UNDATED: In this rendering released by AEG, the proposed football stadium to house a NFL team in Los Angeles, California is seen. It was announced February 1, 2011 that AEG has sold the naming rights for the proposed stadium to Farmers Insurance Group for $650,000, calling the stadium "Farmers Field."
AEG via Getty ImagesFarmers Field is a go.
The proposed venue, set to be the home of L.A.’s future NFL franchise — or franchises — was approved Friday by the Los Angeles City Council.
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The vote was 12 to 0 in favor of the Farmers Field Environmental Impact Report, setting the stage for the construction of a 72,000-seat stadium next to Staples Center and the adjacent L.A. Live entertainment complex.
The venue has an estimated construction cost of $1.2 billion, toward which Farmers Insurance Group will contribute $700 million in exchange for a 30-year naming rights deal.
Its construction will require the demolition of the West Hall of the L.A. Convention Center, requiring it to be rebuilt farther south for $350,000. Its proposed redesign has been cited for “serious concerns” by a panel of high-profile architects advising Mayor Antonio Villairagosa, according to the Daily News.
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Casey Wasserman, the sports executive who owned the Arena Football League’s former L.A. Avengers, spearheaded the Farmers Field project along Tim Leiweke, president of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, co-owners of L.A. Live.
“Today the Los Angeles City Council and my friends at AEG, led by Tim Leiweke, brought us one step closer to seeing an NFL team in Los Angeles,” said Wasserman, grandson of the late MCA honcho Lew Wasserman, in a statement.
“I applaud Mayor Villaraigosa, whose fortitude shaped this idea from my initial napkin concept into a statewide effort to bring football to the second-largest market in the country,” he said.
AEG was put up for sale last week.
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Now that the city has approved its construction, the Farmers Field developers are anticipating a completion date “by 2016.”
One and possibly two L.A. NFL teams could play there — the city’s first since it lost the Rams to St. Louis and the Raiders to Oakland in 1994.
Watch a “fly-through” promotion video for Farmers Field below.
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