There was fanfare and artwork. Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was in attendance. AEG CEO and President Tim Leiweke was smiling like the proud corporate officer that he is.
And you’d think Los Angeles had just won the Super Bowl.
It might have
Villaraigosa, Leiweke and a throng of constructions workers greeted California governor Jerry Brown to the Los Angeles Convention Center West Hall, as Brown signed into law SB 292—a bill passed just three weeks ago.
The law would create an expedited process for legal challenges to AEG’s proposed Farmers Field, which—if all goes well—would stand on the same land where Brown, AEG and the City of Los Angeles held the signing ceremony Tuesday.
“It's time to tear this hall behind us down. It's time to tear this piece of concrete we stand and sit on today down," Leiweke told a crowd of supporters Tuesday. "I am proud that we are at a moment now that I can go to…the leaders of our state and now ask you to join me in convincing the NFL to make this a reality. We now have a bill that gives us certainty to get this stadium built.”
Instead of the normally lengthy process that could eventually lead to the California Supreme Court, SB 292 allows any challenges to AEG stadium project to go directly to the California Appellate Court, bypassing the Supreme Court. A ruling must be made within 175 days of the beginning of the suit.
Again, the law does not exempt AEG from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act.
The bill’s signing allows for AEG to continue on its plans to have Farmers Field open by 2016 (or 2017 at the latest).
It was the last big hurdle before the largest of obstacles—finally alluring an NFL team back to Los Angeles.
“The toughest part is getting a team but we are confident there are teams that are not going to solve their stadium problems and they can solve their problems by coming here,” Leiweke told ESPN.com.
While this was a major win for AEG, Governor Brown lauded it as a win for the unemployed.
Brown and other Sacramento politicians are using SB 292’s passage—and the passage of AB 900—as a signal that the state government is working towards creating jobs in California, which has an unemployment rate of 12.1 percent.
"It’s time for big thinking and big projects that put Californians back to work," Brown told the Union-Tribune. "Projects like Farmers Field can create thousands of jobs during a tough economic time, so it is imperative for the state to cut the red tape that could delay projects like this for years. These bills strike the right balance between protecting our environment and kick-starting jobs and investment in California."
It may not create as many jobs in Los Angeles as many predict, but it does do one thing—it sends a message to the NFL.
That message? It might be time to come back to Los Angeles.
For more info: Visit the San Diego Stadium Coalition website. Visit our San Diego Chargers Examiner, Dave Thomas. For more on the NFL, visit our NFL Examiner Danny Cox. Follow me on Twitter. Like us on Facebook.
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