It takes a basketball legend to bring professional football back to Los Angeles. Or so Angelenos hope.
Hardwood revolutionary Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who also created a multimillion-dollar conglomerate following his illustrious career, announced on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that he’s teaming up with Anshutz Entertainment Group (AEG) to try to bring an NFL franchise back to the nation’s second largest market.
This comes on the heels of reports that Johnson divested more than $100 million shares he held in the Starbucks franchise and in his beloved L.A. Lakers, the franchise where he is immortalized. But early speculation stated that Johnson was interested in becoming the part owner of the Detroit Pistons. Johnson was reared in nearby Lansing, Mich., and won an NCAA championship at Michigan State.
AEG is the corporation that runs the Staples Center, home of the NBA’s Lakers and Clippers and the NHL’s Kings, as well as neighboring L.A. Live performance venue.
Coincidence or not, it has also been reported that AEG owner Phil Anschutz bought a 35 percent stake in the San Diego Chargers with the intention of bringing the team to a new stadium proposed for downtown L.A.Those rumors started with a report on FAN 590, a Toronto radio station, which stated that Anschutz, a Denver-based billionaire, wants to bring the Chargers to an L.A. Live-adjacent football stadium.
Anschutz could be the answer to the football famine fans have suffered through since exodus of the Rams and Raiders in 1994. However, Majestic Realty proposes an NFL stadium in the San Gabriel Valley, in the city of Industry.
And, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Chargers’ lawyer denied the rumor that the team was headed north. However, adding to the intrigue is what Union-Tribune columnist Tim Sullivan wrote in a recent column: “Asked to estimate the relative value of NFL teams in Los Angeles and San Diego — both of them operating with the benefit of a new stadium — one experienced sports executive pegged the difference at about $400 million.”
–marqueta smith, additional reporting by terry shropshire
