Goodell focus on labor issue, not L.A.

05 February 2011 |permalink | email article

Despite the hoopla leading up to Super Bowl XLV NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made clear in a news conference his top priority is not a new football stadium in Los Angeles. It’s getting team owners a new collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association before the current deal expires after March 3. Failure could result in a lockout that could threaten training camp, possibly games in the 2011 season and, in a worse case scenario, further delay in the return of pro football to Los Angeles.

Addressing the $700-million naming rights deal for a potential stadium downtown Goodell offered a mixed message. Describing it as a positive development he said the financing of the stadium in Los Angeles is still a very difficult proposition because the labor agreement has to be addressed in such a way as to make it a smart investment that “can be financed so that we can create the kind of economic activity in Los Angeles that I believe can happen if we’re successful, whether that be in downtown or out in the City of Industry.

The take from the commissioner’s annual state of the league address is that neither AEG nor Ed Roski’s group yet has a decisive advantage in landing a stadium today, or locking in a franchise ready to move to L.A.

163