AEG pulls the plug on NFL stadium for downtown

Within hours of the LA Times reporting this morning on AEG's hardball tempts to smear Inglewood's NFL stadium plan, the company told the paper that it's no longer pursuing the downtown Farmers Field project. That was the stadium AEG proposed to build next to LA Live and Staples Center, with the support of Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Council. But AEG will not ask City Hall for an extension of the April 17 deadline to secure a team.

“I think it’s fair to say we have turned our attention to proceeding with an alternative development,” AEG vice chairman Ted Fikre told the Times.

After investing five years and at least $50 million in an attempt to return the NFL to Los Angeles, AEG is abandoning plans for a downtown stadium….

Although some NFL owners and executives long favored the site and AEG spent millions to gain the needed entitlements for a stadium, the company ultimately failed to generate sufficient interest from any teams.

Eric Grubman, NFL executive vice president and point man for the league on L.A., said the league has been "very interested" in the downtown site and has spent significant time with senior members of AEG. “We would always prefer to have an excellent site in the mix, but we recognize that it is not in our control.”

Rival concepts in Inglewood and Carson, both backed by NFL owners, have overshadowed Farmers Field this year.

The original point man on AEG's push for a downtown stadium, Tim Leiweke, was already long gone — he's now a sports executive in Toronto. The project had gotten far enough along that the naming rights were committed to Farmers Insurance and AEG had held a pep rally style announcement in 2011. Without the stadium project, the city will have to come up with a way to pay for expansion of the convention center that was going to be financed by AEG.