EDITORIAL DOUBLE INDEMNITY TWO NFL TEAMS BETTER FOR CITY THAN NONE.

One football team or two football teams - whatever scheme the National Football League comes up with to make the Los Angeles Coliseum a financially viable sports venue is fine. The NFL could add a third team of magic elf ball, so long as it comes up with a plan that pencils without hitting up the taxpayers.

The tag-team approach is the new scheme that's being talked about among those working to return a pro football team to the nation's second-largest media market. If it helps the monied interests stand on their own billionaire legs, all the better.

Besides, the issue itself is a red herring. Despite some rumblings about an increase in Coliseum events from 25 to 35 and the resulting traffic congestion, the number of games played at the L.A. Coliseum isn't the big issue. If operators are good neighbors to the community and the museums, 10 more games won't feel like that much of an imposition. What's more a threat to this project are the big egos that threaten to drive away the project or, worse, sacrifice the city's treasury just to win a franchise.

Los Angeles is competing with Anaheim and Pasadena to get the next NFL team. "I want a football team. I think the people of the city want a football team," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. "But we have made clear we are not prepared to give away the store to get one."

We agree, and hope the other players in the Coliseum deal-making understand that as well.

Despite the bumps, the city would be served in many ways by having an NFL team return. This world-class city deserves a world-class football team and the opportunity to host Super Bowls and reap the accompanying revenue. And so far, the Coliseum deal appears solid because commissioners have kept their egos in check and not fumbled the ball as they did with the Rams and Raiders.

Football in L.A. must be able to support itself and not to hit taxpayers for more than moral support and their ticket purchases - if they can afford them.