Irvine Gets 2nd Feeler for El Toro NFL Stadium

A second investor group, this one from Canada, has told Irvine officials that it would like to build a football stadium next to the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

City officials said they received a letter Thursday from the group expressing its interest in the fledgling project. They had never heard of the group, and didn’t provide any names of investors.

The letter does not mention how much money the group might offer, but does state that the investors are willing to help finance the stadium in exchange for exclusive development rights, Mayor Christina Shea said.

“I suspect they heard about our first offer and decided to make their own pitch,” Shea said. “We are going to ask them to send a representative down here to look at the site and discuss details with us.”

The new interest comes a week after a group of Los Angeles developers, including former USC football star Anthony Davis, offered to raise the $500 million needed for the stadium if the city gave them exclusive rights to develop it and helped recruit an NFL team.

The city is now completing an extensive study into the background of the Los Angeles investors and their financial capability.

“We want to make sure this is real money and not funny money,” city Manager Paul Brady. The study should be completed sometime next week, he said.

Irvine wants to build a stadium on 440 acres of land at the southern end of the Marine base. The stadium is a key element of the Millennium Plan, a redevelopment proposal for the 4,700-acre base that also includes office towers, homes, parks and a university.

The county, however, is moving forward with plans to convert the base into an international airport. City officials insist that the stadium is viable even if the airport is built.

But the stadium faces a variety of obstacles. It is competing against five stadium proposals in Los Angeles County, including one in Carson backed by entertainment mogul Michael Ovitz and another at the Coliseum backed by several top city officials.

NFL executives toured the Irvine site as well as those in Los Angeles last month and refused to say which one they favor. But several sports-business experts say the Los Angeles sites make the most sense because of their central location.

Davis and his partners insist that Irvine is actually the best site because it sits on vacant land, has close freeway access and does not bring the urban ills and crime worries of a central-city location.

“When I first saw this site, I realized it’s the best in the country,” Davis said. “Irvine is a clean and growing area. It brings with it a lot of pluses.”

Even if the Davis group can raise $500 million to build the stadium, the city would still have to find an owner and get the federal government to convey the base land. An owner would likely spend an additional $500 million to recruit a team, pay coaches and players and cover publicity costs.

City officials have said they will not use any taxpayer money on the project, even though public money has been used on most other stadiums built around the country.

Shea said Thursday that she expects the city to receive additional proposals as word of Irvine’s interest in an NFL team spreads. The City Council will meet later this month to discuss the first proposal and decide whether to formally request bids from other interested investors.