Sacramento a key next step for AEG

AEG's Tim Leiweke wants at least the same waiver of California environmental rules that the Legislature gave rival Ed Roski in the City of Industry. Leiweke met this week with Speaker John Perez, and with labor backing for Farmers Field I have to bet Perez will give the Anschutz company whatever it wants. From Patrick McGreevy tonight in the L.A. Times:

As top executives from Anschutz's firm roamed the Capitol to lobby for their project this week and a who's who of power brokers in sports, business, labor and politics announced their backing for it in Los Angeles, dozens of activist groups were mobilizing against the billionaire builder, pressing legislators not to exempt AEG from provisions of the state's environmental quality act....

Opponents of a waiver understand the political clout that Anschutz has in the Capitol. His firm and his employees have contributed more than $3 million to political campaigns in California in the last decade. Thousands of those dollars have gone to Gov. Jerry Brown, Steinberg and Pérez.

"It would be a significant fight," said Pettit of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Noted: John Semcken, vice president of Majestic Realty, the firm behind the Industry stadium plan, said in response to today's AEG media show: "We firmly believe that our stadium proposal, which is modeled after the most successful stadiums in the league, is best suited for the NFL and the entire Southern California region. (The City Maven)

TJ Simers: The columnist asks where was Anschutz and what happoens if Leiweke's contract isn't picked up in 2012?

Fourteen years ago, Anschutz partnered with Ed Roski on a project to bring football back to L.A. They showed everyone a toy model of their proposed stadium.

I interviewed Anschutz and he said he had no interest in football. He said he was doing Roski a favor by lending his support. I told him I thought it best an owner of a NFL franchise here remain available to fans. A few days later he pulled out.

ESPN backgrounder: Why no NFL team in L.A.? It's a study of power brokers and bureaucratic morass

AEG project links:
FarmersField.com
@BringNFLBackLA

Majestic Realty project links:
LosAngelesStadium
@lastadium