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Why Isn’t The NFL in Los Angeles?
By MoonDog | June 18, 2008
One of the saddest commentaries in U.S. sports is how the city of Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest television market, doesn’t have a franchise in the NFL. Abandoned by both the Rams and the Raiders in 1994, the city of Los Angeles and the NFL have been going in circles ever since.
Every week, it seems, a report appears about a new stadium proposal; the L.A. Coliseum will be renovated, Chavez Ravine is an option or Anaheim is in the running. The NFL will fly executives to Los Angeles to scout out sites, announce that none meet their criteria and the game begins again.
Two pro sports franchises leaving town the same year should have caused uproar. When Cleveland lost the Browns to Baltimore, owner Art Modell was vilified and received death threats.
When the Raiders and Rams departed in 1994, Los Angelinos yawned before going surfing. To add insult to injury, there was recent news of Canadian Football League officials talking about the possibility of an NFL team moving to Canada. CANADA?!
While the NFL has no current plans for expansion, several existing teams are believed to be potential candidates for relocation, including the Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints.
Of those franchises, the Bills seem most likely to move in the short-term; given that 89-year-old owner Ralph Wilson has publicly declared the team will be sold to the highest bidder after his death. The Buffalo market will be too small to generate the revenue needed to offset an NFL franchise purchased for current value. While the NFL insists putting a team in Los Angeles is its top priority, why are we talking about Canada?
What team wouldn’t want to relocate to Los Angeles? L.A. offers plenty of advantages; the region is home to a number of Fortune 500 companies, the population of Los Angeles County alone tops 10 million, and the weather is generally good year-round.
In my opinion, there are two primary reasons L.A. doesn’t have an NFL team. First, the taxpayers are being asked to pay for a multi-million dollar stadium. Why should the people of any city be forced to pay for stadiums when the people of the city will receive no benefit from the team’s presence? Let’s see, we pay for the stadiums, then they charge us anywhere between $100-$200 bucks a seat. So the owners get a free stadium then get to charge the people who paid for the stadium outrageous amounts of money to watch games in the stadium they paid for? Uhhh…I don’t think so!
Second, I think the NFL has been using Los Angeles as a bargaining chip to help other franchises get new stadium deals. In the event a franchise isn’t satisfied with their current stadium lease, and what team is, the owner(s) can say, “Well, I’ll just have to look elsewhere if I can’t get a new stadium.” And where is the first place they’ll look? Yep. L.A.
The stories will continue to be posted, but the bottom line is this: Los Angeles is as close to landing an NFL team as Paris Hilton is to having a clean driving record.
Tags: Los Angeles County, MoonDogSports.com, nfl franchise, stadium proposal, nfl team, NFL, NFL, Los Angeles, chavez ravine, NFL ExpansionRelated posts
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June 19th, 2008 at 1:58 am
[...] Moondog helps us understand why the NFL is not in Log Angeles. [...]
June 19th, 2008 at 2:46 am
As Paris Hilton’s driving instructor, I’m really getting a kick out of these replies…
Honestly though, I mean, they’re trying to make soccer work here, but even with the inclusion of David Beckham, Carson’s just not that centrally located for pretty much ANYONE (too far from OC, and not really close to downtown, cept down the 110 freeway which is also known as the “freeway of death” because of all the shootings there over the past couple of years).
People act like they like baseball here, and who knows? Maybe they do, but coming from the South where the Braves were essentially the only baseball team, and got rooted for by default, I just can’t get behind it…
There are 2 basketball teams, both of which IMO, suck, or just don’t care about (and there’s even the Sparks with 3 former Lady Vols… I might actually watch some of their games), and I think there might be a hockey team or two. Can’t we trade a baseball team, a basketball team, a hockey team and Lindsay Lohan’s drunk ass for a football team? Pleez? I can has football team?
I mean, I don’t REALLY care, since I’m still a Titans fan, which makes me a de facto USC fan (which kind of sucks), but even Jeff Fisher has embraced the “pound the rock” philosophy a bit too much.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Moon Dog
The city of L A may well long for an NFL franchise. But not if it’s going to be at the expense of its taxpayers. And that’s certainly what’ll happen should the NFL has its way.
The Coliseum would make a great home for a team. But the cost of the renovations would certainly be aksed to be borne by the municipality. And that’s something that I doubt that Villaraigosa would want to do at this juncture. Especially given his tenuous predicament at present.
And we’re forever being told that when a municipality has any sort of a sports franchise it brings renewed interest and a boost to the economy of an area. Considering the economic woes that ar now ensuing that’s the furthest thing from the truth.
But in time this may well materialize.
It’s something that Goodell and the NFL wants merely because of the vicinity of that viewing market and its overall potential.
tophatal ………….
June 19th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
[...] Why is there no NFL team in L.A.? Kobe demanded that they were traded. Just kidding… - MoonDog Sports [...]
June 19th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Jon - I know it’s tough on you out there. Football is king in this country and a good southern boy like yourself has to be going crazy without the scent of pigskin to brighten your day.
We can trade Lindsay - for “favors.” I’ll not disclose the public nature of said favors.
Thanks for chiming in.
June 19th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Top - You’re right, the city of L.A. is going to be expected to foot the bill for renovations or a new stadium and that isn’t going to happen.
I’d like to see L.A. get a team but you know as well as I the NFL is fat and happy at present and could care less if L.A. has a team or not.
June 19th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
You do realize that Ed Roski is now willing to build a stadium without public funding. That should help speed up the process.
June 19th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Adam - I hadn’t heard that - didn’t do all of my homework apparently. Thanks for sharing that. I’m glad you pointed that out because it will allow me to write a follow up piece.
June 19th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
As a native of Oakland…. we hate the team in L.A., and they haven’t even been created yet. We wish all the ill in the world on L.A’s quest for a sports team.
Why?
Because as soon as they start to exist, they will kick the Raiders ass in the AFC West like everyone else.