Mark Ridley-Thomas To NFL: Call Me When You're Serious About Coming Back To L.A.
Categories: NFL
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| Mark Ridley-Thomas |
Like Charlie Brown, Angelenos have had this particular football yanked away several times, so they can be forgiven for tuning the drama out. And speaking today at the L.A. Current Affairs Forum, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas sided firmly with the tune-it-out crowd.
"I've never seen grown people play so many games in my life," Ridley-Thomas said.
A lifetime or two ago, Ridley-Thomas was involved in trying to bring the NFL back to the Coliseum. That didn't pan out, and it appears to have made Ridley-Thomas jaded about the league's desire to return.
"If there is an appetite, it's a small one," he said.
AEG wants to build a stadium downtown, while Majestic is pitching a new stadium in the City of Industry. Ridley-Thomas said that he wouldn't be surprised to see other potential sites emerge in the coming weeks, along with talk about competition being healthy for the league and for the city. Specifically, Ridley-Thomas mentioned Chavez Ravine as a possible new competitor.
Dodger owner Frank McCourt has talked about building a football stadium in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium, but it's never gone much beyond talk. (And anyway he seems to be pinned down at the moment with more pressing business. The Dodgers' head of government relations, Howard Sunkin, was sitting in the audience and seemed surprised to hear Ridley-Thomas bring up the possibility.)
"I'm waiting for the NFL to get serious about returning to L.A.," Ridley-Thomas said. "They create a whole lot of drama."
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