82 VOTERS WILL DECIDE FATE OF PROPOSED L.A. STADIUM

Ed Roski has been pitching an “if they come, I will build it” plan in Los Angeles for a new stadium that could ultimately house two NFL franchises. On Tuesday, the 82 (that’s not a typo) registered voters of Industry, California will cast ballots on a bond measure that would authorize $150 million in infrastructure improvements aimed at allowing the stadium to be built. Ed Roski’s company, Majestic Realty Co., is headquartered in Industry, and he presumably has a high degree of influence over those 82 registered voters. Especially since more than half of them already work for him. “Oh, it’s going to happen -- 100 percent,” John Semcken, a partner in Majestic, told the Associated Press. The proposed $800 million stadium will be privately financed, and Roski has targeted eight teams that could move there, including the Raiders, Vikings, and the Bills. Other possibilities, based on Roski’s past statements and the application of common sense (we borrowed someone else’s), are the Chargers, Jaguars, Saints, Rams, and 49ers. We also think that, with the current financial climate in Detroit, the name “Los Angeles Lions” has a nice ring to it. (Except for people in Michigan.) Prior reports have indicated that Roski would like to own one team and lease the facility to a second franchise. Semcken said last year a team would be playing in Los Angeles later this year, claiming a handshake deal with the Rose Bowl for games to be played there until the new venue is ready. Rose Bowl officials called such talks “very preliminary.” Subsequently, Roski and company pushed back the target date for completing the stadium by a full year, to 2012. But that’s still plenty of time to get the thing up and running in advance of Super Bowl L.