I've got a passing familiarity with Eli Broad. Never been formally introduced, but I have been in the same room with him several times.

Broad has made more money than you and I will ever see (at least I think so - I've already asked who my youngest reader is; maybe I should ask who is my richest) in the financial and (breathe deep) real-estate development sectors, and has been a leader, if not the leader, of the movement to revitalize downtown Los Angeles, highlighted by the completion of Disney Hall.

The first thing I looked for when I saw in the front page of the Times today that Broad had offered to buy the Dodgers for $430 million if Frank McCourt's bid falls through was not whether it would be financed primarily by loans. I know that Broad doesn't need to buy a team on layaway.

Nor did I suspect that Broad had any interest in taking a George Steinbrenner-like role in running the Dodgers.

Rather, I wanted to see if there was any mention of making a baseball stadium part of his downtown plans. My hunch is that he does not. It really is just a hunch, but over the years, to my knowledge, Broad has never joined those who support building a new sports stadium downtown. His participation in trying to bring an NFL team to Los Angeles advocated the existing Coliseum.

Here's what we have.

"A source close to Broad said that although Broad is vice chairman of the nonprofit Grand Avenue Committee, which promotes downtown Los Angeles development, he has no interest in relocating Dodger Stadium there or developing Chavez Ravine property," Ross Newhan wrote in his article.

Take this as far as you want, but I appreciate that accompanying the very first story on Broad's new proposal, they have addressed the most important concerns on McCourt's bid.