Tuesday night, on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Magic Johnson announced that he would be joining former Timberwolves owner Tim Leiweke and AEG in an effort to bring an NFL franchise to Los Angeles.
According to Minnesota Vikings vice president of public affairs, Lester Bagley, the Midwest NFL franchise has been targeted recently by AEG. In 2009, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf and management toured L.A. Live (an entertainment complex in the cit), but Bagley says that was only to get ideas to build a similar complex in Minnesota. The Vikings are in the final year of their lease and Bagley says they are focused on resolving the issue in Minnesota.
Also, Tuesday morning a San Diego Chargers attorney denied rumors that AEG’s Phillip Anschutz was looking to buy 35 percent of the Chargers. The Chargers recently announced that owner, Alex Spanos, was looking to sell a minority stake to help with estate planning. This has raised speculation that the Chargers will move to L.A.
Los Angeles hasn’t had an NFL team since 1994 when the Rams and Raiders both left LA. The Roski group has permission to build an NFL stadium in Industry, Ca, located 15 miles outside of L.A. Leiweke maintains that he is committed to working with Anschutz and city officials to bring a stadium downtown.
