Los Angeles greenlights $1.2 bln football stadium

LOS ANGELES, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The Los Angeles City Council granted approval on Friday to a $1.2 billion plan to build a downtown football stadium, putting the nation's second-largest city closer than it has been in years to having a professional football team.

Council members voted unanimously in favor of the Anschutz Entertainment Group's proposal to erect the 72,000-seat stadium in the city's downtown core, to be christened "Farmer's Field".

Hundreds of football fans in the yellow-and-blue jerseys of the Rams football team, ushers from sports arena Staples Center toting "Farmers Field" T-shirts, and even carpenters' union members turned up at Friday's vote, jamming the meeting room and spilling out into the hallways outside. NBA Hall of Famer and local celebrity Kareem Abdul-Jabbar arrived to raucous applause.