FOOTBALL POLITICS- (Ed Note: The purchase of property adjacent to Hollywood Park in Inglewood … by E. Stanley Kroneke, the owner of the St. Louis Rams … has reenergized the ‘NFL in Los Angeles” discussion. Randall Fleming broke this story last fall. This is an updated reprint of that story … dated November, 2013.)
During a mid-October inter-departmental meeting between Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD) and the City of Inglewood, the rumors of an NFL stadium in Inglewood were brought up by state-appointed IUSD Superintendent Dr. Don Brann.
In an exclusive interview with Dr. Brann, he disclosed to this journalist that he had asked the mayor, "How serious is this [NFL stadium]"? The mayor was said to have answered, "Very serious, and we should know in about six weeks."
That "six weeks" may mean the no longer than the end of November. The NFL stadium is thought to be what will replace Hollywood Park.
The mayor remains insistent that the site will be a 3,000-residental and retail development to be called Hollywood Park Tomorrow. It has been said that there will be an IUSD school on the site too.
According to Dr. Brann, "[I] was told there is no land set aside in [Hollywood Park Tomorrow] for a school."
Stan Kroenke,the owner of the NFL Rams, is married to Ann Walton Kroenke, the heir to the Walton family.
Ann Walton Kroenke was named #106 on the Forbes 400 list of 2013, along with five other members of the Walton family. The total wealth represented by the six Waltons on the list was $102.7 billion.
The Walton family owns Wal-Mart. In turn, Wal-Mart owns the parking lot adjacent to Hollywood Park that an NFL stadium would require to accommodate it.
At a November 2 town hall meeting in Inglewood, the mayor claimed that the rumors about an NFL stadium are just that. "Since the Wal-Mart site owns the parking lot next door and they want nearly $100 million, that means the [NFL] stadium is just a rumor," Butts said.
Time will tell if the NFL will come to Inglewood. But, considering the lack of enthusiasm for other sites ostensibly in the running, Inglewood … rumor and all … appears to be as good a bet as any.
(Randall Fleming is a veteran journalist and magazine publisher. He has worked at and for the New York Post, the Brooklyn Spectator and the Los Feliz Ledger. He is currently editor-in-chief at the Morningside Park Chronicle, a monthly newspaper based in Inglewood, CA and on-line at www.MorningsideParkChronicle.com)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 10
Pub: Feb 4, 2014
