Apparently AEG’s plan to block Stan Kroenke’s Inglewood stadium plan is to pay anyone in sight to issue reports about how it’s too near the airport. Following on last week’s report claiming that it would be a terrorist missile pad, AEG has now commissioned a former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board to show that planes could crash into it, or fly real low over it and scare people, or something:
According to the [Mark] Rosenker report, approaching aircraft could be as little as 300 feet above the Inglewood stadium, potentially dangerously close for the safety of the plane as well as fans in the stadium.
“The (safety) margins are not there,” Rosenker told the Post-Dispatch on Tuesday. “You lose an engine. Something bad has happened for whatever reason, and you have got to come down quickly. This is not a place that you want to be having to dodge around to guarantee that you get in there safely and not collide with anything before you touch that touchdown zone.
“It’s a bad idea, just in general. … Why put something that could be a catastrophic result in a place, where if you put it anyplace else, you take all of those problems off the table?”
Now, I am not a former NTSB chair, but I am a Mets fan, which means that I’ve been overflown by hundreds if not thousands of planes while at games, both at Shea Stadium and at Citi Field, which was allowed to be built six years ago in the flight path of LaGuardia Airport without anyone raising any alarms. Also, FAA regulations do try to account for this, saying no buildings in a flight path within three miles of an airport can be more than 200 feet tall — the stadium would be about 150 feet tall, so what’s the problem, exactly?
(I could also point out that the only stadium ever to be hit by a plane wasn’t anywhere near a flight path.)
I guess Rosenker’s point, such as he has one beyond “Can I have my check now?”, is that if you’re going to have a football stadium, you might as well do it somewhere that’s not near an airport, just to be better safe than sorry. In which case, you know what’s nowhere near LAX? The Edward Jones Dome. I bet the Rams could keep playing there for years and nobody would crash into it.
All of those things he listed could also go wrong with military flyovers during the anthem, which I’m sure he is not suggesting we ban—or is he? Who’s the real terrorist here?
Oh, this whole thing is stupid. This is the neighborhood 10 year old saying “You can’t hit a guy with a watch on.” We all laugh at the kid and realize he’s just making stuff up in order to get out of a fight.
First, it was a terrorist threat, now it would be a menace to planes?! Wow…… AEG, you’ve got to STOP! Talk about desperation moves! Mr Anschutz, you’ve had your chance and, for whatever reason, couldn’t get it done. Now, get out of the way and let somebody else have their opportunity. Playing the obstructionist card isn’t going to do you any good!
Do you remember that movie, “To Live and Die in L.A.” ? Towards the end the one crooked cop gets cold feet and goes to Willem Dafoe’s (the counterfeiter) lawyer and tries to find a way out, but he can’t make a deal. Later after it’s all gone wrong and he and Dafoe are about to have it out amidst Dafoe’s burning warehouse, Dafoe says “Why didn’t you take the deal?”
Well I’d say the same dang thing to you, Philip Anschutz, now that your AEG dream is in flames. You wanted to deal with us but not on our terms… remember me telling you to take our deal or pound sand? https://www.fieldofschemes.com/2012/04/03/3374/anschutz-ill-buy-nfl-team-if-needed-but-wont-cave-to-league-on-stadium-lease/ This organization is bigger than you are buddy, but you thought you could dictate business to us?! We do the dictating, capiche? And now the last shot out of your limp cannon is this pathetic “terrorists at the stadium” nonsense. Pffffft!
The Club of 32 doesn’t need you, you need it. You never figured that part out and now it’s too late. But we all had a good chuckle at your little “report.” I didn’t know Tom Ridge was such a smooth player, cuz he sure took your ass for a ride.