NFL IN L.A.'S FUTURE? GUESS AGAIN HUGE STEPS STILL NEEDED FOR RETURN OF FOOTBALL.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

HOUSTON - If those interested in bringing pro football back to Los Angeles are watching Super Bowl week wistfully, thinking they could have been the hosts had they not lost to Houston for an NFL expansion team in 1999, uh, guess again.

``I haven't even thought about it until you brought it up,'' Coliseum general manager Pat Lynch said.

Although there are no regrets at the Coliseum, there are new players in Carson and a new entrant in the Rose Bowl this time around. Thus, they say, there is no point looking back.

Yet looking at Houston is instructive when looking at why Los Angeles has been without an NFL team for nine years. Los Angeles might be the entertainment capital of the world and the nation's second-biggest media market, but it still can't offer what Houston could nearly five years ago: a single proposal with the backing of the corporate community, a compliant local government, a cooperative media and the willingness to dip into public funds.

Houston has built three new stadiums or arenas in the past three years and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority has spent nearly $2 billion in infrastructure improvements since it was founded in 1997.

``Houston has opened three (mostly) publicly financed buildings,'' Los Angeles-based sports marketing analyst David Carter said. ``Forget about us getting three or two. Look at the difficulty we had in getting one (Staples Center) that got partially funded with public funds. Houston and L.A. are extraordinarily different.''

That point was reinforced Friday when city councilmen, after an update from Lynch, reiterated no public funds will be used in their proposal.

Also, there are some who suggest that the lack of local interest in buying the Dodgers is not a good sign for the level of corporate interest in the NFL.

Those were areas that Houston exploited in 1999.

Chip Namias, an L.A.-based marketing consultant who worked for Texans owner Robert McNair when the city was vying with the Coliseum and Carson, recalled sitting in a Scottsdale coffee shop with McNair and other members of the Houston delegation after an owners' meeting in Arizona.

``They had essentially announced they were giving a franchise to L.A., pending a viable stadium proposal in September,'' Namias said. ``We were hanging our heads and he gave us a pep talk. He said L.A.'s not going to get a viable stadium plan. This isn't over.''

And it wasn't. Houston gathered its proposal, getting $300 million for the naming rights to Reliant Stadium thanks in part to having the rodeo as a tenant, which would fill the stadium for three weeks.

McNair used his warm personality to win over owners and take his case to the national media. Then at that September meeting, he told the owners he would offer $700 million for the rights to the team, nearly $200 million more than Ed Roski's bid with the Coliseum.

``The fact that we did that shows what a great public/private relationship we had,'' said Ric Campo, a Houston developer who was on Houston's bid committee. ``(McNair) said, here's what we need, let's go do it in spite of the odds. Clearly the NFL wanted L.A. - it's a better merchandising market, a better TV market - yet L.A. couldn't produce the kind of chutzpah, the public/private partnership to deliver the goods. At the end of the day, Houston clearly had the want.''

More than four years later, as the NFL draws closer to determining which, if any, of the three proposals are viable, it might be asking the same question: Does Los Angeles have the want to get the NFL back?

Mayor James Hahn has expressed his support for bringing the NFL back to L.A., but a spokesman said he has chosen not to take a leading role at this time. The Rose Bowl will not be sending a delegation to the Super Bowl and the Coliseum's is expected to be smaller than in years past.

``The bottom line is the NFL wants to be in L.A. or it wouldn't be screwing around with us for so long,'' said Kathy Schloessman, president of the L.A. Sports and Entertainment Commission. ``The NFL has the best TV ratings, but they are losing fans in L.A. They are coming back, it's just a matter of when.''

Or are they?

``Some people in L.A. feel like, look, I can watch just about any team and I don't have blackouts,'' McNair said. ``With the Rams (and Raiders), we had blackouts. Now we can see everything and that's fine. Not everybody is of the mind that they have to have a team out there.''