There sure are a lot of anonymously-sourced stories cropping up in the last few days about LA's competing NFL stadium plans. On Friday, Yahoo Sports reported that the NFL doesn't like developer AEG's Downtown stadium plan and suggested that developer Ed Roski's competing Industry stadium plan is gaining momentum. Today the LA Times has anonymous sources telling it that Roski has retooled his plan and "dropped his demand for a no-cash minority share of a franchise." Originally, Roski wanted one-quarter ownership of a team. Now he wants to completely hand over control of the 600 acre stadium site and have the team finance the proposed stadium and take all of the revenue. He'd buy a share in the team, but have "no path to controlling ownership." AEG's plan calls for the developer to finance the stadium, keep control of the site, and share revenue with a team. AEG's owner Philip Anschutz also wants to buy a part of a team "at a deep discount."
It sure looks like Roski is working overtime to position his Industry plan as an attractive bet for the NFL (both plan-wise and in the media), which is a pretty big change from August, when it was reported that he was talking to Industry officials about dumping the stadium plan and building retail. As the LAT points out "It suits the NFL to have as many legitimate stadium options as possible to create competition that leads to a more favorable deal for a team." We hate to get all conspiracy theory-y, but maybe these anonymous sources aren't the ones we thought they were.
· NFL's return to L.A. takes new twist as Ed Roski retools offer [LAT]
· Industry NFL Stadium Backing Down, Downtown Stadium Talking Big [Curbed LA]
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