CARSON VOWS NOT TO BE ANOTHER IRWINDALE.Byline: Bob Keisser It is difficult to watch the city of Carson become involved in a bid for an NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga team and not think about Irwindale. Irwindale is a small industrial community in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County with a modest annual budget that briefly courted the Raiders in the early '80s. Irwindale planned to turn a gravel pit Noun 1. gravel pit - a quarry for gravel stone pit, quarry, pit - a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate; "a British term for `quarry' is `stone pit'" into a stadium and bring the Greatness of the Raiders to the inland empire In·land Empire A region of the northwest United States between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, comprising eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, northern Idaho, and western Montana. Farming, lumbering, and mining are important to the area. . Instead, Al Davis For other persons named Al Davis, see Al Davis (disambiguation). Allen "Al" Davis (born July 4, 1929 in Brockton, Massachusetts) is an American football executive, who currently serves as the president and managing general partner of the NFL's Oakland Raiders. spurned spurn v. spurned, spurn·ing, spurns v.tr. 1. To reject disdainfully or contemptuously; scorn. See Synonyms at refuse1. 2. To kick at or tread on disdainfully. v. the idea but not before walking away with a $10 million dowry dowry (dou`rē), the property that a woman brings to her husband at the time of the marriage. The dowry apparently originated in the giving of a marriage gift by the family of the bridegroom to the bride and the bestowal of money upon the bride by . Carson is a small industrial community in Los Angeles County, with an annual budget around $40 million. It committed itself Thursday to sell $180 million of bonds as its contribution to the Michael Ovitz-led bid to land a NFL expansion team and plant a stadium and mall on an old landfill. Were these two communities separated at birth Separated at birth, usually phrased as a question, is a light-hearted media device for pointing out people who are unrelated but bear a notable facial resemblance. "Separated at Birth?" was a feature in the now defunct Spy Magazine, a monthly publication that published ? Carson officials say no. They know all about Irwindale's mess, which serves as a living model of what a city should not do when it gets involved with grandiose NFL dreams. Mayor Peter Fajardo and Councilman Daryl Sweeney have handled most of the negotiations with Ovitz, the former Hollywood agent, and they have four points that separate Carson from Irwindale and any other city involved in stadium economics: No public funds See Fund, 3. See also: Public will be used. The bonds will only be placed on the market when the NFL says it is coming to Carson. The Ovitz group must meet seven conditions included in the resolution, ranging from third-party financial guarantees to a financial sensitivity model. Michael Ovitz Michael S. Ovitz (b. December 14 1946, Los Angeles, California) is a former talent agent and Hollywood powerhouse who served as the head of the Creative Artists Agency from 1975 to 1995. is not Al Davis. The City Council rushed its support of the bond issue Thursday so Ovitz would have a strong commitment letter to take to Kansas City for the NFL meetings on Tuesday. The Ovitz/Carson group, the New Coliseum Partners and a public-private Houston group will make critical presentations to the league owners. No one will win a franchise in K.C., but one could be lost. ``At this point, a soft letter (of support) would have been worse than no letter at all,'' said Sweeney, who will go to Kansas City as Carson's representative. ``Without a significant level of investment by us, the NFL owners would not support (the Ovitz proposal).'' The league requires public involvement in new franchises as a hedge against more franchise free agency. A skeptic might say it's just plain old extortion. Whatever the case, Carson's investment seems smaller and safer than other city-stadium-team models. The total cost of the stadium and mall will be around $650 million, not including $35 million in environmental upgrades. Assuming the NFL exceeds its last franchise fee, $535 million for the new Cleveland Browns, Ovitz/Carson is proposing, at the least, a $1.2 billion project to bring football back to greater Los Angeles. ``We are looking at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here, the chance to turn a landfill into something that will return millions to the city,'' said Sweeney. Ovitz chose Carson after looking at the land, which has been unoccupied since 1964, the last year it was used as a landfill. The Department of Toxic Substance Control has signed off on a $35 million upgrade that should bring the land up to environmental standards. There is no lack of dollars or star value to the Ovitz group, either, a facet it believes is a strong selling point. The former agent is the principal owner. His investment will be at least 30 percent, per NFL rules. Mall real estate mogul Herbert Glimcher, who has an option on the land, has joined the group as a limited partner related to the land and mall. Other part owners include broker Ted Forstmann, Northwest Airlines chairman Gary Wilson, grocery store owner Ron Burkle and international business man Gabriel Brener. Actors Tom Cruise and Kevin Costner and L.A. basketball legends Jerry West, Shaquille O'Neal and Magic Johnson will also have ownership shares. Ovitz will also go to K.C. with Bank of America
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC TYO: 8648 ) is the largest commercial bank in the United States in terms of deposits, and the largest company of its kind in the world. executive David Coulter, who has extended Ovitz a $750 million line of credit for this project. ``I've put a lot of time and effort into this, because I believe it's worth it,'' Ovitz said, in one of his few public on-the-record comments. ``I'm motivated to make this work, and I feel I can get it done.'' |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion