NFL’s Goodell discusses Roski’s stadium proposal

During a meeting at the NFL’s New York offices with sports editors from some of the nation’s largest newspapers Thursday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell answered a few questions posed by The Times’ Mike Hiserman about Ed Roski’s new stadium proposal in Industry:

Question: Ed Roski has an $800-million stadium proposal in place and says he’s ready to talk to NFL owners. Is the league going to get involved in that at all?

Answer: Yes, we’re aware of the site and we’re aware of his plans and we take it as a positive step because we’ve always said that we’ve got to do it with a new stadium that’s going to be suitable for our fans going forward for several years. He’s a serious guy. He’s a credible man. I’ve known him for a long time and he’s a credible man. He’s got an interesting proposal which we’ll certainly take seriously.

Q: Does it raise the priority of getting a team back to L.A., the fact that there is a credible proposal out there?

A: You know, we’ve got a lot of issues that we’re trying to deal with. I don’t look at it as 1-2-3-4. If there is an opportunity to do it successfully for the community and successfully for an NFL team, that’s something that we’d take seriously and deal with appropriately.

Q: Would that most likely be expansion or relocation?

A: Right now that would be a relocation. We don’t have a team that’s prepared to relocate. We like to keep our teams where they are. That’s something that’s always a possibility – a team can’t make it in its current situation – but expansion is not on the front burner and is clearly not a priority at this point.

Q: Is there something about this potential deal that gives it a better chance than all the ones we’ve heard about before?

A: We don’t know that at this stage. We’re sensitive to increasing the anticipation of our fans out there and then letting them down. Fans just want a team back. They want it back in a successful way with a proper kind of ownership. I’m not interested in trying to increase the anticipation there, to build up any interest in this, until I know we have a solution. And that’s what we’re trying to work on quietly. How can we work on a solution that works for the community and works for us.

Q: Does your previous relationship with Roski, the fact that you know him, help with that?

A: Oh yeah, we’ve known Ed for a long time. He’s extremely credible. That can’t hurt, that’s for sure.