New $250 million pro soccer stadium proposed for downtown Los Angeles

By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The new Major League Soccer club coming to Los Angeles unveiled plans on Monday to build a $250 million downtown stadium for the team that could mark the first open-air professional sports arena in the city since baseball's Dodger Stadium in 1962. The MLS expansion franchise, due to launch its inaugural season in 2018 and currently known under the working name of the Los Angeles Football Club, said the proposed 22,000-seat facility would also rank as the most costly privately financed soccer-specific stadium in the United States. The project would be financed by the team, whose ownership group includes basketball Hall of Famer Earvin "Magic" Johnson, U.S. soccer great Mia Hamm, motivational speaker Tony Robbins and Vietnamese-American venture capitalist Henry Nguyen. The team replaces the now-defunct Chivas USA and will compete for fan support against the four-time MLS champion L.A. Galaxy, which plays at the StubHub Center in nearby Carson.

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