NFL In LA? Not Without A Team
The path to a stadium may be clear, but that is very different from having an NFL team.
LA Stadium - Magestic Realty Co
Renderings of the Los Angeles Stadium.
If you build it, they will come. Right?
Maybe not with the NFL in Los Angeles.
Ed Roski Jr. and his Majestic Realty gotten farther along with plans for a new NFL stadium than just about anyone, even getting the governor to help wipe away all those pesky little environmental issues in the city of Industry. Roski and his team seem to have everything.
Except a team. And those on the inside of the NFL are questioning if he can actually get one.
If an NFL team does decide to move in the next few years, Los Angeles could well be the destination (we can save the debate for whether the city of Industry, out close to Pomona and Diamond Bar, is near the heart of Los Angeles and could draw from the West Side or San Fernando Valley for another day — but know some NFL owners don’t love the location).
The hard part is, NFL owners have something valuable with no team in Los Angeles — leverage. When Minnesota wanted a new stadium deal and negotiations slowed, they suddenly went public with the “we are watching what is happening in Los Angeles” angle. It gives owners another option to threaten cities with, to get their way. Same thing in San Diego, same thing anywhere a rich owner wants a better deal.
And Roski and his team, for all their posturing, have got no solid leads on bringing a team here. They are not considered NFL insiders by those on the inside. A year ago, Majestic officials said they were sure a team would be playing in the Rose Bowl waiting for a new stadium by 2009. We’re fairly sure that didn’t happen. Majestic officials now there are seven teams that have expressed interest. All that means there are seven owners looking for new stadium deals where they are.
Don’t forget, the NFL is the most conservative of leagues — it doesn’t like people who over promise, who go outside the normal channels of communication, who talk to the press (or owners who could become the spotlight). You can be sure that Majestic’s promises about being able to lure a team here do not sit well with Roger Goodell or in the NFL offices in New York.
It is certainly possible that the owner of some NFL team could just up and move his franchise to Los Angeles, agreeing to play for a couple years in the Rose Bowl while a new stadium is built. Ask the fans in Cleveland just how fast that can happen to you.
But if an owner did that, you can bet Roski would suddenly have competition. AEG — his partners in the Staples Center construction — might step forward again. And they have better NFL connections. There is even the chance that the Coliseum Commission and the City of Los Angeles could get their act together on redoing the Coliseum. Although that may be a long shot.
All this is to say, for all the fanfare over the path to a stadium in Industry being cleared, that is a long way from getting an NFL team to play there. And it may be some time before they do.
