A plan for luring an NFL stadium to downtown Los Angeles cleared a major hurdle Wednesday, with a City Council panel throwing its support behind the financial framework proposed for the project.
On a 4-0 vote, the council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Downtown Stadium and Convention Center recommended approval of an agreement with developer Anschutz Entertainment Group to build a $1.2 billion stadium and replace a $275 million wing of the Los Angeles Convention Center.
A vote by the full council is scheduled for Tuesday. Approval of the nonbinding agreement sets the stage for another nine months of talks between the two sides. “This is the table setting, not the meal,” said Councilwoman Jan Perry, who voted for the plan and heads the stadium committee.
AEG has promised to finance the stadium, tentatively named Farmers Field, on its own. For that to happen, however, the city would need to tear down the West Hall of its Convention Center -- and issue $275 million in tax-exempt bonds to pay for demolition and relocation of the exhibition area. Those bonds would be repaid largely from new tax and lease income generated by the two projects, according to the proposal.
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