LOS ANGELES, Sept 28 (Reuters) – The Los Angeles City
Council granted approval on Friday to a $1.2 billion plan to
build a downtown football stadium, putting the nation’s
second-largest city closer than it has been in years to having a
professional football team.
Council members voted unanimously in favor of the Anschutz
Entertainment Group’s proposal to erect the 72,000-seat stadium
in the city’s downtown core, to be christened “Farmer’s Field”.
Hundreds of football fans in the yellow-and-blue jerseys of
the Rams football team, ushers from sports arena Staples Center
toting “Farmers Field” T-shirts, and even carpenters’ union
members turned up at Friday’s vote, jamming the meeting room and
spilling out into the hallways outside. NBA Hall of Famer and
local celebrity Kareem Abdul-Jabbar arrived to raucous
applause.
