NFL DEAL COULD HIT $1 BILLION LEAGUE RE-THINKING ITS STRATEGY ON L.A.

Byline: BILLY WITZ Staff Writer

NEW ORLEANS -- After NFL owners were told Tuesday that skyrocketing stadium cost estimates at the Coliseum and in Anaheim could soon reach $1 billion, commissioner Roger Goodell insisted he wasn't giving up on Los Angeles but acknowledged that it might be time to re-think the league's strategy there.

``We haven't been successful to date on the approach we've taken, but we do believe we've made some progress,'' Goodell said of the plan to build a stadium and then find a team to put in it. ``Circumstances may change where we take a different approach as we go forward.''

The league has spent nearly four years operating under the premise that it would build a stadium, then slap a relocation or expansion fee on it and open up the bidding for the team and stadium, much as it did in Cleveland a decade ago.

The NFL believed this strategy, driven by Los Angeles' fractured expansion bids in 1999, would reduce political infighting, ensure a first-rate stadium and give the league control of who would be handed such an important market.

But as cost estimates have nearly doubled since 2003 and with little or no public funds on the table, two problems have emerged.

First, it is increasingly unlikely that such a financial gambit would gain three-quarters approval from owners. Second, the team and stadium package figures to start at $1.7 billion -- or $600 million more than the Houston Texans' Bob McNair paid in 1999. There is concern that some prospective owners would blanch at such a high price for a stadium they're in essence buying off the rack.

An alternative that is gaining popularity among some owners is turning to the private sector - an owner, a developer -- to assume the risk for building the stadium.

``I don't know if somebody else is out there that's willing to come in and do that, or not,'' New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson said. ``(But) I think there's something to that. I'm cautiously optimistic that somebody -- we've tried working with government and local people -- that maybe now an entrepreneur will come out.''

Dallas owner Jerry Jones said it's harder to ask an owner to assume a financial risk if he's not involved in the stadium-building decisions.

``There's no doubt about it,'' Jones said. ``You don't have the passion, the proprietary feeling because the people making this decision (the other owners) aren't going to be the home team there.

``They're going to be playing there, and we've got a lot of passion for what we can do in Los Angeles, but there's another level that you want to go to, and that's when you get the people that are going to be responsible for making the franchise successful. They need to be in this picture, in my mind.''

Jones knows all about escalating stadium costs. The cost of the $650 million stadium being built for the Cowboys has increased ``significantly,'' according to Jones, who wouldn't say by how much. Another stadium in line, for the Giants and Jets in New Jersey, is estimated to cost $1.2 billion.

With those numbers in mind, few owners were surprised to hear the estimates for the Coliseum and Anaheim, which were between $820 and $900 million, according to NFL executive Neil Glat. The costs for the Coliseum range from 5-10 percent more than in Anaheim, though some of that would be recouped through greater revenue streams.

However, those numbers are tangible if the stadium is ready for the 2010 season, something Glat said would require an agreement by the end of the year and construction beginning at the start of 2008.

If not, owners were told to prepare for a price tag of $1billion.

Goodell said he told Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle last week that he would talk with them when he returns to New York and begin discussing the next steps.

``I'm still positive about the Los Angeles market,'' Goodell said. ``We are willing to take on the challenge and look at creative ways to meet those challenges.''

Another challenge is that both sites have begun to consider alternatives in recent months.

Anaheim has accepted proposals for alternative developments on the 50- acre parcel it would sell to the NFL, which it expects to have vetted by December or January. Meanwhile, several members of the Coliseum Commission said earlier this month that it is time to approach USC about a long-term lease in which the school would help fund capital improvements to the 83-year-old building.

City Councilman Bernard Parks, a member of the Coliseum Commission, said the stadium's governing body has three issues it must resolve in the next six months: a lease with the state, USC and how to take care of deferred maintenance.

``If the NFL chooses to keep moving in this direction, we would just fold those agreements into their deal,'' Parks said, adding that any agreement with USC would include contingency clauses for a NFL deal.

USC general counsel Todd Dickey said he looked forward to discussions on a lease, but that the school had no interest in making capital improvements at the Coliseum that would be temporary.

``It's not really a long-term agreement if it can be changed or terminated,'' Dickey said. ``It doesn't make sense to do work on the facility only to have it torn up in a few years.''

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