After City Approval, What's Next for Farmers Field?
Gensler
Rendering of Farmers Field, AEG's proposed 72,000 seat NFL stadium and events center next to Staples Center and L.A. Live.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — City Council will take up the deal for Farmers Field again this morning and is expected to vote to approve the deal that would give AEG the green light to construct its $1.2 billion stadium and events center on the site of the Convention Center's West Hall.
The deal, approved last week by the Council's ad-hoc stadium committee, provides AEG the land next to Staples Center and L.A. Live in exchange for payments that will fund the construction of a new convention hall atop Pico Boulevard, providing the city a larger and more functional Convention Center.
The stadium deal has taken a whirlwind ride since word of AEG's plans first leaked in April of 2010. The city's approval is an important step, but far from the end of the line for the ambitious undertaking.
Update (12:30pm): After just over an hour of discussion, the City Council approved the stadium deal just moments ago by a 12-0 vote.
If the city votes yes, what comes next?
AEG needs to get through three more major milestones once it receives city approval. It needs to complete the environmental clearance process for the stadium plans, it needs to secure a deal to bring a team to Los Angeles, and it needs to reach a deal with the NFL to bring one or more Super Bowls to the stadium.
What's the timeline for the environmental process?
Environmental review for the stadium project kicked off in March, and has attracted much attention thanks to the idea that AEG might ask for a waiver from the process.
While the company has always said it intended to complete a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR), it has indicated that it might like protection from a frivolous lawsuit that could tie up plans for several years. It has yet to be seen if any action is taken on that front. State lawmakers will hold a hearing next week to discuss development reform and potential protections for the project.
The project's draft EIR is slated for completion in the Spring. Eventually, it will need to be approved by the City Council.
Transportation impacts have been the biggest source of public debate for the stadium, despite AEG's insistance that Sunday traffic around Downtown—the time when most NFL home games would be played—is light and manageable.
Downtowners should be interested to see if the EIR might include money for the L.A. Streetcar project as part of its traffic mitigations.
When might a team deal be announced?
Any deal with a team is likely to not be announced until after the upcoming football season.
Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell found out the dangers of announcing a move during the season in 1995. He announced the team's impending move to Baltimore on November 6, while the team was 4-5. Sponsorship disappeared, fans showed up mostly just to protest Modell at the team's remaining games, and the Browns finished the year 5-11.
Expect talks to get serious behind closed doors in the upcoming months. While rumors could swirl around the end of the year, don't expect a team deal to be announced before February.
Of course, that would mean that a team would need a new home for the three years between an announcement and Farmers Field's expected completion in 2016. City Councilmembers have been pushing hard for that home to be the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The area around Exposition Park has seen much improvement since the Raiders left in 1995, and the Exposition Line light rail will connect the stadium to Downtown as early as the end of this year.
What about that deal with the NFL?
AEG CEO Tim Leiweke wants to see the NFL commit multiple Super Bowls to the new L.A. stadium. Originally, he wanted to see the 2016 Super Bowl take place here, but that plan is no longer realistic given the construction timetable.
A multiple Super Bowl deal isn't out of the question. The NFL has been narrowing its Super Bowl rotation to put the game in warmer climates more often, and would likely give AEG a deal to get the privately-financed stadium off the ground.
What's the timeline for the Convention Center?
Construction of the new Convention Center hall can not begin until after the EIR is finalized. Expect ground to be broken in the summer of 2012.
The new Pico hall would be completed in approximately one year later, at which point demolition of the 1971 West Hall could commence, followed by construction of the stadium itself. The goal is to create a situation where there is no downtime between the two halls, though current plans indicate there could be a short time in the summer of 2013 where neither is in service.
What should be expected around the stadium?
Don't be surprised to see momentum for AEG's deal spur development around South Park. AEG and the city want to see the development of thousands of additional hotel rooms, and those are likely to come on the lots across Figueroa, and on the Metropolis site just north at 8th and Francisco.
The area has had plenty of interest already. A full-speed-ahead stadium and convention center deal would likely be the ticket to push them over the edge.
David Crowley on August 09, 2011, at 11:00AM – #1
In my opinion, this sucks. I personally don't think downtown is a good place for a stadium, its congested enough as it is.
LAofAnaheim on August 09, 2011, at 12:41PM – #2
Downtown is the BEST place for a stadium. People can walk, take taxis, ride Metro (trains in 2015 will be going to Santa Monica, Culver City, East LA, Long Beach, South LA, Pasadena, Koreatown, Hollywood and North Hollywood with 10 minute headways on a Sunday). There's no other area that provides as many ALTERNATIVE transportation methods to go between homes and a football stadium. This is how you build ridership on our Metro system, putting destinations within WALKING DISTANCE of rail stations.
Compare the ease in which people can arrive to Staples Center compared to the auto-only dependence of Dodger Stadium. I know people who WALK from their downtown lofts to Staples...it's impossible for Dodger Stadium.
Farmers Field is located in the RIGHT place.
Jerell Ordonio on August 09, 2011, at 02:52PM – #3
I AGREE 100% Downtown is the right place for it... where ever you put a football stadium there is going to be traffic, would you rather have the stadium on the westside?? or east la?? or somewhere far out with no other means of transportation but by car???... a freeway could only fit so many vehicles.
in downtown.. people that would've had to drive to the stadium if it wasn't in downtown could now just take transit, which means more cars off the freeways, it helps.. it could equal to stripping away one lane of cars from the freeway.
LAofAnaheim don't for get the streetcar =D hopefully if it materializes, which i have a strong feeling it will.
Brigham Yen on August 09, 2011, at 04:17PM – #4
I agree with LAofAnaheim and Jerell.
Downtown LA is the perfect place for an NFL stadium. It's congested from cars (that's your problem as a driver), not pedestrians. There is still a very long ways to go before we are too congested with pedestrians.
TBerry on August 09, 2011, at 04:47PM – #5
City centers get congested... it's the nature of it being a city center. But the positives of this VASTLY outweigh the negatives, of which the only negative seems to be an uptick in Sunday traffic.
In this modern age, cities need to stop slaving their planning departments strictly to considerations and conveniences of the automobile. Yes, they need to be considered, but no... they are not the end all be all. It's that behavior that nearly killed downtown, that led the destruction of the largest inter-urban electric street car system in the nation in 1955. That led to terrible ordinances in the middle of the century that required the tearing down of historic buildings all over downtown in favor of parking lots that opened massive gaps in the urban fabric. Putting a project like this in downtown will put a HUGE emphasis on LA's public transit options and probably lead to vast improvements even beyond those already planned to meet the increase in ridership and awareness.
It's better for the city and the economy (public transit development creates WAY more jobs and economic growth than freeway construction/improvement... among other benefits) and also is better for the environment.
Douglas Kelso on August 09, 2011, at 06:47PM – #6
The location COULD be better from a transit perspective ... it's over half a mile to the 7th Street Transit Center. It's close to the Pico Blue Line station, but those short light rail trains won't help much with the crowds leaving a football game. Long subway trains are needed to handle that kind of volume.
However, the "Silver Line" bus also serves the site, and it would be pretty easy to add a couple of dozen extra buses on game days to beef up that service. The Silver Line would get people to the subway AND Union Station.
I think Metro could work out enough service enhancements during the game to make mass transit pretty convenient. On the whole, I think this would be a plus for downtown. (Caveat: I don't live there, just visit on occasion. But if I DID live there, I wouldn't mind it.)
LAofAnaheim on August 09, 2011, at 08:50PM – #7
@Douglas Read up on the Downtown Connector project. This is a project that will connect the 3 disjointed light rail lines into 2 seamless lines, whereby a passenger can go to the Pico station and take a single train to East LA, Pasadena, Asuza, Long Beach, Culver City or Santa Monica.
The Red/Purple Lines are still used heavily by people coming from Hollywood, Koreatown or the Valley. If they cannot walk 1/2 a mile between 7th Street to LA Live!....that's just ridiculous. We can't place everything at everybody's individual destination. 7th street is already a fantastic station as is (most used rail station on a daily basis). Plus, there will soon be shops/entertainment lined between 7th and 11th on Figuera to make the walk feel much shorter.
William Crandell on August 09, 2011, at 09:14PM – #8
On game day near Giants Stadium in S.F., people get off of BART and the MUNI north of Mission and a wave of pedestrian traffic heads south on 3rd towards the stadium. They walk farther than 1/2 mile and excitement is in the air.
TBerry on August 10, 2011, at 04:22PM – #9
I'm sure Metro will beef up options to deal with some of those issues. The street car would also help with that.
That being said, a 1/2 mile is really not much of a walk at all... it's two laps around a high school track. People who drive to football games at places like Giant Stadium in the Meadowlands frequently have to PARK further away than that.
Vero Queero on August 10, 2011, at 10:00PM – #10
Why can't we get a brand new NFL franchise? Why does it have to be an existing one that moves here?
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on August 11, 2011, at 06:51AM – #11
Vero: The NFL currently has 32 teams, a number that divides very well into four divisions of four teams in each of the two conferences. A new team would disrupt that pretty severely.