Venue News: AEG Abandons Farmers Field Plans; Auburn To Install College Football’s Largest Video Board

After investing five years and $50 million in an attempt to bring an NFL team back to Los Angeles, AEG is abandoning plans for its Farmers Field football stadium downtown, writes the Los Angeles Times. The sports and entertainment conglomerate is no longer in discussions with the NFL or any teams about the project, company officials said Monday. Fikre said AEG will not seek an extension of its deal with the city, which expires April 17 and hinges on a long-term agreement with a team. The city, which owns the proposed stadium land, had already given the company an additional six months. AEG failed to attract an NFL team, even though many league owners and executives viewed the site favorably. In recent weeks, competing stadium proposals in Inglewood and Carson, backed by NFL team owners, have overshadowed the AEG plan…

…Auburn will soon boast the nation’s largest college video board at Jordan-Hare Stadium, and Director of Athletics Jay Jacobs says the school and its fans will benefit from the flashy new experience on football Saturdays, writes AuburnTigers.com. The Auburn Board of Trustees approved the new video board and other upgrades at the stadium in its meeting Friday. The trustees approved the video board and scoreboard in the South end zone and approved a feasibility study for upgrades in the North end zone that would include premium seating, a new home locker room and new scoreboard. The trustees approved specific architectural and construction firms to devise a plan for the upgrades in the North end zone…

…Friction between organized labor and the developers of a potential NFL stadium near Los Angeles threatens to tangle up the project even before construction begins, according to the Associated Press. St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke is part of a development group planning to build an 80,000-seat stadium in Inglewood, roughly 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles. But unions are troubled because they say developers have not reached agreements assuring that labor will be part of a nearly $2 billion project that would create thousands of jobs…

…An advisory group appointed by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has decided that the best site for a new stadium for the Chargers is at the site of their current stadium in Mission Valley, not downtown. According to the Associated Press, the decision of the Qualcomm Stadium site could be a deal-breaker for the Chargers, who have threatened to move to Carson with the Oakland Raiders if they don’t get an acceptable deal in San Diego. The Chargers have been pushing for a downtown stadium as part of a non-contiguous addition to the convention center. That plan has been opposed by downtown hoteliers. It recently became all but moot when the Metropolitan Transit System said it could take up to seven years and $150 million to relocate a bus yard the Chargers want to build on. There also have been concerns about the steep price of land downtown…

…Oklahoma is restructuring plans for the expansion of Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, writes Yahoo! Sports. The university is going ahead with plans for the south end of the stadium while delaying projects in other areas of the stadium. The original price tag of the project was estimated at $370 million. However, market factors, namely the drop in the price of oil, had made the cost untenable. On Tuesday, OU president David Boren announced at a Board of Regents meeting that the project would be done in phases…

…Among the many concerns regarding the construction of a new D.C. United stadium at Buzzard Point is that future workers will be treated to fair labor practices, writes DCist. Last week, Mayor Muriel Bowser made a swift agreement with D.C. United and UNITE HERE Local 25 — the local union representing hotel and food service workers in D.C. — to ensure that happens (and to ensure workers won’t strike or picket the stadium when it’s completed). According to a release, the labor peace agreement made between Bowser, the team, and Local 25 “provides a fair process for hotel and food service workers” at the site of the stadium and allows workers to join the union to negotiate a first contract.