L.A. and Inglewood in Showdown Over Arena

A political scrimmage of Super Bowl proportions between the cities of Inglewood and Los Angeles is nearing an end, the winner to get a $200-million sports arena to house the Kings and Lakers, the opportunity for neighborhood revitalization and an immediate advantage in winning NFL favor for a football franchise.

Los Angeles, believing it has the prime location and the best opportunity for long-range revenues for the Kings and Lakers at a site near the Convention Center, is trying to hold off Inglewood’s Hollywood Park proposal. Inglewood’s pitch revolves around its long tradition with the teams as well as the allure of a more accommodating political process.

“I have gone through the archives of 50 years of development in downtown Los Angeles, and nothing with the potential to improve the area comes close to this project,” said Steve Soboroff, a prime negotiator for Los Angeles in dealing with the Kings.

A city official, choosing to remain anonymous, said: “Anyone who stands in the way of this tremendous project will be remembered for generations for hurting the city of Los Angeles. It’s that big of a deal.”

A victory for Los Angeles will not only include a revitalization of the area, but according to a study by Ernst & Young, commissioned by the Convention and Visitors Bureau, a new arena would result in an annual infusion of $122 million into the city’s economy and 843 jobs by 2002.

The taxes earned from the project would repay the $60 million in bonds the city would use to help start the project.

Los Angeles, which believes it has a commanding lead in gaining the approval of Kings’ owners Edward Roski and Philip Anschutz to build an arena at Figueroa and 11th streets, next to the Convention Center, is struggling to close the deal. City negotiators have been unable to gain necessary assurances from key political figures, thereby highlighting Inglewood’s appeal to the Kings’ owners.

Sources close to the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that as a formality, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and City Council members Rita Walters and John Ferraro have sent a letter to the owners of the Lakers and Kings saying they want the new arena in Los Angeles, and inviting them to submit a proposal.

The Kings, who have been negotiating with Los Angeles officials for more than a year, are expected to submit a detailed proposal to the city today--a proposal that has undergone 17 drafts. City officials, who include members of the City Council, the Community Redevelopment Agency and the Convention and Exhibition Center Authority, will then be asked to sign the 12-page “nonbinding letter of intent” indicating a willingness to support the project and recommend it to their boards for approval. Further discussion and internal haggling might delay the process.

The Kings, according to city sources, have advised the city that if they receive all appropriate signatures and assurances, they will accept the nonbinding agreement and advise Inglewood that they will be working exclusively with Los Angeles.

Inglewood believes its selling point is its ability to quickly consummate a deal without lingering political delays.

“L.A.’s offer may look sweet, but I don’t think they can deliver--especially not within the time frame they’ve talked about,” said Garland Hardeman, an Inglewood city councilman. “Our response time is much quicker.”

Inglewood Mayor Edward Vincent said, “There is no better place I know of in Los Angeles County to build a new arena than the city of Inglewood.”

Vincent said the site, Hollywood Park, is in the vicinity of four freeways, has 320 acres of parking, a nearby airport with hotels, and a completed environmental impact report.

“We’re ready to do it,” Vincent said. “We’ve got it, and we want to keep it.”

Meanwhile his counterpart, Riordan, has said, “I support this bold and innovative proposal, very Los Angeles in its design and vision, which can be a huge win for Los Angeles and our downtown.”

Also, Los Angeles wants the opportunity to test its new resolve.

“There has been enough reform in the entitlement process by the City Council in the last year and a half that will allow us to act quickly enough on this,” Soboroff said. “The system is in place to work with the Kings and Lakers to get this done. It’s a nonissue.”

Lakers owner Jerry Buss agreed earlier with Kings management to join them in a move to a new arena in exchange for financial considerations.

Negotiations continue between the Kings and Inglewood, with Hollywood Park remaining extremely interested in the outcome. A retail area is included in the arena plans for Hollywood Park, which will provide the land for the arena. If successful, it would also legitimize Hollywood Park’s efforts to get an NFL franchise and build a football stadium.

Los Angeles has similar interests at stake. If unable to demonstrate its willingness to work out a political solution to bring about the new arena, it would undoubtedly raise the concerns of people such as Dodger owner Peter O’Malley, who will need similar cooperation to build a football stadium next to Dodger Stadium.

“We have a good shot to make the arena happen,” said Ferraro, president of the Los Angeles City Council. “I think they do want to come downtown, and the potential for this location is greater than the one being discussed in Inglewood, but I don’t think we can dilly-dally or stall in any way.”

If left behind, Vincent said his city could weather the loss of the about $1.5 million in annual tax revenue generated by the Kings and Lakers’ presence, but it would be far more difficult to bear the psychological wounds of losing both teams.

“The Lakers and Kings are part of the Inglewood family,” Vincent said. “We would suffer an emotional loss. We would be losing something we already had.”

Inglewood, which earlier provided environmental approval and the promise of more than $30 million in financial support for a new football stadium at Hollywood Park, has assured the Kings that they would be on a political fast track to meet their Sept. 1, 1999, commitment to play in a new arena. In addition, the city recently sweetened its financial proposal, prompting Kings’ officials to note that they could save as much as $70 million by building in Inglewood.

“The people in Los Angeles, let’s face it, they couldn’t appreciate it the way we do,” Vincent said. “As far as most people in Los Angeles are concerned, the Lakers are already in Los Angeles. . . . Can you imagine another big facility in downtown L.A.--with the congestion they already have? L.A. has a pretty good record of losing what they have.”

Los Angeles still believes that it offers the big score: Location, location, location.

“I think this is one of those defining moments for downtown Los Angeles,” said Michael Collins, senior vice president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. “I can tell you this, we have lost more than 50 convention opportunities in the past three years because we were unable to accommodate them with enough hotel rooms nearby. Along comes this arena pumping in 300 nights of activity into the area with 20,000 wallets walking around with restaurants being built to take care of those wallets, and suddenly you have the environment for a new hotel or hotels.”

By comparison, the introduction of Coors Field in lower downtown Denver inspired the building of 25 restaurants and 440 housing units since 1993 and annual sales tax for the city of $42 million. In Cleveland, the construction of Jacobs Field and the Gund Arena prompted the start of seven downtown housing projects and a transit system connecting most of the city’s tourist attractions. In Washington, economic consultants have projected a minimum of $10 million in tax revenue upon the completion of the MCI Center for hockey and basketball.

In Los Angeles, the proposed arena is targeted for an area in need of a boost. The arena would replace the freestanding North Hall outside the Convention Center. The storefront property on Figueroa opposite the North Hall would be acquired and used for parking and retail services. A hotel and additional parking could be built between Olympic Avenue and 11th Street.

“This is important for the city economically as well as for image-related reasons,” said City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents the 8th District. “But the story is incomplete in my mind. We can’t aspire to be the sports capital of the nation unless we land a team and a first-rate competitive stadium to play football.

“The discussion now is how can both things happen. It’s the first time in literally months where we’ve had any discussion of consequence. The question is how do we get the most bang for our buck.”

Ridley-Thomas, along with several long-range planners for the city, now envision a “Figueroa Corridor” that connects a new sports arena at the Convention Center and a new football stadium utilizing the shell of the Coliseum.

Contributing to this story were Times staff writers Abigail Goldman, James Flanigan and Larry Gordon.

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In the Race

This downtown site near the L.A. Convention Center appears to be the front-runner among locations hoping to lure a new arena for the Kings and Lakers. The arena would replace the Convention Center’s North Hall. But there is still a chance of Los Angeles losing the arena deal to Inglewood.