LOS ANGELES — A proposal to build a gondola from downtown Los Angeles to Dodger Stadium hit some turbulence this week when the City Council voted overwhelmingly to urge transportation officials to ground the project.
The estimated $500 million aerial tramway would connect fans between the stadium about a mile (1.6 km) away to Union Station, the heart of Los Angeles’ rail system.
Supporters say the gondola would help fans of the World Series champions avoid nightmarish traffic. But critics worry that it would do little to keep cars off the roads.
In a 12-1 vote, council members on Wednesday approved a resolution to advise the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to kill the project.
Mayor Karen Bass must sign off for it to take effect, and the mayor has previously voted in favor of the project as a Metro board member. Her office didn’t immediately reply to an email Thursday asking if she will OK the council’s resolution.
A full council vote to approve the project is expected next year. But this week’s action is a sign that developers could face an uphill battle getting it built.
The ultimate goal is to get people to take Metro buses and trains to Union Station, and from there glide through the sky to the ballpark. But that is a tough proposition in sprawling, car-centric Los Angeles, where many people live in areas far beyond the bus and rail networks.
Backers say the gondola would be relatively inexpensive, it won’t cost taxpayers any money, it’s better for the environment than cars, and aerial tramways are safe and quiet. They estimate that each ride would take about five minutes and that the system could move at least 5,000 people an hour in each direction.
When the gondola was first proposed in 2018, Aerial Rapid Transit Technologies, a company founded by former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, said it would pay for a portion of the project. The firm said it would seek private financing for the remainder.
But the nonprofit group Stop The Gondola says McCourt hasn’t released a full financial plan so it is still unclear whether taxpayers could ultimately get hit with bills for building it or ongoing maintenance and operations.
The group says neighborhoods, many of them lower-income, between the train station and the stadium will be stuck with the “eyesores” of huge towers that support the cables that run the large gondola cabins. More than 150 trees could be cut down, the group says, and there are concerns that construction could clog up traffic along the route for years.
Critics also say baseball fans could end up simply driving downtown to get on the gondola, rather than taking public transportation.
Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who introduced the resolution, said the city needs meaningful public transit solutions, and a gondola doesn’t qualify.
“It is a private development scheme disguised as transportation, designed to raise the value of a billionaire’s parking lots, not to serve working Angelenos,” Hernandez said in a statement last month. “Our communities have said loudly and clearly that they do not want a project that threatens their homes, their park, their green space, and their quality of life.”
But some of Hernandez’s constituents in LA’s Chinatown said that is not their position at all. A group of six families who have lived in the historic neighborhood for decades released a statement Thursday saying the gondola project could enrich their community, which has suffered economically in recent years.
“The gondola could mean commitments to local hiring and apprenticeship programs for our neighbors, incubators for small immigrant-owned businesses, and cultural preservation funds, including marketing opportunities,” the statement said.
Supporters say more than 400 businesses in the Chinatown, El Pueblo and Lincoln Heights neighborhoods have signed a petition supporting the proposal.
The Dodgers have called the gondola an “innovative project” that would improve the fan experience.
A senior member of the athletics staff at a community college in Oakland, California, was shot on campus Thursday, the second time in two days the city has had a shooting at a local school.
The Oakland Police Department said it was investigating the shooting that occurred just before noon at Laney College, where officers arrived to find a man with gunshot wounds. The victim was taken to a hospital and his condition was unknown.
The man later was identified as John Beam, the current athletic director and former head coach of the Laney football team. Beam and the Laney Eagles were featured in the 2020 season of the Netflix documentary series “Last Chance U.” The docuseries focused on athletes at junior colleges looking to turn around their lives.
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said she was “heartbroken” by “the second shooting on an Oakland campus in one week.”
“My thoughts are with Coach John Beam and his loved ones. We are praying for him,” Lee said in a prepared statement. “Coach Beam is a giant in Oakland — a mentor, an educator, and a lifeline for thousands of young people. For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family.”
Lee added: “We are standing together, praying for Coach Beam and his loved ones.”
Thursday’s incident came a day after a student was shot at Oakland’s Skyline High School. The student was in stable condition. Police said they arrested two juveniles and recovered two firearms.
Colorado athletics director Rick George will step down from his role at the end of the academic year and become a special advisor to the chancellor, the school announced Thursday.
George has been the AD in Boulder since 2013, returning to the school where he once served on legendary football coach Bill McCartney’s staff as the recruiting coordinator and assistant athletic director for football operations. This coincided with Colorado’s only national title in 1990.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as Athletic Director for the University of Colorado for the last 13 years, but after considerable thought and discussions with my family dating back to last spring, I have decided it is time for new leadership to guide the department,” said George. “I wanted to make this announcement now in order to give Chancellor Schwartz plenty of time to find the right person for Colorado, and I look forward to doing everything I can to ensure a smooth transition.
“I also wanted to time my announcement so that I could support Coach Prime and our football team this season, which I’m looking forward to continuing in my new role.”
During his tenure as athletics director, George oversaw the development of a new athletics building attached to Folsom Field and was named the Athletic Director of the year in 2023-24 by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
His time as AD will perhaps be most remembered by his hiring of Deion Sanders as football coach, which generated significant national interest in Colorado football. He also returned Colorado to the Big 12, which represented a significant domino in the collapse of the Pac-12 following UCLA and USC’s departures for the Big Ten.
George also spent time as a member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee and served on the Division I Council.
“Rick’s contributions to our university in his 13 years as head of our athletic department have been incalculable,” Chancellor Justin Schwartz said. “He is a nationally respected leader who has always kept CU at the forefront of the dynamic and highly competitive landscape of college athletics. I am grateful for his leadership and am elated he has decided to stay on as a Special Advisor and AD Emeritus.”
Prior to becoming AD, George was the Chief Operating Officer for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball.
The school did not announce a timeline for hiring a replacement.
The College Football Playoff management committee has formally approved the return of Utah athletic director Mark Harlan to its selection committee and named current committee member and Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek its new chair, the CFP announced on Thursday.
The moves come hours after Baylor athletic director and selection committee chair Mack Rhoades took a leave of absence from his job for personal reasons amid a university investigation.
“We are deeply appreciative of Mack Rhoades’ leadership and service as chair of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee this season,” CFP executive director Rich Clark said in a news release. “Mack has informed us of his decision to step down for personal reasons, and our thoughts are with him and his family during this time. We are pleased to announce that Hunter Yurachek will assume the role of Selection Committee Chair, effective immediately. Hunter’s experience, integrity, and commitment to the game make him exceptionally well-suited to lead the committee as it continues its important work throughout the remainder of the season.”
Harlan previously served a one-year term during the 2023 season. The CFP typically requires athletic directors on the selection committee to be active, “sitting” athletic directors. Because Rhoades was the Big 12’s nomination, he was replaced by a Big 12 athletic director. The 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua unanimously agreed to the changes.
Harlan is not the only committee member in his second stint with the group, as former Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long – also the CFP’s inaugural chairman – is participating again this season. The 12-person group was already one member short this season after committee member Randall McDaniel also stepped away last month for personal reasons.
Rhoades told ESPN on Thursday that he initiated the leave from his Baylor role but declined to explain why.
Baylor told ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg that the university received allegations involving Rhoades on Monday. The allegations do not involve Title IX, student welfare or NCAA rules and do not involve the football program, indicating it is a separate incident from Rhoades’ alleged altercation with a football player during a September game.
Jovan Overshown and Cody Hall will serve as Baylor’s co-interim athletic directors, a school spokesman told Rittenberg. Overshown is the school’s deputy athletic director and chief operating officer, and Hall is Baylor’s executive senior associate athletic director for internal administration and chief financial officer.