INDY EXUDES THAT LOS ANGELES VIBE TEAM LIKELY WOULD BE WELL-RECEIVED.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

INDIANAPOLIS - Start with a star-studded lineup. Add a well-respected coach and front office. Sprinkle in a style of play that lights up the scoreboard. And, to spice things up, a spat between players that makes national headlines.

The Lakers' formula for success?

Well, it could work for the Los Angeles Colts, too.

The Colts still are firmly planted in Indiana, but they could be free from their lease after the 2006 season. The NFL, by then, hopes to have a state- of-the-art stadium ready in Los Angeles.

It's hard to imagine a team better suited than the Colts to win over Angelenos, who prefer bad over boring.

The Colts lead the NFL in total offense and are second in scoring, and in quarterback Peyton Manning, running back Edgerrin James and receiver Marvin Harrison have three of the league's most exciting and marketable players. Pass-rushing defensive end Dwight Freeney is another marquee talent.

Second-year coach Tony Dungy's laid-back personality would fit right in, and general manager Bill Polian built Super Bowl-contending teams with Buffalo and an expansion team, Carolina, that went to the NFC title game in its second season.

If that isn't enough to keep fans' attention, there's always kicker Mike Vanderjagt, who in a Canadian TV interview suggested Manning didn't have the goods to win the Super Bowl. Manning, responding in a sideline interview at the Pro Bowl, said that's what happens when kickers get liquored up.

The only thing the Colts don't have, yet, are championship rings.

``I think there's three things that go into whether a team is accepted in Los Angeles,'' said David Carter, director of The Sports Business Group, a Los Angeles-based consulting firm. ``Their style of play, their personality as a franchise, and their winning percentage. If you can bottle that in L.A., you're in great shape.''

It could be several years before the NFL returns to L.A. Still, the Colts' status was addressed in preliminary talks between the team and Manning, whose contract expires at the end of the season, according to Polian, who declined to elaborate.

``To say nobody thinks about it - you hear it swirling,'' Manning said of the speculation owner Jim Irsay is eyeing Los Angeles. ``Once you get to the season, it helps to just go play. In the offseason, you're working out, lifting weights and guys are going, 'Hey, you hear about this L.A. thing?' ''

Manning, taken by the Colts with the first pick of the 1998 draft, has settled in Indianapolis. His PeyBack Foundation that aides disadvantaged youths is one of the city's highest-profile charities.

``I was drafted here, I've built a home here,'' Manning said. ``If you asked me as a kid if I was going to live in Indiana, I probably would have thought you were crazy. But they pay you a lot of money now to do more than just play there. They pay you to be part of the city. At the same time, if (Irsay and Polian) say we're going to another city and I'm on the team, I'm going to go.''

Others, without the same security as Manning, seem to have the same outlook.

``People ask me, 'Hey are you guys moving?' '' defensive tackle Larry Tripplett said. ``I'm a player here and I don't know. It's part of the job - just like if I got traded or released.''

Not that he doesn't think about it. Tripplett, a second-year pro, grew up in Los Angeles, starring at Westchester High.

``It's home,'' he said.

Apparently, he still knows the market. What type of team would succeed in L.A.?

``It'd have to be a winning one,'' Tripplett said. ``Remember, you're competing with the Lakers.''

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

L.A. probably would embrace the Colts' three stars, Edgerrin James (5), Peyton Manning, middle, and Marvin Harrison (88).

Joseph C. Garza/Associated Press