AEG Pushes Downtown Football Stadium, Majestic Punts for Irwindale

When the Super Bowl game starts Sunday in Dallas, it will have been 16 years since Los Angeles last saw the National Football League. The Rams and the Raiders left in 1994. Now, AEG, developer of the highly successful Staples Center and LA Live, has put on a full-court press for a new stadium downtown, with $700 million in naming rights already guaranteed by Farmers Insurance. Mayor Villaraigosa, Councilwoman Janice Hahn and other officials took part this week in the announcement, which was compared to a pep rally and aired live by Fox Sports TV. The AEG proposal for downtown LA isn't the only one being made to lure the NFL back into the region. Billionaire developer Ed Roski is even further ahead on a stadium in City of Industry. Since the Rams and the Raiders left 16 years ago, there have been plans and discussions about the Coliseum, Dodger Stadium, Anaheim and Irwindale.