Leiweke, AEG ready to build L.A. stadium

While there is a lot of talk and no action in Minnesota about building a football stadium for the Vikings, in Los Angeles it's a different story.

Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) President Tim Leiweke made a presentation recently to a Los Angeles City Council panel for the building of a $1 billion, retractable-roof football stadium near Staples Center and entertainment complex LA Live, two venues already owned and operated by AEG.

The project, Leiweke told the panel, would require no public funding.

After visiting with my longtime good friend, who was one of the first employees of the Timberwolves, you get the impression the stadium will not only be built, but will attract an NFL team.

Leiweke told the council, "We are beginning a process officially today to bring forth a vision that will bring the NFL back to Los Angeles."

He predicted the development would create 20,000 to 30,000 jobs. The stadium would seat 64,000, with the capacity to expand to 78,000 for a Super Bowl or Final Four.

Friends with Zygi Leiweke said he and Vikings owner Zygi Wilf are friends.

"Because we have roots there and we manage the Target Center, that's not one that we get all excited about. We would prefer and hope that he solves his problem there and that still leaves us with another half-dozen teams that, I think, [are not] going to solve their problem in their current local marketplace.

"We're confident enough there will be a team in trouble and a team that needs a new home after the collective bargaining agreement is resolved, that we are proceeding and spending money and going through an entitlement process as we speak.

"We're not going to be up and ready until 2015. It would mean that if a team moved here early, they're going to have to play at the Rose Bowl or the Coliseum. Both of those work short-term, they don't work long-term.

"So I think for us, as the NFL tries to get through the collective bargaining agreement, that gives us time to focus on getting our plans and our designs finished, going through an entitlement process, getting our agreement down with the city, and then finally we'd like to have a naming rights deal done. I think that may be the first chip that falls for us."

In Los Angeles, where they get as much as $10,000 for some front-row Lakers seats and would sell out the football suites at record prices, they can build a stadium with mostly private funds.

Jottings • Mike Lynn, the former general manager of the Vikings who was instrumental in getting the Metrodome built, later was rewarded when then-Vikings President Max Winter made it possible for Lynn to receive a percentage of the income from the suites. Sources claim Lynn's share has been worth as much as $400,000 per season. Now, with the end of the Vikings' Metrodome lease coming in 2011, there is some question whether Lynn still will draw that income if the Vikings continue to play in the dome while a stadium is built.

You might see an interesting lawsuit develop, because Lynn believes he should continue to get paid as long as the Vikings play in the Metrodome.

• Three former Gophers made returns to the NHL last week: Kyle Okposo finally got back on the ice for the New York Islanders after missing the first 44 games of the season because of a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Okposo was the Islanders' second-leading scorer last season with 52 points and he has one assist in his first five games back. ... Ryan Stoa was called up from Lake Erie of the AHL to the Colorado Avalanche and has made quite an impression. He scored two goals in his first four games, including the winner in a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Monday night. ... Nick Leddy was called up by the Chicago Blackhawks and in town Tuesday night, playing against the Wild.

• The Gophers men's basketball team is scheduled to play in the Old Spice tournament next season in Orlando, along with Texas Tech, Wake Forest, Fairfield, Arizona State, Dayton and DePaul.

• The Gophers wrestling team, ranked fourth in the nation, has a tough group of opponents coming up in its remaining three home matches: No. 3 Wisconsin on Sunday, No. 1 Penn State on Feb. 13 and No. 9 Iowa on Feb. 20.

• Former Timberwolves All-Star forward Wally Szczerbiak is now doing work for CBS College Sports as a studio analyst. Szczerbiak pointed out after ninth-ranked Brigham Young's 71-58 victory over fourth-ranked San Diego State on Wednesday night that outstanding Cougars guard Jimmer Fredette has exceeded 40 points in three of his past four games, including 43 against the previously unbeaten Aztecs. Doing the play-by-play of the game was Ted Robinson, who is rejoining the Twins broadcast team this year for the first time since he was their television play-by-play voice from 1988 to '92.

• Former Gopher Jordan Schroeder scored a goal in his first shift back for the AHL's Manitoba Moose on Friday, a 3-2 shootout loss to Abbotsford, after missing 16 games because of a high ankle sprain. Schroeder has six goals and eight assists in 28 games this season.

• Former Gopher Jim O'Brien is tied for the third-leading scorer for Binghamton of the AHL with 13 goals and 18 assists in 44 games.

• The Wild's Andrew Brunette is scheduled to play in his 1,000th career NHL game Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center against the Los Angeles Kings.