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NFL still looking closely at Los Angeles

steve615

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Jan 6, 2006
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From www.nfl.com Before he retires as commissioner,Paul Tagliabue would like to see the NFL get closer to placing a team back in Los Angeles.While Tagliabue plans to be gone from the league in July,if the owners can get together and find a successor by then,a solution to the situation doesn't figure to come that soon.Two sites are being considered,in Anaheim and at the current location of the Los Angeles Coliseum,each with cost estimates at $800 million,considerably higher than previous price tags.Tagliabue is eager to see a franchise return to Los Angeles,which was abandoned by the Raiders and the Rams after the 1994 season,then failed to come up with public financing for an expansion team,which went to Houston,beginning in 2002.This subject is being discussed this week at the NFL meetings,although it will be at the spring meetings in May that any concrete plans are developed.Tagliabue has told the 32 team owners that unless a plan for Los Angeles is formulated soon,getting a team back into the nation's second largest market won't occur by the end of the decade.For now,a six-man committee is handling the issue.He admitted the stadium situation in California is not a good one.The Oakland Raiders,San Francisco 49ers and San Diego Chargers all play in older ballparks and are seeking new homes,with a large chunk of municipal funding.The league has the G3 fund that helps get stadiums built and has worked well in other cities.But it has not gotten anywhere on the West Coast,south of Seattle."They don't have the best stadiums in California," Tagliabue said, "and we're trying to work on that.Yes,it will be a priority." Another priority for Tagliabue is making sure the Saints get back to New Orleans.The league scheduled the Saints' first home game in the Louisiana Superdome since Hurricane Katrina hit last August for Sept. 24,the third week of the season.Tagliabue said he's been assured by Saints owner Tom Benson that the team is progressing well toward its return,and the commissioner will be in New Orleans next week to "identify progress made in critical areas." Tagliabue also dismisses the chance of a regular season game outside of the United States this year.In 2005,Arizona hosted San Francisco in Mexico City,drawing 103,467 people,the largest crowd in NFL history.The Cardinals won 31-14 and Tagliabue called the game "an element of legitimacy." Still,the NFL won't be going overseas in '06.
 
I'd love to see the NFL back in LA. I don't follow football politics enough to understand why it's not already back there. 2nd largest market in the US but no football?!
 
1) There's no good stadium for them to play in the area. Coliseum is old, not in the greatest of neighborhoods, seats are closer to Sacramento then the football field. LA and surrounding areas don't want to fund for a new stadium.

2) Fans dont want it. Lesser quality games on free tv. We have Chargers home blackouts if they aren't sold out so in effect we have a team already if you have the Sunday Ticket.
 
I can understand that,$800 million for a new stadium?Wow.....I'm just wondering what kind of stadium they have in mind for L.A.,and to respond a little more,they talk about trying to get this deal done by the end of the decade?If that doesn't happen,what then?The cost of this proposed new stadium would be between $1-$2 billion by that time,if not sooner (before this decade ends).
 
L.A. unveils stadium upgrade

The following link is an article in regards to a proposed $800 million upgrade to the L.A. Coliseum in an attempt to bring an NFL team back to the L.A. area. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/9396438
 
I still wish the NFL would get clue. That goddamn town is NOT A FOOTBALL TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The round ball is king there period. For the love of god I wish the NFL would just let it go. THERE HAVE ALREADY BEEN 2 TEAMS (THE RAIDERS AND THE RAMS) THAT HAVE COME AND GONE THROUGH THERE!!!! Not to mention that both teams really flourished when they got the hell outta dodge. LA as far as football is concerned on the pro level sucks. The NFL needs to get over this neurotic obsession with that f**kin place.
 
Lets not get off on the subject of the number of teams a given city has had; just go through a laundry list of northern (from Illinois eastward) and east coast cities that had had 2 -4 failed teams, or owners that moved for local financial or political reasons; and they still get shots at team after team.

Heck even THESE RAMS originated in the Cleveland market. There are more than a few 30+ year old teams that have never been to the Super Bowl or an NFL Championship game! I would love to see their weak franchise and ticket /fan support!

The Rams did very well in LA from 1946 - 1990. 1990-1994 was the waning years that led to the move. After Georgia Frontiere took over in 1979 she wanted to move from the Coliseum (100k seats) to Anaheim Stadium (reconfigured to 70k) EASIER SALES!.

Rozelle also became the CrapComish and made many crap rules, one being the nasty blackout rules.

1982 ushered in The Raiders & the Showtime Lakers which stretched the fan base. Thanks to the blackout rules, the losing, and the inability to get fans and a stadium, Georgia made the political choice to move. St Louis had been trying in vain for years to get a team to commit, boom drops the Rams.

The NFL was never going to allow Al Davis to succeed in LA, and the lawsuit showed that. The NFL CAN'T allow themselves to NOT be in the #2 market.

They blacked the Seahawk move to LA. They helped make sure Bidwell go a new stadium in Phoenix because they DID NOT want him moving to LA and I can almost bet money the same holds true for Tom Benson, the New Orleans Saints owner; these are not good owners. BUT they MIGHT allow Ziggy Wilf, the Vikings owner if they can't get a new stadium.

The NFL wants the PERFECT team and owner for that market because they (NFL) can't afford any more failures or losing team in that market.

Al Davis, as crazy as he seems, was the perfect solution and team for the LA market, but he had smartly pre- secured the majority of the profitability & control that the league wanted, so they screwed him. That screwing/punishment even extended well into the forced move back to Oakland; a punishment which most ends this off season.

The LA residents may not really need the NFL, but the economy could really used it and the NFL needs LA.
 
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