O’Malley Feeling Neighborly on Plans

If a nearly $1-million feasibility study confirms his gut instinct, Dodger owner Peter O’Malley will announce in June he will proceed with plans to build “the world’s best” football stadium and then solicit the NFL for an expansion franchise.

O’Malley’s long-term vision for Chavez Ravine also includes a new Dodger Stadium.

“Even though Dodger Stadium is now 35 seasons old, it still gets rave reviews,” O’Malley said. “That doesn’t mean it’s going to last forever. The future of Dodger Stadium must be addressed. There’s no reason why this city and the fans of this city shouldn’t have the best football, baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer facilities.”

If his feasibility study is positive, O’Malley will present the findings to the NFL Stadium Committee in June shortly before going public with an announcement of the date he anticipates opening a new football stadium.

O’Malley has been paying a team of specialists in landscaping, traffic, construction, acoustics and design to listen to neighborhood concerns and develop solutions. O’Malley has paid for the experts’ services as he has progressed, thereby further demonstrating his resolve to push on.

“We’re in the fifth inning now, but we expect to be in the ninth inning in mid-June,” O’Malley said. “From the very first day when we were asked by the mayor if we were interested in building a state-of-the-art football facility, we have felt this could be the right thing.

“We won’t know all the results of our study until June, but I wouldn’t be on this path if I didn’t feel optimistic that the path we’re on does indeed make sense and is the best solution to the problem of football in Los Angeles.”

O’Malley, who has already begun instituting changes to satisfy neighborhood concerns to clear the way for a football facility next to Dodger Stadium, said he also will need the endorsement of fans, government officials and the NFL to move forward.

“I’m not asking for anyone’s approval today,” O’Malley said. “I wouldn’t expect that until we show them something. But if we have something to show that’s exciting and that makes sense for Los Angeles, then I would be amazed if there wasn’t wide-scale support behind it.”

Roadblocks, however, are already being set up.

One group, the Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park, passed out fliers urging neighbors to attend a recent “peaceful protest to stop a second stadium” outside Dodger Stadium. And Mayor Richard Riordan’s Ad Hoc Sports Franchise Committee recently backed up its unanimous commitment, to endorse the Coliseum as the only site within Los Angeles that should be considered for a football stadium, with $100,000 to market the facility.

HOK, a Kansas City architectural firm highly regarded by the NFL, has designed plans that would allow for a new football stadium to replace the Coliseum while incorporating the historical highlights of the present facility. HOK recently told the ad hoc committee that it had not placed a price tag on a new Coliseum, but indicated it would cost as much as a new football stadium being built from scratch. There was no discussion at the ad hoc committee meeting on how such a facility would be funded.

“The Coliseum has a window of opportunity here--possibly several months--with the NFL while O’Malley does his work,” said Tom Tellefsen, chairman of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, who met recently with NFL officials. “O’Malley is definitely the leader right now and has the inside track because of his reputation and because he brings a stadium plan and ownership of a team, while the Coliseum will have to solicit an owner.

“But nobody knows if O’Malley’s numbers on this thing will work out, so the Coliseum has an opportunity to get its numbers together and make a presentation to the NFL as a viable option. So to me, it’s still an open ballgame.”

The NFL informed Los Angeles months ago it had no interest in the Coliseum, and while it will listen to a new proposal, its perception of the neighborhood surrounding the Coliseum might be a mountain too tall to climb.

“I do not believe the Coliseum is a permanent solution to the National Football league being in Los Angeles,” O’Malley said. “I firmly believe that.”

The rebirth of the Coliseum coupled with the announced plans of Seattle Seahawk owner Ken Behring to move his team to the Los Angeles area have done nothing to sidetrack O’Malley. He has stuck to a timeline, had more than a dozen meetings with Dodger Stadium neighbors and insists he is not concerned with potential competitors.

“If you take your eye off the goal every time there is a rumor or new development with football in Los Angeles, this process will never end,” said Bob Graziano, vice president of finance for the Dodgers and O’Malley’s football stadium project leader. “Obviously, if any of these things happen, they will have an impact on decisions made down the road, but we can’t let speculation impact this process.”

The NFL appears in no hurry to come to terms with Los Angeles, and that also fits nicely with O’Malley’s schedule. The list of teams that have no lease or stifling financial restrictions to allow them to move is empty now, and the league, which promised to deliver a relocated or expansion team to Cleveland in 1999, is in no hurry to expand.

“The stadium comes first, a football team comes second,” O’Malley said. “The NFL has said that. The first bridge to cross is the stadium.

“We are working with the NFL and can’t believe we would do something to surprise them or they would do something to surprise us. They know daily where we are, so if we get to stage where we want to proceed I think the NFL would be very happy.”

Before the first pass can be thrown at O’Malley’s new football stadium, there must be a successful environmental impact report, further concessions in the neighborhood, a number of positive votes by the Los Angeles City Council and a selection of a partner.

“One of the great benefits of the exercise is getting to know our neighbors better,” O’Malley said. “The neighbors will benefit by this process. The relationship between the Dodgers and the neighbors will be better as a result of this looking at the feasibility of the football stadium. We’re doing some very dramatic things with the neighbors, and they have been great.”

The Dodgers recently distributed thousands of “Community Focus” handouts to residents in the Elysian Park area detailing new programs, including the active recruitment for full- and part-time jobs. A traffic consultant has been hired to talk to the neighbors, streets are being metered, alternative entrances to Dodger Stadium are being contemplated and parking plans that would pull parked cars off residential streets into parking garages are also being studied.

“Sensitivity to our neighborhood is critical to getting this done in a timely manner,” Graziano said.

There has also been discussion about the Dodgers giving land to the park so Elysian Park can be expanded. A landscape specialist is trying to design a plan that will blend the new football stadium, and ultimately a new Dodger Stadium, more into the park.

“I have met with anyone who has asked to meet with me,” O’Malley said. “This is not just a one-time deal for our neighborhood. All these initiatives will continue regardless of what happens on the football stadium project.”