L.A. BACK IN THE HUDDLE NFL'S AGAIN GIVING CITY A SERIOUS LOOK, BUT VENUE, TEAM UP IN THE AIR.Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer After eight years of twists and turns going nowhere, Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. once again looks like it's seriously in the running to get back a National Football League team. But whether it's at the Rose Bowl, the Memorial Coliseum For other similar named athletic facilities, see . Memorial Coliseum (or Veterans Memorial Coliseum in some cases) can refer to:
The only certainty is L.A. is back on the table, with renewed interest by the NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga . NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue Paul John Tagliabue (born November 24 1940 in Jersey City, New Jersey) was the Commissioner of the National Football League. He took the position in 1989 and was succeeded by Roger Goodell, who was elected to the position on August 8, 2006. and the L.A. working group committee of five owners are set to present their latest report to the rest of the owners on Wednesday at the end of a two-day meeting. Neither the Rose Bowl nor the Coliseum are on the agenda to have representatives address the owners, but officials from both venues will be working the lobby at the meetings in Philadelphia. They include Baltimore investment banker Investment Banker A person representing a financial institution that is in the business of raising capital for corporations and municipalities. Notes: An investment banker may not accept deposits or make commercial loans. and NFL insider John Moag, who is spearheading the Rose Bowl effort, and L.A. City Councilman Bernard C. Parks Bernard Parks (born December 7, 1943 in Beaumont, Texas) is a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 8th District in South Los Angeles and former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. Parks attended Los Angeles City College, received his B.S. , whose district includes the Coliseum. The latest effort was triggered when the Rose Bowl unveiled its plans for a renovated stadium late last month - clearly the freshest and most detailed proposal since the league chose Houston over L.A. - and it wasn't long before representatives of the Coliseum shouted, don't forget about us. With that, the NFL solicited a third party into the mix, the site in Carson that it had also considered previously. But does the flurry of activity mean anything? ``You can't confuse activity with progress,'' said David Carter People called David Carter include:
``Think of it almost as a political primary: To win, you've got to get on the ballot. That means getting heard. ... I don't expect any dramatic developments out of this meeting.'' There is little chance any of the sites will get the exclusive negotiating rights they seek, but the NFL likely will keep the momentum building. The league is under pressure to regain the nation's second-largest market before its lucrative contracts with the TV networks expire after the 2005 season. Earlier this year, Tagliabue mentioned the Rose Bowl by name as a site for a future Super Bowl and attended the Rose Bowl game on New Year's Day New Year's Day, among ancient peoples the first day of the year frequently corresponded to the vernal or autumnal equinox, or to the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was celebrated among Christians usually on Mar. 25. . Expansion is probably not an option since the NFL is now at a tidy 32 teams (eight four-team divisions) and there is no longer an owners' committee on expansion, so an existing team would probably have to move to the Los Angeles area. San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. , New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded and Indianapolis, with contracts expiring soon, are the leading candidates. The Chargers, most often mentioned, agreed Wednesday to extend their negotiating period with the city of San Diego - due to expire June 3 - for an additional 90 days. While those teams may use talk of a move to L.A. as leverage in new deals in their cities, there have been signs that didn't exist before that the NFL wants to get a deal done. The most important is that the league has dropped its long-standing demand that public funds See Fund, 3. See also: Public must be used in renovating or building an NFL- worthy stadium. Both the Rose Bowl and Coliseum, citing the current economic and political climate, say their plans will not include public funds. ``I think there's been the recognition on the part of the league that the market is different in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, than in other places,'' said Bill Thomson, chairman of the Rose Bowl's tenant search committee. ``This is not a time in the history of Southern California and probably the state where public money is going into the building of an athletic facility.'' The Rose Bowl and the Coliseum have also stepped toward middle ground. The Rose Bowl is willing to cede much of the stadium's revenues and control to the NFL, while the Coliseum Commission - often blamed for the departure of the Rams and Raiders - took the step of offering to remove itself from policy matters if a new team arrived. ``Absolutely,'' said Coliseum General Manager Pat Lynch, when asked if the posture of both sides has changed from past years. ``There's acknowledgment that everybody's got to be more creative.'' If a new stadium is built - in Carson or elsewhere - the Coliseum and Rose Bowl would not only lose out on an NFL team, but also could lose the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission and University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. , as well. Another Rose Bowl tenant, pro soccer's Galaxy, is leaving for a new stadium in Carson this summer. ``The Rose Bowl is OK this year and next year, but in the long term, the Rose Bowl has some fragile ice in front of it,'' said one official. The Rose Bowl is viewed by nearly everyone as the front-runner, in large part because of Moag, a consultant who was instrumental in luring the original Cleveland Browns
Pending approval at tonight's Pasadena City Council meeting, Moag will present a 13-point mission statement to the owners in Philadelphia, asking for $500 million to reconstruct the Rose Bowl into a 64,000-seat stadium with luxury boxes and modern amenities. It also wants the league to pay rent, deliver eight Super Bowls in a 30- year period and build a practice facility in exchange for the lion's share of revenue from the renovated stadium. Coliseum backers will only be submitting a letter stating the Coliseum Commission's intent to step aside. The L.A. City Council voted last week to back the Coliseum over two other downtown sites. Carson officials are sitting comfortably on the sidelines On the sidelines An investor who decides not to invest due to market uncertainty. on the sidelines Of or relating to investors who, having assessed the market, have decided to avoid committing their funds. . ``Our situation is very different,'' said Carson City Carson City, city (1990 pop. 40,443), state capital, W Nev., in the Eagle valley; inc. 1875. The city is a trade center for a mining and agricultural area. State government is the major employer, and tourism is economically important. Manager Jerry Groomes of the Rose Bowl and Coliseum. ``We're not going to the NFL. They're coming to us. We're not making a pitch. ``We're not hiring consultants to put on presentations. We're not making up songs and dances. If they say, Carson, we want to be with you, we'll welcome them with open arms.'' There is also the possibility that yet another site could emerge. With Tampa Bay owner Malcolm Glazer closing in on his bid to buy the Dodgers, new life is being given to an old proposal by former Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley: a new baseball stadium downtown and a football stadium built in Chavez Ravine. Just as Pasadena has to sell the Rose Bowl's well-heeled neighbors on its plan, the Coliseum has to overcome the problems of being, well, the Coliseum, and the Carson site would have to survive an environmental impact report. As many twists and turns as the last eight years have provided the NFL's road back to L.A., it doesn't appear to be straightening out any time soon. A deal on a site must be cut, a team must be brought in and a stadium must be built or reconstructed. ``It's one thing to say the Rose Bowl is ahead of the pack,'' said Carter, the sports economist. ``It's another to say the race is over. I don't think that's the case.'' |
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