NFL to LA... again.

[Jayems]

LOS ANGELES
The NFL and city officials have reached a preliminary agreement on terms to bring a team back to the Los Angeles Coliseum. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue made the announcement Thursday on the steps of City Hall. But he didn't identify a potential tenant or speculate when Los Angeles might get the team.

http://www.savvy.com/sports/football...urn_to_la.aspx

[transplant99]

It's about the stupidest thing in pro sports IMO, that LA doesn;t have a team in the most popular sport in the country.

2 baseball teams, 2 basketball teams, and two hockey teams...in a city of 14 million residents and NO football team? Just dumb.

Hurts the NFL's ratings no doubt as well....not that they are hurting in any way, shape, or form.

I feel bad for the folks of New Orleans, because let's face facts, that team will never return and is the likely candidate to move West. The stadium is a disaster, and maybe the biggest thing is that they likely won't re-populate that area enough to even come close to supporting an NFL team.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Jayems

http://www.savvy.com/sports/football...urn_to_la.aspx

I saw that a few weeks ago (that article is dated Nov 11).

It means they cleared one hurdle which was a PITA the last time (when Houston got an expansion team over LA), and that's having a stadium that wants them in LA.

There's the debate whether N.O should be moving there in a few years, or, further expansion will bring LA a team.

But, still a lot of loopholes to fill, politicking to do, and work to be done in the 3 or 4 years+ that it will take to make it actually happen.

[RougeUnderoos]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Coliseum

What a cool place. As far as I knew, they built the thing for the '84 Olympics. I guess I was wrong.

[Pagal4321]

100,000 people?!
HOLY CRAP........hello NFL's soon to be cash cow.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Pagal4321

100,000 people?!
HOLY CRAP........hello NFL's soon to be cash cow.

Not necessarily. The Raiders used to play there and they were lucky if the stadium was half-full. Not a true football stadium. USC plays there too.

[BaronInEdmonton]

The LA coliseum is a terrible football venue. Combined with LA being a terrible sports town is bad news for the NFL. Know why the Rams and Raiders left? Because Al Davis is crazy. But they could also make more money elsewhere.

And I read somewhere, a long while ago, that LA TV ratings are up in LA since the Rams and Raiders left because the local channels can always pick the best games to show. Like Global could technically do up here IF they didn't show whatever game Spokane was airing, allowing them to artificially double ad revenues.

[red '00]

Terrible sports town how?

Sure they likely won't get die-hard, insane fans like those of the Raiders in Oakland, Steelers in Pittsburgh or Packers in Green Bay, but they're certainly gonna rake in a TON of money. The NFL is what's 'in' right now, people will pay a lot of money to go watch, even in LA. I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled in at least 75,000 people per game this time around.

And I'm sure that's what everyone really cares about.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

I don't think you can have re-introduce L.A. to the NFL as an expansion team. Right now there's eight divisions, four teams each. The league would frown upon having an odd number of teams, meaning one would be on a bye every week.

[Sylvanfan]

Why can't the NFL just admit that the Saints are no longer viable in New Orleans and move them to Los Angeles? Of course theres more to it than that....but ultimately I think thats what the NFL would like to do.

[troutman]

IF NO moves to LA, I think they put LA in the NFC West, and move AZ to NFC South.

CAR and DAL could also swap divisions, but traditionalists would not break up the NFC East.

[socalwingfan]

Originally Posted by BaronInEdmonton

The LA coliseum is a terrible football venue. Combined with LA being a terrible sports town is bad news for the NFL. Know why the Rams and Raiders left? Because Al Davis is crazy. But they could also make more money elsewhere.

And I read somewhere, a long while ago, that LA TV ratings are up in LA since the Rams and Raiders left because the local channels can always pick the best games to show. Like Global could technically do up here IF they didn't show whatever game Spokane was airing, allowing them to artificially double ad revenues.

How is LA a terrible sports town?? The Dodgers sold over 3.5 million seats
fielding a triple A team last year, the Kings have a very loyal and solid following, even the Lakers still fill the Staples even though they are in last place in their divison. Did you see the 92,000 + at the USC/UCLA game this weekend??

[ken0042]

Last night on ESPN radio they were saying that plans were in the works to have the Saints play in the Superdome by the middle of the 2006 season.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Last night on ESPN radio they were saying that plans were in the works to have the Saints play in the Superdome by the middle of the 2006 season.

Yeah but will anyone be in New Orleans to watch them? If the Saints did go to L.A. it would present a re-aligment issue for the West/South. St.Louis is not really that west, and is about as South as Indianapolis so they could move over. Of course L.A. used to be in the old NFC West with New Orleans, Atlanta, and Carolina so staying in the South would still put them against traditional rivals. Dallas will never leave the East because they argue that they have too much of a traditional rivalry with New York and Washington.

[Pagal4321]

I don't think it would present that much of an alignement issue as one would think.
I think LA would be kept in the South, if indeed the team did come from New Orleans. Only way I could see a shift is if Arizona is switched off with LA....being the Southern/Eastern teams of that NFC West.

[KipperIsGod]

La would be very interesting. yea,100,000 seats is alot for sure! If only the Saddledome would hold that many..I wonder if theyd still sell out :P

[mykalberta]

They definately need to leave the big easy (I mean lazy).

That team was on the edge before the Hurricane, with Houston having a team that is enough for Louisiana.

LA as an NFL sports town is one of those damned if you do, damned if you dont. LA is not a good NFL market, yet the potential in revenue from LA is enormous.

I am thinking that Saints will move to Texas, and another team will move to LA in a few years, maybe Arizona - hard to tell.

MYK

[northernflame]

Having no team in LA may actually help in the NFL in the very narrow sense that it helps them use LA as a bargaining chip for new stadiums; much like Washington did for baseball for all those years: "If you don't build a new stadium, we will move the team to Washington/LA."

Hard to quantify and likely not somehthing that would dominate the other obvious incentives to move to LA (large market etc), but there nonetheless.

When I was in San Diego this summer I was talking to a few locals at the Petco Park, and a lot of them were very concerned about the fate of the Chargers. Rumour had it that the Chargers were on their way back to LA if the City of San Diego didn't ante up for a new stadium.

One complicating factor was the lack of a real mayor. As I understand it, there was a scandal at City Hall that cost the mayor his job a couple of years back, and they have had an 'interim' one ever since.

[mykalberta]

I cant see the NFL letting the Saints move there. San Antonio is a much more likely spot. If a team is going to move to LA, then the NFL would definately be wanting some serious expansion team money, or some type of monetary transfer.

MYK