Newsletter: Hot Property: The touchdown dance
Football is back, baby. To kick off another season of gridiron action, we’re calling an audible on our usual lineup of actors and musicians in favor of stadium fare. Here's a roundup of the big plays in this armchair quarterback edition.
– Lauren Beale and Neal J. Leitereg
Total yardage
An American football field measures 120 yards long and 53.33 yards wide — or 57,600 square feet. To put that into perspective, here are a few Southland homes for scale.
Former Minnesota Twins outfielder Jason Kubel could have easily crammed a 100-yard field into his acre-plus property but opted for a custom batting cage complete with a pitching machine.
Former Highland High star and Minnesota Twins outfielder Jason Kubel has put his Calabasas home and personal batting cage on the market for $3.5 million.
Five-time major champion golfer Phil Mickelson could have comfortably fit three football fields into the grounds of his former estate in Rancho Santa Fe. The three-house compound, sold by Mickelson in January for $5.725 million, has an orchard, a swimming pool, a horseshoe pit and a three-hole putting green on more than five acres.
Phil Mickelson, winner of five major golf championships, had asked as much as $12 million for the 9,200-square-foot home in Rancho Santa Fe. (Austin Ashline | Inset: Getty Images)
While it’s not quite the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, USC Trojans football coach Steve Sarkisian recently sold a Rolling Hills property about the size of four football fields for $8.55 million. The home can also be considered college game day ready with 18 televisions in 8,250 square feet of living space.
USC football coach Steve Sarkisian has sold his ranch-style house in Rolling Hills for $8.55 million. He had asked $9.5 million for the home. (Redfin | Inset: Los Angeles Times)
And at a little more than 42 acres, the Poway home of sports agent Jonathan Weisz, which happens to have a major league-sized baseball field, would fit 32 football fields. Extra point: His 14 bathrooms can accommodate an 11-man team and a few refs.
The baseball field at Jonathan Weisz's Poway home. (Reed Kaestner)
Fantasy draft
From Joe Montana to Tom Brady, there’s been no shortage of franchise QBs to grace this section over the past three decades. But if we had to choose just one, our No. 1 pick would be Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman.
The former UCLA Bruins and Dallas Cowboys star made his first Hot Property appearance 15 years ago when he bought a home in Montecito from fellow gridiron great Marcus Allen for $6.5 million.
More recently, the three-time Super Bowl champion turned a tidy profit in Dallas, selling his 10,700-square-foot mansion in July for $5.4 million. That’s $1.15 million more than what he paid for the French Normandy-style home in 2013.
The former UCLA and Dallas Cowboys quarterback sold his 10,700-square-foot home in Dallas' Highland Park area for $5.4 million. (Redfin | Inset: Getty Images)
Free agents
Front office moves can often mean off-season moving for NFL players and coaches. Four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Jeff Garcia, now in his first season as an offensive assistant with the St. Louis Rams, has put his Mediterranean-style home in Rancho Santa Fe back on the market for $6.495 million. Built in 2008, the home scores points for its six fireplaces, an elevator and a swimming pool with two waterfalls.
Four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Jeff Garcia eyes a home hand-off in Rancho Santa Fe. (Redfin; Inset: Eric Risberg / Associated Press)
Free agent punter Chris Kluwe, who was last in camp with the Raiders in 2013, is asking $1.995 million for his two-story Traditional in Huntington Beach. Among the highlights is a custom video game room with stadium seating and a 106-inch projection screen that was featured on the DIY Network series “Man Caves.”
Former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe has put his 3,700-square-foot home in Huntington Beach on the market for $1.995 million. (Redfin | Inset: Los Angeles Times)
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith, now three years removed from his last game with the San Francisco 49ers, listed his home in Monte Sereno, Calif., for sale at $3.999 million. The French Villa-style home with antique limestone floors and reclaimed wood beams invites friendly competition with a professional bocce ball court.
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, now with the Kansas City Chiefs, has put his home in Monte Sereno, Calif., on the market for $3.999 million. (Redfin | Inset: Getty Images)
Team bonding
A trip to the movies has long been the team-bonding exercise of choice for NFL teams, and what better place to pack in a roster of 53 than the Beverly Hills estate known as Palazzo di Amore.
Now priced at $149 million following last week’s $46-million price cut, the price-topping home boasts a 15,000-square-foot entertainment complex complete with a 50-seat theater, a bowling alley and a disco/ballroom with a revolving door.
Despite the $46-million price cut, the 53,000-square-foot Beverly Hills home is still asking a top-of-the-charts $149 million. (Marc Angeles | Inset: Tribune Publishing)
Programs, get your programs
Bill Gates has a new neighbor, and it’s Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. Seattle’s newly minted $88-million man paid $6.7 million for a 10,740-square-foot home in Bellevue, Wash., reports TMZ. The seven-bedroom home, which has a movie theater and a 1,200-bottle wine cellar, is three miles from Gates’ staggering 66,000-square-foot home.
The pressure is on the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell to return football to the second-largest market in America, and it could get ugly. Times reporter Sam Farmer breaks down a number of scenarios involving the St. Louis, Oakland and San Diego franchises and the competing plans to build stadiums in Inglewood and Carson.
Taking a page from San Francisco and Boston, Los Angeles City Council members on Tuesday passed a motion to ban smokeless tobacco from all sports venues in the city, according to Times reporter Brittny Mejia. The ban on the use of chewing tobacco and snuff would apply to both fans and players.
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