A Super Bowl in LA? It's Possible

The proposed stadium could be ready to host the 50th Super Bowl in 2016

AEG's Tim Leiweke, who is the head of a group looking build an NFL stadium in downtown LA, says the project could be finished in time to host the 50th Super Bowl in February of 2016, reports the LA Times.

The NFL normally requires venues that want to host a Super Bowl to be open for at least one year before being eligible to host the event, however Leiweke's group is asking the NFL to waive that policy. 

"We're asking [the NFL] to look at our track record, the uniqueness of that anniversary, and the place that this city has played in hosting Super Bowls," said Leiweke.

Los Angeles hosted the first ever Super Bowl at the LA Coliseum. 

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and other league executives met with Leiweke in New York on Wednesday, but both parties declined to discuss the subject of the meeting.

Leiweke envisions the stadium as much more than a home to a future Super Bowl.  He plans to make the venue, with a retractable roof, as a double home to a sports arena and convention space. It would be the centerpiece of a massive convention center expansion proposed by AEG.

The venue would potentially host Final Fours, the 2022 World Cup (if the US is selected as host next month by FIFA), as well as a NFL team.

Local

Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.

Hundreds of tenants in Barrington Plaza fight against evictions

Armed man fatally shot by police in Long Beach park

If the venue ends up being built, the elections this past week could help bring an NFL team to the new stadium. As reported on NBCLA on Thursday, Kurt Helin says:

This wave of Republicanism -- or anti-Obamaism -- swept the red party into control of the Minnesota State legislature for the first time in 38 years.

Minnesota has a football team, the Vikings (Once upon a time they were the biggest rival of the Los Angeles Rams; go ask your dad about it). The Vikings play in the Metrodome, which is dated and getting run down. Imagine the Lakers still having to play at the Forum, or any team in the existing Coliseum.

But a Republican legislature in a state -- like every state -- struggling with the economy is not about to shell out money to help get a new stadium built. Plans for a new stadium in Minnesota are frigid compared to what is happening in California.

And next year, the Vikings' lease is up.

Contact Us