City officials and business leaders gathered in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday morning to sign a formal agreement to build a new NFL stadium.
"Today is a great day. It's a great day because we're one giant step closer to bringing the NFL back to Los Angeles," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. "We'll continue down the path that we've been on for years now to help make downtown sparkle again."
"No longer is downtown only a destination for hundreds of thousands of workers who leave the area looking like a ghost town at night," he said. "Downtown is fully embracing its renaissance."
Villaraigosa, along with Councilwoman Jan Perry and AEG President Tim Leiweke, signed the "implementation agreement" around 10 a.m. for the modernization of the Convention Center and stadium construction.
The LA City Council voted unanimously Friday to approve the deal.
Anschutz Entertainment Group's privately funded $1.2 billion proposal includes a 76,000-seat stadium and a revamped LA Convention Center that would cost AEG an estimated $314 million.
The giant sports-and-entertainment company plans to knock down the convention center's existing West Hall, and it would repay municipal bond funds to rebuild a new "Pico Hall" at a projected cost of $314 million.
If interest rates on those bonds go up, the city could be on the hook for $14 million.
When AEG put itself on the block last month, speculation was in full swing as to who will scoop up the entertainment empire at the heart of the effort to lure the NFL back to Los Angeles.
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A team to play in the stadium, and an AEG owner to take over the reigns of the project have yet to be decided.
More on the stadium deal:
