Garcetti says stadium deal 'keeps getting sweeter and sweeter'

He also told me that the protections being offered by Anschutz Entertainment Group "keep getting stronger and stronger." As Kevin posted on Wednesday, the City Council president has presented a list of principles that he would like to see included in any agreement with AEG, covering areas like signage revenue and repayment of bonds. Garcetti wasn't specific and he certainly didn't seem threatening in the event that some of the principles fell short. Sounds like he's laying out his own political groundwork. "Our consultants look at this and say there are probably only two cities in the country that can get a deal as close to the one they're talking about now - New York and L.A., maybe Chicago," he told me yesterday afternoon, adding that no other developer "would be able to give away anywhere near as much as what they're putting on the table." He said "that's a good indicator that we're negotiating well." Well maybe, maybe not - it'll be many months, even years, before we get an idea of how well the city did. Meantime, Garcetti said that a Council vote probably won't happen until mid-August, a couple of weeks past the deadline set by AEG's Tim Leiweke. But considering where the vote is headed - for better or worse - Leiweke isn't likely to complain.