While Northern California lurches forward without decisive results, Ed Roski has boldly moved forward independently to bring pro football back to Los Angeles.
In April, Roski, a billionaire builder, unveiled plans for a privately funded stadium to be built in the City of Industry, 25 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. All he asks before breaking ground is for a current NFL team to agree to move into his $800 million baby.
Who might that be? Mostly you hear talk of San Diego or Minnesota, but other teams might want to take up Roski on his offer because of the financial ramifications. Those franchises include Jacksonville, New Orleans, Buffalo and, some say, St. Louis.
Or one of the two Bay Area teams.
"We will be 100 percent ready to start construction in October,'' said John Semcken, Roski's partner in charge of the project. "We will have completely designed, entitled, bid the building out, finished all the drawings, got the permits, finished all environmental reviews down to being able to finance construction ... but for (the lack) of having a team.''
In April, Roski said the first shovel will hit the dirt when a team agrees to move into his palace. For an idea of what it will look like, visit his project Web site, losangelesfootballstadium.com.
Roski also said if he owned a team with stadium issues, he'd be anxiously awaiting his call. Have those calls been made, and, if so, to whom?
"We are not at liberty to talk about which teams we are or are not talking to,'' Semcken said.
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