April 22, 2010

Industry NFL stadium in holding pattern

As if things weren't going badly enough for Ed Roski's City of Industry stadium plan, what with two other L.A. football stadium plans rumored to be in the works, today's Whittier Daily News has an article all but saying that the Roski plan has stalled:

Lawsuits against the project, the Great Recession, and now labor issues with the NFL's players have slowed Roski's project. The two biggest problems - the economy and the NFL's labor strife - have become larger concerns since Roski's 2008 announcement, said David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute.

"The complications that have arisen are beyond his control," said Carter, who has consulted for Roski in the past. Roski is also chairman of the Board of Trustees of USC.

Existing owners don't know what their finances are, as a new labor deal could change how much players and team owners split, experts said. And until that is sorted out - which could take a year or so, some predict - a team won't move to L.A.

To make matters worse, getting loans is tough. And sponsors and advertisers have retooled their budgets, investing less on professional sports, experts said.

Concludes Carter: "The music may not have stopped, but it's pretty slow."