TAGLIABUE: NO CBA, NO TALKS ABOUT L.A. CITY'S NFL FUTURE WOULD BE IN LIMBO WITHOUT UNION AGREEMENT.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

DETROIT - With NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and union president Gene Upshaw engaged in a stare down over a labor deal, don't expect anyone to turn an eye toward Los Angeles.

That was Tagliabue's message Friday at his annual Super Bowl news conference, in which he addressed a variety of topics, from minority hiring to officiating in the playoffs to how the league awards Super Bowls.

But if there was a hot topic, it was the state of negotiations with the players on an extension of the collective bargaining agreement. The current one doesn't expire for two more years, but if there is no agreement in place by next March, the salary cap will be eliminated for the 2007 season.

A day earlier, Upshaw characterized the negotiations as ``one step forward and five steps back,'' and said that when player representatives meet March 9, he will suggest they begin the process of decertifying the union. That would be a preemptive strike against a lockout, which NFL owners first began considering as a contingency in October.

``I don't think the negotiations are going very well I guess is how I would put it,'' Tagliabue said. ``To some degree, positions are hardening when they shouldn't be hardening. I don't know if we'll get something done by the annual meeting in March.''

If that's the case, it's unlikely a decision would be made on where to build a stadium in Los Angeles - at the Coliseum or in Anaheim.

Officials from both sites met this week with NFL executive Neil Glat, the Coliseum in New York and Anaheim by phone. Glat said progress was made with both in finalizing lease agreements, which could be presented to the owners in March.

Or perhaps not.

``If we don't have a CBA extension, it's going to be a considerable complication,'' said Tagliabue, who added that there was no leader amongst the sites. ``Because without an extension, issues of how to ensure the stability of the team, how to ensure the proper private financing for a stadium and related issues will be very difficult to resolve.

``One of the elements of our program for private financing of new stadiums in a number of league cities has been that it is part of the economic relationship we have with the Players Association under the Collective Bargaining Agreement - the theory being that new stadiums grow the pie for everybody, and therefore the costs should be shared. That would be in jeopardy if wedidn't have a long-term extension of the CBA.''

In addition to the lease agreements, there are still outstanding issues at each site, including design. The NFL is also negotiating with USC on its arrangement with the Coliseum.

``When, please God, we get our deal done on labor and finish the NFL Network (deal),'' said Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a member of the owners committee on Los Angeles. ``L.A. is our next priority.''