BROAD FINANCIAL MUSCLE; NEW COLISEUM GROUP GETS BOOST FROM BILLIONAIRE.Byline: Frank C. Girardot Frank C. Girardot (1961 in Detroit, Michigan) worked during the 1980s and 1990s as a copyboy, reporter and sportswriter for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, The San Gabriel Valley Tribune, The Pasadena Star-News and The Los Angeles Daily News. A real estate developer's plan to bring the NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga back to the Southland will move one step closer to reality today as billionaire Eli Broad is expected to announce he's taking a financial interest in the project. City of Industry developer Ed Roski Jr. has already put forth a plan to bring the NFL back to Los Angeles by rebuilding the well-worn Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum For board track racing circuit, see . Present use The Coliseum is now primarily the home of the USC Trojan football team. During the recent stretch of its success in football, most of USC's regular home games, especially the alternating games with rivals UCLA and Notre . Broad, 65, would take an ownership interest in the project, officials said. His backing provides a financial kick start to Roski's dream of revitalizing the aging Coliseum and the surrounding South Central neighborhood. Neither Broad nor Roski was available for comment Wednesday. Leslie Winner, a strategist working for Roski, said a formal announcement will be made this morning in Los Angeles. ``We've found a significant financial backer,'' Winner said. ``That's all we can say right now.'' Roski, 60, who co-owns the Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California, USA. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). , hopes he can convince the NFL to award the franchise for its 32nd team to Los Angeles. His proposal is competing with proposals from Michael Ovitz, who wants to build a stadium/entertainment complex in Carson, and the city of Houston. The addition of Broad to the New Coliseum proposal is a significant blow to Ovitz's plan, which has the backing of actors Tom Cruise and Kevin Costner, among others. As a developer, Roski, who made his fortune through the Industry-based Majestic Reality, already has proved he can deliver. He was the prime mover prime mover: see energy, sources of. Prime mover The component of a power plant that transforms energy from the thermal or the pressure form to the mechanical form. behind the building of the Staples Center, which will open in downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or next year as the new home of the Lakers, Clippers and Kings. If the NFL accepts Roski's proposal, he will likely take a 33 percent ownership in the team. Broad is no stranger to professional sports. He is a co-owner of the NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= Sacramento Kings and their ARCO Arena. The NFL is expected to make a decision on all proposals for a 32nd franchise in March at its owners meeting in Phoenix. Meanwhile, the league has hired consultant Max Muhleman to study seat-pricing plans for all proposals, officials said. |
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