of consideration of Metro access at destinations, thus large parking garages are built and then automobile-based demands start (a) Can we get validated? (b) We need more parking? (c) We need restricted street parking! (d) We need more lanes!
All this will make South Park just a major parking lot central.
I, for one, still wish the politicians reconsidered Memorial Coliseum. It's a great location with a soon to open Expo Line station.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on April 17, 2010, at 11:47AM – #13
LAofAnaheim: But yet Staples Center and L.A. Live both seem to me to be cases of parking built in correct proportion to use. Sure, 20,000 fans for Staples is different than 70,000 fans for the NFL, but our Downtown examples seem good at saying that it isn't 50,000 spaces different.
LAofAnaheim on April 17, 2010, at 12:48PM – #14
^ I'm just hoping there is a serious reduction in parking requirements if this stadium is built and a heavy consideration is made for the Red/Purple/Blue/Gold lines (Expect the Expo Line to be re-branded as Gold once the Connector is built). Otherwise, we just keep a veil on how we want people using public transportation, when in reality, we have 50,000 car spaces that we can fill (see Dodger Stadium)
Russell Brown on April 17, 2010, at 04:53PM – #15
Reminder- AEG is the largest event manager in the world. It is an integrated sports and entertainment company that recently purchased the $1.22 billion Millennium Dome in London.
Click on these links to see what could be the master plan.
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/dec/20/business/fi-16546 http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1676603,00.html
Note the link for AEG worldwide in Europe http://www.aegworldwide.co.uk/news/aeg_news_041310.html http://www.aegworldwide.co.uk/01_venues/venues.php
London, Dublin, Prague, Berlin, Hamburg. Stadiums, arenas and CONVENTION CENTERS around the world.
LA Live/Staples complex is already the busiest sports and entertainment complex in the world.
This offers really interesting possibilities. A wide range of venue types and sizes would be available. This would guarantee that the stadium would be used for many more events than just the home football games.
Now is probably the perfect time to float this to stop a Dodger Stadium location (can we say Maguire divorce distraction) or a City of Industry competition. Roski was a partner before, things could change. Or business loyalty could come first.
If this is the plan, I could easily see that AEG could bid to manage the LA Convention Center as the private partner and the stadium be part of the continuum of event spaces.
Read the Time Magazine article of how AEG has integrated restaurants, bars and cinemas and smaller event venues (all are already at LA Live) at O2 Millennium with a possible convention center and even exhibit space that hosted a King Tut exhibit an a Cirque de Soleil theatre troupe. Las Vegas has 7, could LA handle 2 with Kodak Theatre?
But imagine an integrated entertainment complex that could host World Cup soccer, an NFL team, gigantic concerts and be part of a Convention Center complex that can host the biggest of the big conventions with concerts and football and soccer as an added attraction.
What would prevent a Lady Gaga Concert in London or Madonna concert in Berlin from being simulcast at the new stadium? The stadium could be decorated as the most outrageous Art installation with HD broadcast that would blow the traditional constraints of a concert away.
Imagine if a International New Years Day and Eve event was produced that literally skipped around the globe (at AEG facilities and others) with both live and braodcast entertainment and was digitally shown all over the world at this stadium and others. Sort of old NY Eve Dick Clark live but with a REAL budget.
Then the stadium really becomes an event venue that captures tens of thousands and takes LA to the entertainment capital of the world with AEG as the pilot.
Or this could all be another genius thought that never happens. But I would not bet against AEG being able to do what they set out to do. Good luck.
Russell Brown on April 17, 2010, at 05:00PM – #16
In regards to parking: With all of the downtown parking resources already available, no one would build 50,000 more spaces for a (probably) 70-80,000 seat stadium.
At $25,000 a space (low end numbers) times 50,000 spaces, that would be $1.25 Billion just for parking. The stadium will be at least $500 mil plus replacement of the convention center space. The amount of land consumed would be so gigantic as to take out South Park or Pico Union or Figueroa Corridor.
Why would you need almost 1 parking space per person for 8 events? That also assumes that no other parking exists downtown and no other options than a solo driver car to the stadium is an option. And sorry, but walking 15 blocks to parking is really not nearby.
In our planning sessions for the high speed rail at Union Station, it is anticipated that with full implementation of the route from SD and Anaheim to LA to SF to Sacramento, 5,000 spaces would be needed. The footprint of those spaces was presented as 1 full block wide and 3 full blocks long and 6 stories high. The purpose was to say the parking could not be in a single structure but in many better designed and ground floor activated facilities that also connected to many neighborhoods and many arrival and departure options.
Multiply that footprint for 5,000 car garage times 10. 30 blocks of 6 story parking garages? Will not, cannot and should not happen.
It would be cheaper to reroute the Red Line under LA Live and would be a much better idea anyway.
Guest on April 17, 2010, at 05:13PM – #17
It would be ideal to have a Subway stop right at LA Live, but that wont happen any time soon.
This proposal can be huge for LA. AEG and LA would be able to host any event, any convention, really anything they wanted all within 3 blocks of each other. This can only be good for Downtown LA and LA in general and i would hope that Roski realizes that and partners with AEG on this project instead of building a stadium 30 miles from LA that wont do much for the area.
D
Guest on April 17, 2010, at 07:36PM – #18
AEG may see a potential long term return which the city inherently is incapable of. Of course they're smart enough to know that the make or brake issue is parking and that the city council would not consider paying a cent. Not if the city owned land on which the west hall were to be given over for private use.
So they've got to know that the cost of parking as well as a new stadium plus replacement convention center space can be made to pencil out, in light of ostensible returns. Ostensible returns.....
They're also smart enough to know the hazard of creating a bifurcated convention center, two halves separated by a stadium designed expressly for autumnal football.
It is highly doubtful that the city council-person representing Pico Union would go for a zone change for the area between Albany Street, the 110, 11th and Pico. Yes, look on an aerial photo: 12th passes under the freeway and directly into the site in question. Could they include replacement housing on top of and fronting on the west side of a large parking structure? It would impose too much congestion on Pico Union. No chance. Better to split the necessary parking beneath the new complex as well as to the area north of Olympic. Imagine the smile in the eyes of all of the restaurant and entertainment operators in L.A. Live just thinking of hordes of fans coming and going to an event in a new stadium. There could be an express flyover ramp from the southbound 110 directly into a parking structure north of Olympic. An imaginative complex of parking structures is possible. For many years there will be no market for highrise housing or office space. So the only possibility is to include commercial and more entertainment is such a complex and it would need to be as out of this world as possible to create frission, so to speak. This, in the area bounded by Cottage Street, Olympic, the 110 and James Wood (9th Street).
But again, the greater hazard is ending up with a schizoid convention center. Depress 11th Street beneath a new stadium? Depress Pico west from where it now dips beneath the convention center all the way to the 110? Cover it over and make the convention and exhibition facility thoroughly unified? A plaza defined by Figueroa, Staples, a new stadium and a replacement convention facility would be far better than the wide swath of underutilized land we have at present south of Staples.
AEG must see a potential gold mine for their idea to have gotten this far. Such a return could only be possible by it's hiring the right architect/engineer. That would be the most critical decision. Nominations, anyone?
Simon Ha on April 17, 2010, at 10:27PM – #19
I like this location for a football stadium. It’s at the edge of Downtown where even if it only got used 8 days a year, it would not affect the vitality on the rest of the Downtown core. I’d prefer to move the Convention Center in under utilized area where it can act as a catalyst for development. Moscone Center in San Francisco comes to mind. Since Convention Center can activate its surroundings weekdays and weekends, it’ll be beneficial to integrate it into the heart of downtown. I can see replacement or additional Convention Center facilities in the South Park area near former AT&T Center; close enough to LA Live but engaged in the hustle and bustle of city sidewalks.
Regarding parking: Since Football is generally played on Sundays, utilizing vacant and abundant office parking in the city can lessen the need for dedicated parking spaces. The parking built for the stadium can be used as a key component in the city’s vision for ‘park once’. People driving into Downtown can park at strategically located parking structures and venture the rest of Downtown by street car, DASH, metro, or on foot seamlessly.
Russell Brown on April 17, 2010, at 11:03PM – #20
The streetcar is planned to be at Gil Lindsay Plaza so you could park once and circulate through the rest of downtown. Pico west of Figueroa does need a major jump start.
Russell Brown on April 17, 2010, at 11:04PM – #21
Sorry, Pico EAST of Figueroa needs the jump start.
Guest on April 18, 2010, at 03:52PM – #22
Gil Lindsay Plaza... You mean Sticky Fingers Place???
JDRCRASHER on April 18, 2010, at 06:46PM – #23
How about this:
Build a stadium East of Union Station, between the LA River and the 5 freeway. Put the massive LATC rail yard there underground, and build a stadium on top. Not only could you have sufficient space for parking, you could also include some future development on this huge site as well, perhaps in coordination with the restoration of the LA River. On top of that, the stadium and adjacent TOD development would be right next to the Silver Line LRT to the North, and theoretically you could also have a Metrolink stop to the South.
Guest on April 18, 2010, at 08:31PM – #24
OH yes, the restoration of the glorious L.A. River.
Not.
With the financial fix the city, county, state and nation are all in, and we're going to spend how many billions on this project and after it is completed, water coming out of the San Fernando-Arroyo Seco watershed will still be carrying all sorts of trash and contaminants, contaminants such as dog and cat crap, pesticides, used oil, herbicides, bird crap, rabbit crap, possum crap, raccoon crap and crap and piss from all of the homeless living along the river.
And what happens to a restored L.A. River when a one hundred year storm hits the watershed? Lord knows it would be bad enough if such a storm were to hit with things as they are, but once the river gets out of control, watch out. The Tongva knew how to keep the banks secure by planting ranks of River Willows. That is about the only plant that will bind the soil sufficiently to hold everything in place. Even Alder trees will uproot and wash away. A designed landscape by an award winning design firm would be history. It all would end up floating in the harbor, along with thousands of bodies, just like the flood of 1825. Back then it was horses and cattle; the next time it will be humans.
Russell Brown on April 19, 2010, at 10:34PM – #25
The LA River restoration project is already tricky enough with planning for the high speed rail. Throwing a stadium into the mix with all its needs would be naother huge issue.
Steve Hamilton on August 18, 2010, at 02:20AM – #26
This is wild. More of this if the NFL downtown becomes a reality...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhuJhi4ekj8
Guest on November 24, 2010, at 10:59PM – #27
FYI:$258m PLAN TARGETS GRIDLOCK / Interchange plans for alleviating traffic congestion along the 57/60 freeway interchnge include new connections on-ramp & off- ramp with new loops and overpass adjustment- to accommodate four lanes of traffic in each direction. SOUNDS LIKE THE SHOVELS' ARE READY!!!! THE CITY OF INDUSTRY IS NOT PLAYING DOWNTOWN.....WELCOME N.F.L...