By law, the city Ccuncil must vote on the proposal by Sept. 5. If the vote is delayed again, the development team would essentially lose its preliminary approvals and would have to start the process anew—-or could scrap the project altogether.

The development group is known as LA Arena Land Co. and includes Anschutz Entertainment Group, headed by Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, and media mogul Rupert Murdoch's Fox Entertainment Group. Anschutz helped to build Downtown's wildly successful Staples Center sports and entertainment facility, which has been credited with helping turn the CBD around since opening about two years ago. Murdoch, owner of several TV networks and newspapers around the world, also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers.

As originally planned, the group's project would surround Staples Center. To be called the LA Sports and Entertainment District, it would be anchored by a 45-story hotel at Olympic Boulevard and Georgia St., a 7,000-sf theater for award shows and other live performances, and a large but undetermined amount of retail space.